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FK)OKS OK rHK OLH TESTAMEN'r IN COLKOQIJIAL SPEI'CH.

F.dited by C. Currie Martin, M.A., B. 1)., and T. H Robinson, M.A.. I). I).

NUMBER ONE.

THE BOOK OF AMOS

TRANSLATED INTO COLLOQIJIAL ENGLISH BY

THEODORE H ROBINSON, M.A., D.D.

Lecturer in Semitic Languages, University College, Cardiff;
I'rofesssor of Old Testament Language and Literature, Baptist College, Cardiff

Secofici Impression. ^

NATIONAL ADULT SCHOOL UNION
30 Rr.ooMSBURv Street, London, W.C.I.

EDITORS' PREFACE.

THE modern translations that exist of parts or of the whole
of the Old Testament are, as a rule, too expensive and too
scholarly for the ordinary reader. In the case of the New
Testament excellent help has been afforded by many recent
translators, notably by Dr. MofFatt. In a wide experience
among working men and women we have found frequent
requests for a simple version of the Old Testament in similar
language to that employed in the modern versions of the New
Testament. By the generous help of our colleagues in this
enterprise we are able to present a translation that is well within
the reach of everyone, and that rests upon the best results of
modern scholarship.

Literary elegance has been sacrificed to clearness of expression
and simplicity of language, and we trust that in this way these
messages of the prophets that once touched the people with
such power, may again reach the hearts of our ow-n generation,
and lead them to such inward and outward reforms as may make
actual the spiritual and material Utopia of which the prophets
dreamed.

If the response is sufficiently encouraging we shall proceed to
other books of the Old Testament, but we feel that the prophets
have the primary claim, both owing to the obscurity of the
ordinary translation and to the nature of the message these
writers have to give.

Suggestions and criticisms for future issues will be welcomed
by the Editors. G C M

t!h.r.

Other issues in this series :

2. THE BOOK OF GENESIS. Translated into Colloquial

English by Professor T. H. Robinson, M.A., D.D.
Limp cloth covers, Is. net.

To be issued shortly :

3. THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH. Translated into Colloquial

English by Professor Adam C. Welch, D.D., of New
College, Edinburgh.

4. THE BOOKS OF RUTH AND JONAH. Translated into

Colloquial English by the Rev. Constance Coltman, B.D.

5. THE BOOK OF JOEL. Translated into Colloquial

English by the Rev. J. Garrow Duncan, B.D.

THE BOOK OF OBADIAH. Translated into Colloquial
English by the Rev. Constance Coltman, B.D.

THE BOOK OF NAHUM. Translated into Colloquial
English by G. Currie Martin, M.A., B.D.

NATIONAL ADULT SCHOOL UNION
30 Bloomsbury Street, London, W.C.I.

THE BOOK OF AMOS

IN COLLOQIJIAL SPEECH.

INTRODUCriON.

AMOS lived and prophesied in the days of Jeroboam II,
king of Israel, that is, about 750 B.C. He refers in one
place to an eclipse of the sun, which was probably that
of June 14th, 763, so his activity must be placed before rather
than after the middle of that century. He himself came from
Judah, though the only place named as the scene of his utterances
is the royal chapel at Bethel, where Jeroboam had his own special
temple. But it is possible he spoke elsewhere in any place which
provided him with a suitable audience.
The conditions of the period :
As far as external prosperity goes, Israel was probably better
off in the days of Jeroboam II than at any other time in !ier his-
tory, except, perhaps, in the reign of Solomon. Her old enemies,
the Syrians of Damascus, were now too weak to offer serious
opposition to her, and Jeroboam, who seems to have been a strong,
and in some ways a statesmanlike king, extended the territories
of Israel more widely than any of his predecessors in the north-
ern kingdom had done. Our knowledge of the history of the
time is derived almost entirely from Amos, Hosea and Isaiah, but
from them we can see something of the story of conquest and
its results. The first of these was a great increase in commerce
and wealth — even luxury. The ports of the Red Sea were now
open, and brought the trade of the far East into the country.
The Phoenician cities provided a gateway to the West, and from
the North there would come caravans bearing the produce of
central Asia. This affected the people of Samaria and other
large cities especially, but the influence spread over the whole
country. Luxuries which had never been known before poured
into the land. Men were able to build solid stone houses instead
of the old brick or clay dwellings, and to furnish them with
costly wood instead of the poor native timber.

But with this there came a terrible change in the character and
economic condition of the people. The peasant farmers who
had been the backbone of the nation, sturdy and independent,
brave in war and wise in peace, had been ruined by the troubles
of the last century, and were exploited by shameless profiteers.

To get the necessaries of life they mortgaged their tools, their
clothing, their land and their persons. A class of capitalist
moneylenders sprang up, who soon concentrated the wealth of
the country into their own hands. Men lost their land and be-
came serfs ; they lost their freedom and became slaves. The
corruption of the law courts helped the process, and it did not
matter if a man were in the right or not ; if he could bribe the
judge, even with an insignificant offer, he could secure a decision
which would give him what he wanted. The other person's land
might pass into his possession, or the man himself become his
slave. The result was the building up of large estates, cultivated
by slave labour, and the consequent rotting of the nation.

Like Hosea and Isaiah after him, Amos seems to have never
tired of denouncing the religion of Israel as he found it. It must
be remembered that the revelation of God is a slow process, and
that in his days it had never yet occurred to the ordinary man
outside Israel, and not even to all Israel, that God wanted man
to be morally good. Everybody believed in the existence of a
large number of gods, and each tribe and people had its own.
These gods were supposed to be like their worshippers in charac-
ter, and what they wanted was the observance of rites, and the
proper offering of sacrifices. The Israelites had a God whom
they called Yahweh, and it was only as the result of the preaching
of men like Amos that they learnt that Yahweh had any con-
nection with righteousness. As a matter of fact, men believed —
and this is true of almost all the religions in the world except
Judaism and Christianity — that the gods (including Yahweh)
demanded of men acts which would have been most strongly con-
demned in private life. There is no doubt that (as in some forms
of Hinduism) sexual immorality was one of the sacraments.
There is too much reason to believe that the Israelite honestly
believed that Yahweh might, and at times did, require human
sacrifice. The great message of Amos was that God was at least
as good as man, and more, that he was supremely interested
in goodness. No amount of formal religious observance could
compensate for a man's wrongdoing. This was a new idea to
most of the world, and, familiar though it seems to us who have
been brought up in the Christian tradition, it yet marks one of
the most profound revelations of divine truth that humanity has
ever received.

The Book of Amos :

The prophets spoke under the stress of a peculiar condition
of mind and body, which we commonly call the ecstasy. Their
utterances were short, and seem usually, if not always, to have
been poetic in form. These short speeches were not always
written down immediately, and some of the prophets do not seem
to have used the pen at all. Their message, they felt, was for
their own time. But these messages were seen to have a per-
manent value, and were often kept isolated and separate. Then
they would be copied and collected into smaller or larger groups,
where the name of the prophet was known. To these would
be added other isolated pieces which were anonymous. In the
process many of them might undergo alteration. The language
might be changed, so as to produce prose instead of poetry.
Sometimes this was done by the prophet himself, but in the case
of the earlier books it was clearly the work of the compilers of
the small collections, or of someone even earlier than them.
Sometimes the writing would be torn or badly copied, with the
result that the compiler had only a fragment of the original
oracle. Nevertheless he often put it in. The compiler arranged
his material as seemed good to him, usually without regard to
historical order, and seldom with any explicit reference to the
occasion on which any oracle was delivered. Sometimes — as in
the early chapters of the Book of Amos — the compiler shews a
very high degree of literary and dramatic appreciation. There
is reason to believe that he occasionally adopted a kind of for-
mula, and fitted the oracles of the prophet into it. Amos i. and
ii. are not the only examples of this tendency. Very often in
placing his matter together, he was guided by no surer principle
than the occurrence of similar language and thought in two
oracles w^hich may have been uttered at very different times and
under very different circumstances. In particular, compilers were
fond of grouping together oracles about foreign nations.

In the Book of Amos, then, we have a collection of oracles
of different dates and types, of which the great majority were
probably uttered by Amos himself. The only indications we
have as to the date and occasion of each are what we may gather
from the oracle itself, and each must be treated separately,
without reference to its neighbours. This necessarily makes the

reading of the prophets a little difficult, but it is always possible
to get their real message, in spite of the apparent scrappiness"
of the material.

The Text of the Book :
In ancient times all writing was necessarily done by hand.
Generation after generation would copy the completed books of
the prophets. Needless to say, mistakes were often made, and it
is sometimes difficult to tell what words the compiler wrote. The
original language of thebookofAmoswasHebrew. Inthistongue
it was copied and recopied in Palestine, and some time before
the second century B.C. copies were taken to Egypt or to other
places where there were settlements of Jews. Naturally, the
copying process went on, and mistakes would be made, but it
would not often happen that the same mistake would be made
in the Egyptian copies as in the Palestinian ones. We have to
follow the history of both if we wish to understand how we are
to work at the task of finding out what the book was like in its
original form. Somewhere about the year 600 A.D. the Jewish
Rabbis who inherited the Palestinian tradition, decided on a
single copy as being the orthodox text from their point of view.
All others were gradually made away with, and it is from this
that all our existing copies of the Hebrew Bible are descended.
We have no Hebrew representatives of the Egyptian tradition,
but in the second century B.C., Egyptian Jews translated their
Bible, bit by bit, into Greek. This we still have, and we can
use it to find out what the Egyptian text was like in the second
century B.C. Of course there have been errors in the Greek
text due to copying, but anyone who knows both languages
can generally decide whether the mistake was made in Greek
or Hebrew. It must be remembered that Amos spoke nearly
twenty-seven centuries ago, and it would be very surprising if his
words had come down to us without error. Nevertheless, by
using the Greek text, representing the Egyptian tradition of at
least two thousand years ago, and the Hebrew text representing
the Palestinian tradition of about thirteen centuries ago, we can
approach with some certainty to the actual words of the prophet.
The present translation has been made from the traditional
Hebrew text, the Greek being used to correct it where necessary
or possible. In every case where the translator feels that there
is an error in the Hebrew text, he has followed what seems to

him to have been the original form of the words, and noted the
change at the foot of the page, giving there a rendering of words
rejected. In these cases the traditional Hebrew text is indicated
by the letters MT. Where the change is based on the ancient
Greek translation, the fact is noted, and the letters LXX are
used as a symbol for the words which the Greek translators had
in the Hebrew copies they used. In some cases the original has
had to be guessed, but in no case has the translator followed a
guess of his own. Thus, a note like this: — So LXX ; MT
inserts ' the Lord" means that the traditional Hebrew text has
the word " Lord " at this point, whilst the text current amongst
Greek speaking Jews in the second century B.C. had not. And
a note : — MT " Zion " means that while there is good ground
for believing that the word translated is the one used by the
prophet, the traditional Hebrew text has the word Zion."t
In the pages that follow, actual translation from the Hebrew
text is in ordinary type; small type is used for headings and notes.

The Translation .'
The present translation is an attempt to reproduce the
prophet's message in the simplest and plainest terms. No more
freedom has been used than would be held to be necessary in
translating from a Greek or Latin book. But a large part of
the beauty and literary value of the book has been deliberately
sacrificed. The poetic form and language — often of great
power — has been obscured, in order to secure familiar terms.
In the traditional English translations the prophets are often
difficult to understand ; and are hardly easier in the very fine
literary renderings of scholars like Professor McFadyen. Yet
readers would do well to keep one or other of these translations
beside them in studying the following version. But if this
attempt, in spite of all its weakness, helps our generation to
understand Amos, it \v\\\ have succeeded, and will have prepared
the way for better things in years to come.

t In such a case the absence of any mention of LXX may be taken to mean
agreement between the Egyptian and the Palestinian traditions.

AMOS.

The following are oracles uttered by Amos, a herdsman from
Tekoa. They came to him in visions during the reigns of Uzziah
of Judah and Jeroboam ben Joash of Israel, two years before the
earthquake.

I . A short oracle which the compiler thought a suitable heading.

i. 2. He said :

Yahweh's voice will ring out from Zion and from Jerusalem
like a lion's roar, so that the place where the flocks used to feed
will be a scene of woe, and the peak of Carmel will be scorched
with drought.

2. Syrian raids on eastern Palestine used to be carried out with unusual
brutality.

i. 3-5. Yahweh has spoken to this effect :

Damascus has been guilty of so many crimes thatit is impossible
for me to reverse the sentence I have passed. She has tortured
Gilead, threshing men with sharp iron flails. So I will burn to
the very ground the fine palaces built by Hazael and Benhadad.
In the vale of Awen and Beth Eden I will wipe out the popula-
tion, officials and all. I will break the gate-bars of Damascus,
and the people of Syria will be deported to Kir.
These are the words of Yahweh.

7 , The Philistines used to invade Judah and carry off people as slaves,
selling them to the Edomites in the south.

i. 6-8. Yahweh has spoken to this effect :

Gaza is guilty of so many crimes that it is impossible for me
to reverse the sentence I have passed. They have deported whole
populations and handed them over as slaves to Edom. So I will
burn to the ground the wall and palaces of Gaza. And I will
wipe out the people of Ashdod and Ashkelon, officials and all,
and I will strike Ekron again and again, and the Philistines will
be destroyed to the last man.

These are the words of Yahweh.

t A. The Phoenicians have been guilty of a similar offence.

* So LXX; MT inserts "the Lord."

t This oracle is attributed by some modern students to a speaker
considerably later than the time of Amos.

i. 9-10. Yahweh has spoken to this effect :

Tyre is guilty of so many crimes that it is impossible for me
to reverse the sentence I have passed. With entire disregard for
the obligations of treaties and common humanity, they have
handed over entire populations as slaves to Edom. So I will burn
to the ground the walls and palatial buildings of Tyre.

C, An oracle possibly two hundred years later than the time of Amos,*
condemning Edom for her treatment of Israel. In this case it prob-
ably refers to the part played by the Edomites in the destruction of
Jerusalem, in B.C. 586, when they sided with the Chaldeans, and
gloated over the fall of Judah.

i. 11,12. Yahweh has spoken to this effect :

Edom is guilty of so many crimes that it is impossible for me
to reverse the sentence I have passed. Sword in hand, he has
persecuted those of the same blood as himself. He has crushed
down all human feeling, and has kept up an endless and undying
fury of vindictiveness. So I will burn to the ground the walls
and palatial buildings of Teman and Bozrah.

O. The Ammonites were a semi-Arab tribe living to the east of Pales-
tine. They used to raid their more civilised neighbours, and treat
them with the utmost cruelty, especially the Israelites east of Jordan.

i. 13-15. Yahweh has spoken to this effect:

Ammon is guilty of so many crimes that it is impossible for
me to reverse the sentence I have passed. In their land-grabbing
passion they have ripped up the pregnant women of Gilead.
So I will burn to the ground the walls and palatial buildings of
Rabbah, with battle cry and sweeping storm, and their king and
nobles will be deported.

These are the words of Yahweh.

n , In war with Edom, the Moabites had violated the royal tombs of the
country, and had burnt the bones they found there.

ii. 1-3. Yahweh has spoken to this effect:

Moab is guilty of so many crimes that it is impossible for me
to reverse the sentence I have passed. They even burnt the very
bones of the king of Edom to a white ash. So I will burn to
the ground the palatial buildings of Kirioth. And amid roar
and triumph-shouts and trumpet-calls of battle Moab shall die,

* It should be remarked that modern students of the Old Testament differ
as to the date of this oracle. Some prefer to assign it to Amos himself.

and I will wipe oul all those of rank and authority among them,
killing them together with the rest of the people.
These are the words of Yahweh.

* O. ludah is condemned for her failure to fulfil the moral demands of
Yahweh. The words might have been uttered at most periods in her
history.

11. 4,5. Yahweh has spoken to this effect :

Judah is guilty of so many crimes that it is Impossible for
me to reverse the sentence I have passed. By her breach of
Yahweh's laws she has deliberately rejected his instructions,
and she has been led away by the false gods which her ancestors
followed. So I will burn to the ground the palatial buildings
of Jerusalem.

Q. The corruption of justice in Israel.

11. 6,7a. Yahweh has spoken to this effect :

Israel has been guilty of so many crimes that it is impossible
for me to reverse the sentence I have passed. The price of a
pair of shoes is enough to secure the enslavement of a poor man.
They make the lower classes step aside for them, and when a
man is helpless, they have used the opportunity to trample down
his very head.T

I O. Religion, as Amos saw it, did not require men to be righteous.

il. 7b- 1 2. Yahweh speaks :

Father and son both use the servant-girl as a harlot. Instead
of representing me as holy, they make me appear morally foul.
The very cloths§ which they spread beside all the altars are
garments taken in pledge, and the sacramental wine which
they drink in their God's house belongs to those who have
pawned It with them.

All this in spite of the fact that when you appeared in the
country I destroyed the Amorites for you. The latter were as
tall as the highest cedars and sturdy as the strongest oaks, but
I blasted them root and branch. What Is more, I fetched you
up from Egypt, and, after leading you for forty years in the
desert I helped you to turn the Amorites out.

* This oracle is almost certainly later than the time of Amos. Its presence
is probably due to someone who felt that the list of nations was in-
complete without the mention of Judah.

t So LXX ; MT adds "upon the dust of the earth."

§So LXX; MT inserts "upon."

Further, I appointed some of your people to be prophets, and
some of your young men to be Nazirites. ' But you forbade
the prophets to prophesy, and you made the Nazirites break their
vows by giving them wine. O you Israelites ! Does all this
mean nothing to you ?

This is Yahweh's oracle.^'

I I , An oracle which may refer to an invasion which Amos expected,
and describes the collapse of the morale of the army of Israel.

ii. 13-16. I will make you rockt from the very bottom like a
cart loaded with sheaves, so that the speed of the fastest runner
will be useless to him, and the strongest will not retain his
strength, nor the bravest save himself, nor the archer stand his
ground, nor §the stouthearted find courage among soldiers, but
he shall fling away his weapons and take to flight. §
This is Yahweh's oracle.

I Q,, There is a reason for everything. Things that one observes in the
country always imply something more than what immediately ap-
pears. So the existence of suffering proves that Yahweh is at work,
vindicating his moral laws : the prophet speaks because he has heard
Yahweh's voice.

iii. 1-8. Listen to what Yahweh has said of you, you Israelites: II
Just because you are the only nation in the world with whom
I have come into close relations, I will punish you for all your
crimes. If two people walk together, does it not prove that
they mean to go the same way ? If a lion roars in the forest,
does it not prove that he has prey ? If a lion growls,^ does it
not prove that he has caught something ? If a bird drops to-
wards the ground,*"^' does it not prove that there is something to
attract him ? If a ground-trap is sprung, does it not prove that
it has caught something .'' Can the alarm be blown in a city
without people being frightened ? If there is suffering in a city,
does it not prove that Yahweh is at work ?

*....* MT has these words in a different order, which is hardly

intelligible,
t In the present state of our knowledge, MT seems meaningless. This

rendering assumes a change of one letter.
§....§ MT is very uncertain, and almost certainly erroneous. The

above is probably not far from the original form.
II MT adds "all the family whom I brought up from the land of Egypt,

saying."
KMT inserts "from his den."
**So LXX; MT adds "on a snare."

Yahweh, the Master, does nothing without telling his plans to
the prophets, his slaves ; and since Yahweh, the Master, has
spoken, one can no more help prophesying than one can help
shuddering at the lion's roar.

I '2. The moral chaos which Amos saw in city Ufe.

iii. 9,10. A proclamation to be made in the finest quarters of
the cities of Assyria and Egypt :

Come together to the hills round Samaria, and see the utter
confusion and oppression in the city. People are absolutely
ignorant of the meaning of honesty, and their hoarded wealth!
is simply what they gained by crimes of violence.
§This is Yahweh's oracle.§

I A. Threat of a foreign enemy.

iii. 1 1. This is the reason why the Lord Yahweh has said :

II Your land ^shall be surrounded by enemies.H and your
strength will be flung down, and your mansions looted.

I C . The completeness of the coming destruction. The metaphor was
probably suggested by the prophet's own experience.

iii. 12,13. Yahweh has spoken to this effect :

It sometimes happens when an animal has been carried off
by a lion, all that the shepherd can rescue is a pair of knuckle
bones or the tip of an ear. In just the same way, the corner of
a single bed, or a piece ' of a rug, will be enough to hold all
the people of Israel and Samaria who will escape. Listen to this ;
remember it, and repeat it in the country of Jacob.

This is the oracle of Yahweh, God of Hosts.

10. People were in the habit of taking refuge in temples, and claiming
the protection of the god by taking hold of the horns of the altar.
But no religious rite will henceforth be any protection for wrong-
doers. The shrine and altar themselves will be affected, so that
there will be no means of securing exemption from punishment.

*So LXX; MT has "Ashdod."

t MT adds " in their palaces."

§ . . . . § Placed by MT after "honesty."

II So LXX; MT has "the."

IT .... If MT is uncertain, but this seems to be what Amos meant.

** MT very uncertain, apparently mentioning Damascus. But this is
probably the idea that Amos had in mind.

iii. 14,15. When I punish Israel for breaking my law, I will pay
special attention to the altar of Bethel. The horns of the
altar will be cut off and thrown down to the ground. And I
will strike down the winter houses and the summer residences.
And those mansions with all their ivory and ebonyt decorations
will be so wrecked that not a trace of them will be left.
This is Yahweh's oracle.

I "V. At bottom it was the greed and luxury of the women which was
responsible for the terrible social conditions of Israel.

iv. 1-3. Listen to this, you women of Samaria — you great
Bashan cows ! You grind down and oppress the poor lower
classes. You are always nagging your husbands for money to
buy drink. So Yahweh§ has taken this solemn oath by his
own holy self:

The time is coming when men shall drive fish hooks and
barbs into your soft flesh, and you will be dragged straight
through the holes that have been broken in the city walls, and
flung on to dung heaps.

This is Yahweh's oracle.

I O . Amos exposes the false nature of the religious ideals of his time.
This is probably one of the earlier oracles, uttered during the
prophet's visit to Bethel.

iv. 4,5. Come to the sanctuaries of Bethel and Gilgal — but all
you will do when you get there will be to commit more and more
iniquity. Bring your morning sacrifices — do! Take three days
over offering your tithes — by all means ! Burn your sweet
sacrifices in praise — yes, and keep them pure of leaven ! Call
out the amount of your subscriptions — shout it out loud so that
everybody can hear you ! That is the kind of religion you
Israelites really like !

This is the Lord Yahweh's oracle.

I Q. In this and the four following oracles Amos describes natural calami-
ties which have fallen on Israel. They probably occurred in the
same year, and if the first verse of the book is to be trusted, it was
two or three years after the prophet's first appearance at Bethel.
The earthquake of i. I seems already to have taken place. This oracle
speaks of famine.

*MT "altars."

f MT "many." This reading is suggested by comparison with Ezekicl

xxvii. 15.
§So LXX; MT inserts "the Lord."

iv. 6. In all your cities I kept your teeth clean by giving

you no food, and everywhere there was a shortage of bread.
Yet you did not learn that you must come back to me.
This is Yahweh's oracle.

20. Drought.

iv. 7,8. Three months before the harvest, when rain was most
needed, I kept it back from you — it was I that did it. Some-
times I sent rain on one city and not on another. Sometimes
rain fell in one district alone, and that in which it did not
fall would dry up. So the people of two or three cities had to
go to one to get water to drink, and there was not enough for
them. Yet you did not learn that you must come back to me.

This is Yahweh's oracle.

2 I . Blight on the crops.

iv. 9. I afflicted you with blight and mildew ; I scorched

up your gardens and vineyards, and more than once locusts
devoured your figs and olives. Yet you did not learn that you
must come back to me.

This is Yahweh's oracle.

2 2 • An epidemic.

iv. 10. I sent an epidemic on youT ; I killed your young men
in war§ ; I made your camp reek with the stench of rotten
corpses. Yet you did not learn that you must come back to me.

This is Yahweh's oracle.

2 '2 . The earthquake.

iv. II. I brought on you an earthquake as frightful as that
which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a
charred stick, just snatched from the fire in time to be not quite
burnt up. Yet you did not learn that you must come back to me.

This is Yahweh's oracle.

2 A. Natural calamities prove the power of Yahweh.

* MT has "to multiply."

t MT inserts the words "in the way of Egypt."

§ MT inserts " with the captivity of your horses."

iv. 12,13. That is why I do this to you, Israel. Because I will
certainly do it, prepare to meet your God, Israel. For, you see,
Yahweh is the name of him who modelled the hills and shaped
the wind, and told men his thoughts, and made dawn and dark,
and walks on the high ground of the earth.

2 C . The death of purity and promise in Israel. This is quite possibly
one of the last oracles uttered by Amos, and may have been suggested
by the sight of an actual funeral.

V. 1,2. Listen, you Israelites, to this funeral hymn which I
am about to sing over you :

Fallen is Israel, the virgin,

Never to rise ;
Earthbound, with none to uplift her,

Prostrate she lies.

t 20. A disastrous war is in prospect. Probably Amos foresaw the coming
of the Assyrians, though there is no record of their attacks on Israel
in his time.

V. 3. The Lord Yahweh has spoken § to Israel § to this effect;

In every city nine-tenths of the men shall fall in battle. Out
of every thousand only a hundred shall be left, and out of every
hundred only ten.

27. Amos' contemporaries thought that religion consisted in pilgrimages
to the famous shrines. This, he says, is not the case.

V. 4-6. Yahweh has spoken to Israel to this effect :

You must come to me if you want to save your lives. Do
not come to the Bethel priests, and do not go to Gilgal or make
long journeys to Beersheba. The people of Gilgal will all be
carried off, and Bethel will come to utter ruin. You must come
to Yahweh if you want to save your lives ; otherwise, he will blaze
out over northern Israel as a destructive and unquenchable fire.ll

2 O . A fragment from an oracle which denounced the corruption of the
law courts.

V. 7. .... who turn the law into poison, and put an end

to all the country's rights.

* Some modern students regard this passage as a compiler's insertion.

t It is possible that the words from *'in every city" to the end of the
verse form part of the funeral hymn of §25. In that case the in-
troductory words in v. 3 will be a copyist's mistake.

§ MT places these words at the end of the verse.

II MT adds "for Bethel."

20. Yahwch is supreme in nature and history.

V. 8,9. Yahwch is the name of the God who made the
Pleiades and Orion, and arranged that day should follow night,
and night follow day. It was he who called up the ocean and
poured it over the earth. It was he who brought down* ruint
and destruction on castles and on forts.§

'3 0. Amos had apparently been attacked, not only by Amaziah, but also
by others. A fragment for which no accurate dating is possible.

V. 10 they hate and loathe any honest criticism. . . .

"2 I . Capitalist moneylenders, after getting possession of land, retained the
old owner as a working farmer, and charged him rent in the form of
agricultural produce.

V. 1 1, 1 2a you trample down the lower classes, and squeeze

II load after loadlj of corn from them. Therefore you shall neither
live in the marble palaces you have built, nor enjoy the wine of
the lovely vineyards you have planted. For — as I well know —
your crimes are untold, and your sins tremendous.

'2 2. So corrupt are the judges, that it is wiser to suffer injustice than to
appeal to them.

v. 1 2b, 1 3 you take bribes to persecute people who have

done no harm, and wrong the poor in the courts. Therefore
sensible people will keep still, for it is a disastrous time.

^ '3 "J . Another appeal for righteousness.

V. 14,15. You must aim at good and not evil if you would save
your lives, and if Yahweh the God of Hosts is to be with you,
as you say he is. You must hate evil and love goodness. You
must see that real justice has its place in the law courts. If you
do these things, then Yahweh the God of Hosts will be kind to
such Israelites as remain.

'3 A. The moral corruption of the people can only end in disaster.

*So LXX; MT has "smiled."

tSoLXX; MT has "destruction."

§ So LXX; MT has "and destruction comes on forts."

II .... 11 So LXX; MT has "a load."

IT Possibly to be joined to 32 to form one oracle.

V. 16,17. This is what Yahweh the God of Hosts has said :

In every square and street there shall be mourning and

moaning. Farmers in the country will send for professional

mourners to wail and howl, and when I pass through the heart of

your land there will be sorrow in every vineyard instead of glee.

It is Yahweh who has said this.

'J C . People believed that when Israel was in real need, then Yahweh
would interpose and bring a day of victory and a time of peace for
his people. Amos had to tell people that Yahweh would indeed
reveal himself, but it would be to avenge the cause of righteousness,
not that of Israel. Her need was very real, but it was not the need
people had in mind.

V. 18-20. You people who want the Millennium so badly, what
good will the Millennium do you ? I tell you it means dark-
ness and not light. Suppose a man, trying to escape from a
lion, finds a bear in front of him, and bolts into a hut and leans
his hand on the wall and a snake bites him — that is what the
Millennium will be like. It will be absolute pitch darkness,
without a single ray of light.

'2 0. In order, as they thought, to honour Yahweh, people had introduced
features of foreign worship, and had even borrowed gods from
Babylon and other nations. Amos hardly believed in any kind of
ritual.

V. 21-27' I hate and loathe your festivals. Your special services
do not affect me at all. When you burn offerings to me I do
not enjoy your gifts, and I take no notice at all of your richest
sacrifices. Do stop worrying me with your noisy hymns ; I
cannot bear the " music " of your harps. What I want is an
unfailing, brimming river of justice and righteousness. All those
forty years that yout were with me in the wilderness, you
brought me no sacrifices. As it is, the canopy of your King-god
and §Kewan, your Star-god, and the images you have made for
yourselves§ — all these things you will load on to your backs
when I deport you away beyond Damascus.

These are the words of Yahweh, whom we call God

of Hosts.

* So LXX ; MT inserts " the Lord."
t MT adds *' O house of Israel."

§....§ So LXX ; MT has the words in this order : " Kiyyun (sic) your
images and the star of your god whom you have made for yourselves. ' '

'Xn . The luxury prevalent in Israel in the latter days of Jeroboam II.
brought national conceit ;ind Jingoism with it. One of the lessons
the prophet had to teach was thai other nations were as good as they.

vi. 1-7. The complacent and thoughtless people of Israel
and Samaria arc too horrible for words. They think they are
by far the most distinguished people in the world, t But if you
go and look at Calneh, and then at the great city of Hamath,
and the Philistine city of Gath, you will find that Israel is no
more powerful and has no wider territories than these kingdoms
had. And by putting off thinking about the day of calamity
to a distant time, they bring appalling disaster the nearer. They
lounge on ivory sofas, they sprawl on their beds, they send
to the farms for lamb and veal to eat. They twitter to the music
of the harp, they think their orchestra as good as David's. They
drink the most expensive wine, and use the costliest toilet
preparations. But for the wreck and ruin of their fellow-
countrymen they have not the smallest sympathy. For all this
they will be the first to be deported, and there will be no more
of the shouting of these sprawlers.

9 O . Spoken when Israel was threatened by a terrible epidemic.

V. 8-10. Yahweh§ has sworn by himself il

I loathe the pride of Jacob, and I hate its mansions. So I
will shut up the city and everything in it. ^And if there are
still ten men left in a house, they shall all die.^ And when
a man's uncle helps the undertaker to lift up the corpse and
carry it out of the house, he will ask the person left inside,
' Is there anybody left with you ? " And he will reply, " Not
a single one." And (instead of saying " Yahweh bless you ")
he will say, " Sh ! " because one must not mention the name of
Yahweh.

'2Q. A fragment, probably from the time of the exile.

vi. II. Yahweh has ordered that all the houses, big and little,
shall be smashed into fragments.

*MT has "Zion."

t MT adds " and the house of Israel shall come to them."
§So LXX; MT adds "the Lord."

II So LXX ; MT adds "this is the oracle of Yahweh, God of Hosts."
II . . . . *1[ This sentence seems misplaced; possibly it really belongs to §26,
and should come at the end of v. 3.

AO. Another attack on the corruption of the law courts.

vi. 12. Do you expect horses to gallop up a precipice? or
*would you drive an ox-plough over the sea ?^' Quite as reason-
able is your turning Justice into bitterness, so that one might as
well poison one's self as go into court with a good case.

A I . During the century which preceded the time of Amos, the Syrians
of Damascus had taken possession of the greater part of the Israelite
territory east of the Jordan. Jeroboam's troops had gradually re-
covered this, and when Amos spoke, they were gloating over the
capture of two cities of this district, Lodebar in Gilead, and Karnaim
in Bashan. The oracle seems to have lost its opening words.

vi. 13, 14 you people who are gloating over the capture of

Lodebart and saying " How powerful we are to have taken Kar-
naim ! " Oh ! you Israelites !§ I will set a nation at you which
will crush you from the Hamath frontier to the river of the
Arabah.

4- 2 • The first of a series of visions. Some of these picture calamities
which might have come, but did not, others calamities which would
actually befall Israel. This is a vision of a locust plague.

vii. 1-3. The Lord Yahweh sent me the following vision :

I saw a II flight of locusts || — this happened after the first crop
of hay had been mowed and sent to the king as tribute, and
the second crop was just beginning to come up — ^and it de-
vouredU every single green thing in the whole country. And I
said, " O Lord Yahweh ! do forgive us ! How can so small a
nation as Jacob ever recover from this ? " And Yahweh changed
his mind and said, " Very well ; it shall not happen."

A. 7 . Another vision. A universal fire.

vii. 4-6. Yahweh^^ sent me the following vision :

He called +blazing fire,t and it devoured a mighty ocean,
and it began to devour the land. And I said, " O Lord Yahweh !
do stop ! How can so small a nation as Jacob ever recover from
this ? " And the Lord Yahweh changed his mind about this and
said, ** Very well ; this too shall not happen."

*....* MT has ''shall one plough with oxen .!" "

t MT has " not a word."

§ So LXX; MT adds "this is the oracle of Yahweh, God of Hosts."

II So LXX; MT has "one who modelled a locust."

IF ... . U MT has "and it shall be that if it has devoured."

**SoLXX; MT adds "the Lord."

J . . . . { MT has "to contend by fire."

4-4-. Another vision. Israel is tested with a plumbline, and seen to be so
far out of the straight that she must be pulled down altogether.

vii. -7-9. Yahweh* sent me the following vision :

I saw the Lord standing by a wall with a plumbline in his
hand. And Yahweh said to me, " What are you looking at,
Amos ? " " A plumbline," I said. And Yahweh said to me, " I
am putting a plumbline against the heart of Israel my people, for
I cannot go on overlooking things. And the shrines of Isaac and
the chapels of Israel shall be desolate and deserted, and I will
attack Jeroboam's dynasty with the sword."

A. C . The Israelite Government often had reason to fear revolution engi-
neered by the prophets. It was such a revolution that had put Jehu,
Jeroboam's ancestor, on the throne. Amazian, as Priest of Bethel,
was practically one of the Ministers of the Crown, and when he
heard Amos talking as he did, jumped to the conclusion that the
political party of the prophets was once more trying to overthrow
the Government, and put a nominee of their own in power. He
thought that Amos was an agent of this party, and that his aim was
to rouse people against the King and his Ministers.

vii. 10-17. Amaziah, pnest of Bethel, sent this report to Jero-
boam, King of Israel :

Amos is plotting against you among the people, and the
world can no longer stand talk like this. He says Jeroboam
will die a violent death, and that the whole population will be
deported."

And Amaziah said to Amos :
Be off, you seer, into J udah as fast as you can! That is the place
foryou to make a living by prophesying. On no account mustyou
ever prophesy at Bethel again; this is the royal chapel and palace."
'A professional prophet," replied Amos, "I certainly am not.
I keep sheep, T and grow sycamore figs, and Yahweh took mc
away from my work and told me to go and prophesy to his
people Israel. Now listen to what Yahweh has to say to you.
You tell me not to dribble prophecies over Israel and Isaac. So
this is Yahweh's message to you :

Your wife will be driven to live on the streets. Your children,
boys and girls alike, will be slaughteied. Your estate will be
surveyed and divided up. You yourself will die on unholy
ground, and Israel will be deported far from their own country."

* So LXX; MT omits "Yahweh."

t So LXX; MT has a curious word which may mean "herdsman."

AO. Another vision, that of a basket of summer fruit. There is a pun
in the language of the prophet, the Hebrew word for "summer"
being almost the same as the Hebrew word for " end."

viii. 1-3. Yahweh" sent me the following vision :

I saw a basket of summer fruit. And he said to me, What
are you looking at, Amos ? " I said, A basket of summer
fruit." Ah," replied Yahweh, a summary end is coming for
my people Israel. I will never again overlook anything that
they do, and the women's choir in the palace will just howl in
their grief, for thent every place will be choked with corpses."§

A'7. People used to keep their Sabbath by doing no work, but they had
their minds on their business with its cheating and oppression all the
time, and never used their rest to think of God.

viii. 4-8. Listen to this, you who trample down and lord it over ||
the poorer classes :

You sigh all day Sunday, ' What a long time to wait till
Monday morning ! I wish it would come quickly, so that we
might get back to our selling of corn and giving short measure,
and running up prices and tilting the scales ! And buying slaves
cheap — a pair of shoes each will be enough ! And making a
profit out of the dust of chaff! " Yahweh has sworn by the pride
of Jacob :

Never will I forget anything that they do ! The only result
of this will be another terrible earthquake which shall bring
sorrow on everyone living in the land. The whole earth shall
swell^ and sink, just like the rising and falling Nile.

Ao. There was an eclipse of the sun on June 14th, 763 B.C., which was
probably nearly total in Israel. This, of course, passed over. But
Amos, knowing nothing of astronomy, saw in it a warning of the
complete extinction of the sun.

viii. 9,lo. The time is coming — this is the Lord Yahweh's
oracle — when I will make the sun set at midday and darken the
earth in broad daylight. And I will upset your holidays and

*So LXX; MT inserts "the Lord."

f MT inserts the words " this is Yahweh the Lord's oracle."
§ In MT two words follow, which, in the present state of our knowledge,
are unintelligible.
So LXX; MT has "make them cease."
If So LXX; MT inserts "and shall be driven out."
**SoLXX; MT has "light."

hymns, and turn them into grief and wailing. Everybody will
wear mourning, and it will he as bad as if every man had lost
his only child, and the country will perish in bitter sorrow.

A.Q. Spoken in time of famine, due to the failure of the annual rains.

viii. 1 1,1 2. Remember, the time is coming — this is "^Yahweh's
oracle— when I will make e\erybody hungry. Food and drink
will not satisfy that hunger and thirst ; it will be the word! of
Yahweh that they want. And people will wander to and fro,
up and down and across the country, trying to find the word of
Yahweh. But they will never find it.

CO. Amos attributes the drought and famine to the false worship of the
people.

viii. l3,l4.The time will come when girls in their beauty and
men in their prime will faint with thirst. §And they shall fall
and never rise again, § because they swear by the wicked religion
of Samaria, using in their oath the words, " By the god of Dan,"
" By the deity || of Samaria."

C I . The last vision. Yahweh the destroyer.

ix. 1-4. I saw Yahweh standing by the altar. He said:

Strike the tops of the pillars so hard that the thresholds may
be shaken as if by an earthquake, and crush the heads of all the
people. If any of them are left, I will have them killed by the
sword. Even if they run away and try to escape, their flight
will not save them. If they were to dig right through the earth
to the home of the dead, my hand would reach down and drag
them back. If they were to climb into the sky I would bring
them down. If they were to hide in caves on the top of Mount
Carmel, I would hunt them out and drag them away. If they
were to conceal themselves from my sight at the bottom of the
sea, ^I would order the great Serpent to bite them. And if their
enemies carry them off to slavery, ^I will order them to be
slaughtered, and watch for every opportunity of doing them, not
good, but harm.

* So LXX ; MT inserts "the Lord."

fSo LXX; MT has "words."

§ . . . . § MT has these words at the end of the oracle.

II So LXX; MT has "way."

^ MT prefixes "thence" in each place.

C 2 . The majesty of Yahweh.

ix. 5, 6. It is the Lord Yahweh of Hosts, at whose touch the
earth melts, and he brings sorrow on every one living on it, while
it swells and sinks like the rising and falling Nile. It is he who
builds his palace in the sky, and lays the foundations of his dome
upon the earth. It is he who calls the ocean and pours it over
the land — Yahweh is his name.

C ? , Yahweh makes no distinction between different races. The
Israelites thought that he was their God alone, and did not care for
other races. This impression has to be corrected.

ix. 7. Do you realise that I think of you Israelites just as I

think of African negroes ? It is true that I brought up Israel
from Egypt, but it is equally true that I was responsible for the
coming of the Philistines from Crete and of the Syrians from Kir.

*This is Yahweh's oracle.*

C A. A threat of utter destruction.

ix. 8a. I tell you that the Lord Yahweh is on the watch for
the sinful kingdom, and twillt wipe it out of existence.

§This is Yahweh's oracle.§

[The desire to tone down the horror and terror of the general
destruction has led a compiler or a copyist to add the following small
group of oracles, which there is no reason to attribute to Amos
himself] .

C C , An addition made to the last oracle.

ix. 8b, 9. Only I will not absolutely destroy all the nation of
Jacob, but will have Israel sifted among the nations, as corn is
sifted in a sieve, when not a single good grain falls through.

CO. The person responsible for the addition of this group did not wish
his readers to think that Yahweh would leave real sin unpunished.

ix. 10. A violent death will be the lot of the sinners among
my people, though they think that no misfortune shall touch or
fall upon them.

*....* MT places these words after ''negroes. "
t . . . . tMT has "I will."

§ . . . . § MT places these words at the end of v. 8.

Zy. After the punishment will come restoration. This is quite possibly
tlie utterance of a Jew who survived tlie destruction of Jerusalem,
a hundred and eighty years after the time of Amos, and hoped that
the ruins around him might be restored.

ix. 11,12. In the Millennium I will put up the fallen hut of
David and build up its ' broken and ruined walls again, and its
buildings shall be as before. And so they shall occupy what is
left of Edom and all the other countries, because my name is
on them.

This is the oracle of Yahweh of Hosts who does this.

Co. A promise of material prosperity.

ix. 13, 14. The time is coming — this is Yahweh's oracle — when
the seasons will be so fruitful that there will be no interval
between ploughing and harvest, or between vintage and seedtime.
And all the mountains and hills will melt with their torrents of
sweet wine. And I will bring back those of my people Israel
who have been deported, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities
and live in them. And they themselves shall enjoy the wine
and the fruit of the vineyards and orchards which they plant.
And I will see that they are too firmly rooted to be pulled up
from the land which I have given them.
So says Yahweh your God.

So LXX; MT has "their."

5M.xii.20-5M.vi.2'2

BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN COLLOQUIAL SPEECH.
Edited by G. Currie Martin, M.A., U.D., and T. H. Robinson, M.A., D.I).

NUMBER TWO.

THE BOOK OF

GENESIS

TRANSLATED INTO COLLOQUIAL ENGLISH BY

THEODORE H. ROBINSON, M.A., D.D.,

Lecturer in Semitic Languages, University College, Cardiff.
Professor of Old Testament Language and Literature, Baptist College, Cardiff.

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EDITORS' PREFACE

THE modern translations that exist of parts or of the
whole of the Old Testament are, as a rule, too expensive
and too scholarly for the ordinary reader. In the case
of the New Testament excellent help has been afforded by many
recent translators, notably by Dr. Moffatt. In a wide experi-
ence among working men and women we have found frequent
requests for a simple version of the Old Testament in similar
language to that employed in the modern versions of the New
Testament. By the generous help of our colleagues in this
enterprise we are able to present a translation that is well
within the reach of everyone, and that rests upon the best
results of modern scholarship.

Literary elegance has been sacrificed to clearness of expression
and simplicity of language. In the present book the wonderful
stories of Genesis, with their abiding charm and permanent
lessons will, we trust, find a new and wider audience as they are
presented, so far as our knowledge goes, in the form in which
they first reached their circle of readers.

We can now definitely promise a continuance of this series,
and further issues will follow shortly. We are grateful for the
reception given to " The Book of Amos," and have tried to
benefit by many helpful criticisms received, for which we are
thankful.

Suggestions and criticisms will be welcomed by us.

G.C.M.
T.H.R.

Note to Second Edition.

The Editors beg to thank their many kindly critics and
reviewers for a number of useful comments, many of which
they have been glad to use in this second impression.

G.C.M.
T.H.R.

CONTENi:S

PAGE

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

The Story of the Beginning of Things, as told in Southern
Israel

The Story of the Beginning of Things, as told in Northern
Israel

The Story of the Beginning of Things, as told by the
Jewish Priests

A Narrative of Uncertain Origin Describing an Invasion
of Palestine by Four Mesopotamian Kings, Con-
temporary with Abraham

Index of Passages . .

THE BOOK OF GENESIS

IN COLLOQUIAL SPEECH.

INTRODUCTION.

WHEN a modern historian seeks to describe the events
of the past, he reads and studies all the ancient records
he can find, and then weighs, combines and interprets
their story in language which is entirely his own, quoting his
authorities and sources of information in footnotes. Not so the
ancient writer, especially in the East. He was content to place
earUer narratives side by side, or even to interweave their
sentences and words, so producing the effect of a mottled cord in
which close examination can detect several different coloured
strands. He might occasionally find it necessary to insert words
to explain the connection between passages, and if the same
phrase or similar phrases occurred in both, repetition would
naturally be avoided. Examples may be seen not only in Arab
historians but in the Old Testament itself, as in the case of
Chronicles, where records derived from the Books of Samuel and
Kings have been combined with other material.

The Book of Genesis seems to have been spun in the main from
three such strands. The first is a collection of stories of the
origin of the world and of the Hebrew people which appear to
have been current in Southern Palestine. Whilst the material
may have been centuries older, handed down from mouth to
mouth, and perhaps existing in written form as separate book-
lets, the compilation probably took place in the middle period
of the Hebrew Monarchies. With this was combined, before
or early in the Exile, another collection of similar narratives
current in Northern Israel, and put together about the same
time as the southern group, or a little later. This may have
begun with the story of the creation, though if so, those who
combined the two groups of narratives selected nothing earlier
than the history of Abraham from the northern collection. The
two groups are often very closely interwoven ; nevertheless, in
Genesis they can be disentangled with comparative certainty,
and the following pages may serve as an illustration of the

completeness with which the compilers preserved the stories
they intertwined.

During or soon after the Exile (say roughly 500 B.C.),
the Jewish priests retold the story from their own point
of view, laying special stress on matters of ritual, genealogies
and exact figures. This narrative was clearly continuous,
though it may have received additions from time to time. It
was eventually — probably after the time of Ezra, say roughly
about 400 B.C. — combined with the existing double narrative,
and the whole forms our present Book of Genesis. This
ecclesiastical work can almost always be recognised, and has been
preserved almost entire.

In the following translation the three strands have been
disentangled, by methods and with results that can be checked
by reference to any modern technical book on the subject.
The reader who is sufficiently interested can compare the three
with one another, with a view to distinguishing their particular
characteristics. These appear especially in cases where the same
story is told by more than one and the separate narratives have
been interwoven in the traditional text. Such, for example, are
the story of the Flood: Southern (p. 14) and Priestly (p. 82) ;
and of Joseph's being carried down to Egypt : Southern (p. 41)
and Northern (p. 69). To enlarge on them at this point
might be wearisome and would certainly be superfluous.

No doubt each of the three strands is composed of earlier
threads of different origins. But for a grasp of the conditions
and an understanding of the narrative, it is not at present
necessary to carry the disentanglement further than has here
been done. It may be added that one narrative, that of ch.
xiv., seems to have come from none of the three longer ones, and
to have been inserted in its present position — quite a suitable
one — in the final compilation of the book. This chapter is
therefore placed by itself at the end.

For principles of translation, the use and impHcations of the
Divine name Yahweh, the fact of growth in the Israelite faith,
the reader is referred to the Introduction to the present
translator's rendering of the Book of Amos, which has already
appeared in this series.

Attention may be called to one or two special points. From
what has already been said it wiU be clear that from time to

time it is necessary to insert a few words in order to make a
connection clear or to secure the continuity of a narrative. In
the following translation such insertions are invariably placed
in parenthesis, and the comparative rarity of this device is
significant for the accuracy of the analysis. Further, the
references in the section-headings are to the whole of the passage
from wliich a narrative has been taken. Thus composite passages
have the same or overlapping references in more than one of the
three divisions of the book.^ In the first and second divisions
the section-titles are due to the translator ; in the third division
they are taken from the text itself.

Before the invention of printing, all books had to be copied
by hand, and, in spite of the greatest care, mistakes would be
made in the process. All our ancient Hebrew copies of Genesis
can be traced back to a form of text current in Palestine. Another
was in use in Egypt, especially amongst the Jews settled in
Alexandria. This was translated into Greek in the third century
B.C., and whilst no Egyptian Hebrew copies have survived, we
have this Greek text. In many places we have reason to believe
that this (called the Septuagint and indicated as LXX) is more
accurate than our Hebrew copies (called the Massoretic text,
and indicated as MT). In such cases it is the Egyptian text
which has been translated, and the fact has been stated in a foot-
note. Sometimes we have reason to believe that both are
mistaken, and are compelled to guess — often with a high degree
of probability — at the writer's original language. Such cases
also are pointed out in footnotes, though where the LXX and
MT agree, the former is not mentioned.

An index of passages will be found at the end of the
translation.

Finally the translator ventures to express the hope that his
work vnll help not a few to a more complete understanding of
the Bible, to a clearer apprehension of God's adaptation
of His truth to different stages in the growth of His people's
mind, and to a fuller appreciation of that developing process
in the revelation of God which found its fulfilment in the
coming of Jesus into our world.

^ An exception has been made in the case of the third division, where the
passages are sometimes widely scattered. In such cases the chapter and
verse are indicated where the text has much matter from other sources in
between two consecutive sentences of the present translation.

GENESIS

THE STORT OF THE

BEGINNING OF THINGS, AS TOLD IN

SOUTHERN ISRAEL.

I. HOW YAHWEH MADE MAN.^

ii. 4-24. Once upon a time, Yahweh made the earth and the
skv. But there were no plants on the earth, and no grass had
begun to grow, because Yahweh had sent no rain down on the
earth, and there was no man to look after the ground. But
floods of water used to rise and soak all the surface of the
ground, and one day Yahweh modelled a man out of earth, and
when he blew into his nose a Hving breath, the man came to
life. Then Yahweh planted a garden to the east in Eden,
where he put the man whom he had modelled. Next he made
all handsome and wholesome trees grow out of the ground, with
the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. There was a river flowing out of
Eden to water the garden, after which it divided into four.
One of these four is called Pishon ; it is the one which flows all
round the land of Havilah where the gold is. The gold of
that land is good, and there are also bdellium and onyx.
The second river is called the Gihon ; it flows all round
Abyssinia. The third river is called the Hiddekel ; it is the one
which flows to the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the
Euphrates. Then Yahweh took the man whom he had modelled
and put him in the garden of Eden, to take care of it and to look
after it, and this was what he told liim, " You may eat of every
tree in the garden, except the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil ; be sure you do not eat of that, for the moment you do
so you will Die."

Then Yahweh thought, " It is not a good thing for the man
to be alone ; I will make him a partner to match him." So he
modelled out of earth all the wild animals and all the birds, and
brought them to the man to see what cry he would utter at the

^ Compare pp. ygff.

sight of them, that whatever cry the man should utter on
seeing each animal might be its name. Thus the man cried names
for all the cattle and birds and wild animals, but, as for himself,
he could not find a partner to match him. Then Yahweh
sent him into a trance, and when he had gone to sleep took one
of his ribs, closing up the flesh after it. When he had built up
the rib he had taken out of the man into a woman, he brought
her to the man, who said, " At last ! This is one of my bones,
part of my flesh ! To her I will cry Wo-man because she
was taken from man." That is why men always leave their
fathers and mothers to keep to their wives, so that they are
really one.

2. HOW MAN LOST PARADISE.

ii. 25-iii. 24. At first both the man and his wife went naked,
without being ashamed. But one day the snake, who was
cleverer than any of the other wild animals which Yahweh
had made, said to the woman, " I suppose God has told you not
to eat from any tree in the garden ? " The woman answered,
" No ; we can eat the fruit of any tree in the garden except
the tree in the middle of the garden. About it God has told
us, * You must not eat it nor even touch it, or you will die.' "

But the snake said to the woman, " Oh, no !• You will not
die ; the fact is God knows that the moment you eat it your
eyes will be open and you will know good from evil, exactly
as God does." So when the woman reahsed that the tree
was wholesome, beautiful, and desirable for its gift of wisdom,
she took some of the fruit and ate it, and gave some too to
her husband, who ate it with her. Then their eyes were
opened, and they understood what it meant to be naked, so
they sewed fig leaves together to make themselves aprons.
When they heard Yahweh walking about in the garden in the
cool of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves in the
trees of the garden, so that he should not see them.

Then Yahweh called out to the man, " Where are you ? "

" I heard you in the garden and hid for fear, because I was
naked."

" Who told you you were naked ? Have you been eating of
the tree I told you not to eat ? "

" It was the woman you put with me who gave me some
of the tree, so I ate it."

Then Yahweh turned to the woman, and asked, " What is this
you 4iave been doing ? "

The woman said, " I ate it because the snake misled me."

Then Yahweh said to the snake, " Because you have done this
you are cursed more than any cattle or any wild animal. You
shall walk on your stomach and eat earth as long as you live. I
will make you and the woman and your children and her
children hate one another ; men shall bruise your head and you
will bruise their heels." Then he turned to the woman, " I
will bring on you many toils and groans ; when your children
are born it shall mean terrible pain to you ; you shall long for
your husband, who shall be your master." Then he turned to
the man, " Because you listened to your wife and ate the tree
I told you not to eat, there is a curse on the ground for your
sake. Your food will cost you trouble as long as you live. The
ground will only grow weeds, and you will have to eat wild
plants. Every meal will have to be won by the sweat of your
face, till you go back to the ground you were taken from. You
are only earth, and must go back to the earth."

Adam gave his wife the name of Eve,^ because she was the
mother of all that lived. Then Yahweh made coats of skin
for the man and his wife, and dressed them in them.

Yahweh thought, " Why, the man has become exactly like
one of us, as far as knowing good from evil is concerned.
Suppose he goes so far as to take some of the tree of Ufe, and
wins immortality by eating it ? " So he sent him away from
the Garden of Eden, to look after the ground from which he had
been taken, driving him out of the garden, and putting in front
of it the Gryphons* wdth a whirling flame-sword, to guard the
path to the tree of life.

3. HOW CRIME BEGAN.

iv. 1-24. Some time after Adam married his wdfe Eve, she
had a son named Cain. She gave him this name, because she
thought she had " gained " him from Yahweh.3 Then again she

^ i.e. "living."

* Beings with animal bodies, birds' wings and human heads.

3 So (apparently) LXX ; MT omits " from."

For notes on LXX and MT see p. 7.

had his brother Abel. Now Abel was a shepherd, Cain a
farmer, so one day when Cain brought Yahweh some of his
crops as a present, Abel brought the first of his flock and
some of their milk as a present. But while Yahweh stopped to
look at Abel and his present, he took no notice of Cain and his
present ; so Cain was very angry and began to frown. Then
Yahweh said to Cain, " Why are you angry f Why are you
frowning ? If you do well, . . .^ but if you do not do well,
then sin Hes crouching outside your door."^

One day Cain said to his brother Abel . . .,3 and when
they were in the country, he attacked him and killed him.
When Yahweh asked Cain where his brother Abel was, he said,
" I do not know. Is it my business to look after my brother ? "
Yahweh said, " What have you done ? Hark ! I can hear your
brother's blood screaming from the ground. A curse on you !
driving you from the ground which has had to open its mouth
to swallow the blood of your brother, which you have given it.
Never again shall the ground give you its strength when you
work at it ; you shall wander homeless throughout the world."
Then Cain answered, " My punishment is too great to bear.
Now that you have driven me from the ground out of your
sight, I must wander homeless through the world ; anyone
who meets me will kill me." So Yahweh, saying, " Very
well ; sevenfold vengeance shall be taken on anyone who
kills Cain," put a mark on him, so that no one who met him
should hurt him. Then Cain went away from Yahweh's
sight, and Uved in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

After Cain married, his wife had a son named Enoch. Then
he built a city, to which he gave his son's name, Enoch. Enoch
was the father of Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael,
and Mehujael was the father of Methuselah, and Methuselah
was the father of Lamech. Lamech married two wives, one
named Ada, and one named Zillah. Ada had a son named
Jabal, who was the first of all the tent-dwelling shepherds. He
had a brother named Jubal, who was the first of all the musicians.

' MT adds " to lift up," but it is probable that some words have been
lost.

* MT adds some words taken from iii. i6.

3 Cain's actual words have been lost in course of the written tradition.

Zillah, too, had a son named Tubal Cain/ who was the first of
all workers in ^ bronze and iron, and he had a sister whose name
was .Naamah.

One day Lamech said to his wives,
Ada and Zillah,

Hear my voice !
Wives of Lamech,

Give ear to my words !
I slay a man for bruising me,

A boy for a blow !
Sevenfold is the vengeance for Cain,
Seventy-seven for Lamech !

4. THE DESCENDANTS OF ADAM.

iv. 25, 26, V. 29. Once more Adam and his wife came
together, and she had a son whom she called Seth, because
she thought God had " set " her another child instead of Abel
whom Cain had killed. Seth, too, had a son whom he called
Enosh, in whose time men began to worship Yahweh.^ . . .
(Lamech had a son) whom he called Noah,3 " because," he said,
" he shall give us resf^ from our work and from the hard labour
on the ground which Yahweh's curse has placed upon us."

5. HOW GIANTS CAME INTO THE WORLD.

vi. 1-4. After a time men grew very numerous on the
ground, and had daughters born to them. The gods saw how
beautiful the human women were, and they married those
whom they liked best. Then Yahweh said, " My spirit shall
not always hve^ in man, because he is made of flesh, so he shall
not Hve longer than a hundred and twenty years." So in those
days, and long afterwards, there were giants who were the
children of the gods who married human wives. They were the
heroes and famous men of old.

' MT " a smith, every worker in."

^ It seems that a section has been omitted here.

3 Meaning " rest."

4 So LXX ; MT " comfort."

5 So LXX 5 MT " judge."

6. HOW YAHWEH SENT THE FLOOD.^

vii. 5-8, vii. i-viii. 22. At length when Yahweh reahsed how
great was the wickedness of men in the world, and that all the
time his thought and mind were utterly bad^ he was sorry
he had ever made man, and greatly troubled by it. So he
thought, " I will wipe out the men I created from the surface
of the earth ;* it is a pity that I made them." But he was
pleased with Noah, and said to him, " Go into an ark with
all your family, for as far as I can see you are the only righteous
man living. Take with you seven each — including male and
female — of every clean animal, and a pair — male and female — of
every unclean one. Seven each, too, of all the clean birds, to
keep their kind alive all over the world. For in seven
days' time I am going to send rain down on the earth for forty
days and nights, to wipe everything I have made off the face of
the earth." So Noah did exactly as Yahweh had told him, and
(went) into the ark to escape the flood. Seven days later the
flood began all over the world, and it rained for forty days and
nights. But Yahweh shut Noah safely in, and when the water
rose it lifted the ark up, so that it floated high above the ground.
Meanwhile everything that breathed and Hved on the land
died ; only Noah and the animals with him in the ark were
left.

At last the rain stopped falHng from the sky, and the water
went steadily back from the earth. After forty days Noah
opened the window which he had made in the ark, and sent out
a dove, to see whether the water had gone down from the surface
of the ground. But the dove could not find a perch to rest on,
so it came back into the ark to him, because there was still
water over all the earth, ajid he put out his hand and drew it
into the ark. Then he sent out a raven,3 which went to and fro
till the water dried up off the earth. Noah waited seven days
more, and then sent out the dove again. It came back in the
evening with a fresh oHve leaf in its beak, so then Noah knew that
the water was going down. Another seven days he waited,
and then sent the dove out again, and this time it did not come

' Compare pp. Szff.

^ MT adds '* man and beast and creeping things and the birds of the sky."

3 MT places the sending of raven before the first sending of dove.

back at all. So Noah took the covering off the ark to look out,
and found that tlie surface of the ground was dry.

Noah built an altar to Yahweh, for which he took some of
all the clean animals and birds. When he sacrificed them,
Yahweh found the smell so "soothing that he said to himself,
" I will never again curse the ground because of man, since
the form of their minds is wrong from their youth, nor will I ever
again destroy all life as I have just done. As long as the earth
lasts, seedtime and harvest, frost and heat, summer and winter,
day and night — these shall never cease."

7. WHY CANAAN WAS CURSED,
ix. 18-27. Shem, Ham — the father of Canaan — , and Japheth
"were the three sons of Noah who came out of the Ark, from
whom all parts of the world were peopled. Now Noah was the
first farmer to plant a vine. One day he got drunk on the wine,
and lay uncovered in his tent. When Ham, the father of
Canaan, saw his father lying naked, he told his brothers outside
the tent, but Shem and Japheth took a blanket and put it on
their shoulders, and walking backwards, covered up their father's
naked body, with their faces turned away so that they could not
see him. But when Noah woke up and found out what his
youngest son had done to him, he said :
" A curse upon Canaan !
The meanest of slaves

Shall he be to his brothers.
May Yahweh bless Shem's tents^

And may Canaan be Shem's slave.
May God expand Japheth,^

That he dwell in the tents of Shem,
And may Canaan be his slave."

8. THE DESCENDANTS OF N0AH.3

• X. 8-30. Cush was the father of Nimrod, who was the first
absolute monarch in the world. He was also a mighty hunter in
the sight of Yahweh, hence the proverb " As mighty a hunter in
the sight of Yahweh as Nimrod." His kingdom began with

' MT has " Blessed is Yahweh the God of Shem." The above rendering
assumes a change in one letter and the transposition of another.
* "Japheth " is said to mean " expansion."
3 Compare pp. 84ff.

Babylon, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar, but
he went out of that country into the land of Assyria, and built
Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Kelah, and Resen, a big city between
Nineveh and Kelah. Egypt was the father of the Ludites, the
Anamites, the Lehabites, the Naphtuhites, the Patrusites, the
Kasluhites and the Cretans, from whom the Philistines sprang.
Canaan was the father of Sidon — his eldest son, — Heth, the
Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites,
the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites and the Hamathites.
Afterwards the tribes of the Canaanites were scattered till their
limits were from Sidon, towards Gerar, to Gaza, towards Sodom,
Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim and Bela.^

Shem, too, Japheth's eldest brother, had sons, for he was
the ancestor of all the sons of Eber. Eber himself had two
sons. One of these was called Peleg,* because in his time the
world was divided, and the other was called Joktan. He was
the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram,
Uzal, Diklah, Ubal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophar, Havilah and
Jobab — all these were sons of Joktan, and their home was from
Mesha towards Sepharah, to the Eastern Mountains.

10. WHY MEN SPEAK DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.

xi. 1-9. To begin with, the whole world had only one
language and form of speech. But as they travelled from the
east, they came to a plain in the land of Shinar, and when they
had lived there for a time, they said to one another, " Come and
let us make bricks and burn them hard," so they used bricks
instead of stone and asphalt instead of mortar. Next they said,
" Let us build ourselves a city with a tower whose top shall reach
the sky, so that we may become famous, or else we may be
scattered over all the earth." Then Yahweh came down to see
the city and the tower which men were building, and said, " They
are all one nation, and have only one language. This is only-
the beginning ; soon there will be no stopping them from any-
thing they make up their minds to do. Come, let us go down
and make their language sound like babbling, so that they
cannot understand one another." Thus Yahweh scattered
them all over the world, and they had to stop building the city.

' MT " Lcsha," but see xiv. 2.
^ i.e., " division."

So they called it Babel, because Yahweh made all the languages
in the world sound like babbhng, and scattered people all over
the earth.

II. HOW YAHWEH CALLED ABRAM.^

xi. 28-xii. 9. . . .=* Haran died before his father Terah,
in the land where he had been born. Abram and Nahor both
married, Abram's wife was named Sarai, and Nahor's wife
Milkah, daughter of Haran, the father of Milkah and Jiskah ;
Sarai had no child. Then Yahweh said to Abram, "You must
leave your home, your relatives and your family, and go to a
country which I will show you, that I may make you the ancestor
of a great nation, giving you prosperity and fame, and making
you a blessing. If men bless you, I will bless them : if they
curse you, I will curse them, and all the nations of the world
shall regard you as a type of the prosperous man." Obeying
Yahweh's instructions, Abram, accompanied by Lot, travelled
steadily through the country till he came to the sanctuary of
Shechem at the oak of Morah. There Yahweh showed himself
to him, promising to give that land to his descendants, though
the Canaanites then lived there, and there Abram built an altar
to Yahweh, who appeared to him. Moving on to the hills east
of Bethel, he encamped with Bethel on the west and Ai on the
east, where he worshipped Yahweh at an altar which he built.
Thence he went by stages to the Negeb.

12. HOW ABRAM WENT TO EGYPT AND WHAT
HAPPENED THERE.

xii. 10-20. Whilst Abram was there, a terrible famine took
place, so he went down to Egypt to stay for a time. Just
before he entered that country he said to his wife Sarai, " You
are such a beautiful woman that when the Egyptians see you and
find out that you are my wife, they will kill me to keep you for
themselves. Pretend to be my sister, and then, not only wall my
life be spared for your sake, but I shall prosper because of you."
So, indeed, it happened. When Abram reached Egypt, the
Egyptians saw what a beautiful woman she was. The king's

I Compare p. 86.

* The beginning of this narrative has not been preserved.

17 2

officers saw her too, and praised her so highly to Pharoah that
she was taken into his harem, while Abram received for her
rich presents of sheep, cattle, he-asses, slaves of both sexes, she-
asses and camels.

But Pharoah and his family suffered terrible diseases because of
Abram's wife, till at last the king sent for him and said,
" What does this mean f Why did you not tell me she was your
wife f Why did you pretend she was your sister and let me
marry her ? There is your wife ; take her away with you."
So saying, Pharoah gave Abram an escort and sent him away
with his wife and all his property.

13. HOW ABRAM AND LOT SEPARATED.^

xiii. I -1 8. Abram was now very rich in cattle, silver and
gold, and when he left Egypt for the Negeb with his wife and
property, Lot was with him. From the Negeb he travelled
by stages as far as Bethel, to his old camping-ground between
Bethel and Ai, where he once more worshipped Yahweh at the
altar he had built there before. One day, in consequence of the
number of sheep, cattle and tents which Lot also possessed,
there was trouble between Abram's shepherds and Lot's.
The country was then in the hands of the Canaanites and
Perizzites, so Abram said to Lot, " We are of the same
family ; neither we nor our shepherds must quarrel. We must
therefore part, and go opposite ways ; take your choice of the
whole country." This was before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah, and as Lot looked over the Jordan plain, he saw that
it was a well watered country. Indeed, it might have been the
very garden of Yahweh, or the approach to Zoan,^ in Egypt. So,
choosing the Jordan plain. Lot travelled eastwards by stages,
camping near Sodom, whose inhabitants were wicked sinners
in the judgment of Yahweh.

After Lot and Abram had thus parted, Yahweh told Abram
to look round him in every direction. " I will give you and
your descendants," he said, " all the land that you can see as a
permanent possession. Your descendants shall be so many that
no one shall be able to count them, unless he can count all the
grains of soil in the world. Do not stay here ; travel over the

1 Compare p. 86.

2 MT Zoar.

land; it is my gift to you." So Abram made a permanent camp
by the oak^ of Mamre, where he built an altar to Yahweh.

14. HOW YAHWEH RATIFIED A COVENANT WITH

ABRAM.2

XV. I-2I. When Yahweh told Abram that his reward would
be very great, the latter said, " But, my Lord Yahweh, what
reward can be given to a childless man like me ? My heir will be
my household slave." But when Yahweh told him that it was
not so, but that a child of his own would be his heir, Abram
trusted Yahweh, and so put himself in the right with Yahweh.
Then Yahweh said to Abram, " I am Yahweh, who brought you
out of the Chaldean Ur, in order to give you possession of this
land." Abram begged for some proof, and Yahweh told him
to get a calf and a she-goat and a ram, each of three years old, and
a dove and pigeon. This he did, and cut each of the animals —
but not the birds — into two, putting the pieces properly opposite
one another. Then he scared away the vultures from the
carcases till nearly sunset, when a terrible gloom fell upon him.
And when the sun had actually set, and it was quite dark, he
saw a smoking furnace, lurid with torchhke flame, passing
between the pieces. Then and there Yahweh made an agree-
ment with Abram, solemnly promising to give his descendants
all that land, from the Egyptian River to the Great River, i.e.
the Euphrates. That included all the land then inhabited by
the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites,
Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.

15. HOW HAGAR SAW YAHWEH.

xvi. I -14. Sarai, Abram's wife, had an Egyptian slave named
Hagar, and one day she said to Abram, " Yahweh has prevented
me from having any children ; suppose you marry my slave,
perhaps I shall get children by her." So Abram obeyed
Sarai and married Hagar, but when Hagar found that she was
about to become a mother, she began to look down on her
mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, " It is your fault, and I
hope you will suffer for it ! I put my slave in your arms, and
now she finds that she is about to become a mother, she

I So LXX i MT plural.
^ Compare pp. 57, 86ff.

looks down on me. May Yahweh avenge me on you ! " Then,
when Abram said, " Your slave belongs to you absolutely ;
do what you Hke with her," Sarai treated her so cruelly that she
ran away from her. But the angel of Yahweh met her at a well
in the desert^ and, speaking to her by name, asked where she
was coming from and where she was going. She said, " I am
running away from Sarai my mistress." The angel said to her,
" Your expected child will be a son, to whom you are to give the
name Ishmael^, because Yahweh has heard your distress. He
will be a wild ass of a man, at war with everybody else, and living
in defiance of all his kindred." So, as Yahweh spoke to her, she
gave him a new name — El-roi^ — because she had seen God-^ and
survived. 5 The well, too, which is between Kadesh and
Bered, received the name of Beer Lahai Roi.

i6. HOW YAHWEH PROMISED ABRAHAM A SON
AND TOLD HIM ABOUT SODOM.

xviii. 1-33. This is how Yahweh shewed himself to Abraham^
at the oak7 of Mamre. Abraham was sitting one day at the door
of his tent in the heat of the day, when suddenly he saw three
men near him. At once he ran from his tent door towards them
and bowed low before them, saying, " Sir, I beg of you to do
me the favour of remaining awhile with your humble servant.
Let them bring you water to wash your feet, and rest under the
tree while I fetch a crust to refresh you before you go on with
your journey. Then you will not have come to my door in
vain." When they agreed^ Abraham hurried into the tent
and told Sarah to take a bushel of the best flour and knead
it into cakes. Then he ran to the herd and chose an ox, tender
and fat, which he gave to a servant, who quickly prepared it.
Then, bringing curds and milk with the ox which he had pre-
pared, he waited on them under the tree while they ate. They
asked him where his wife Sarah was, and he told them she

1 So LXX ; MT adds : " by the well on the way to Shur."

2 i.e., " God hears." 4 MT " hither."

3 i.e., " God sees." 5 MT omits.

^ For the change of name see p. 87. It is possible that only one form
of the name was used in this and the Northern narrative, the alterations
being made when all three were combined.

7 So LXX ; MT plural.

was in the tent. So one of them said, " I will come here again
in a year's time, and Sarah your wife shall have a son," Now
Sarah was behind the door of the tent listening, and both she
andher husband were now too old to expect children. So, with
this fact in her mind, she laughed silently. But Yahweh asked
Abraham, " Why does Sarah laugh, doubting whether she can
have a child ? Is anything too wonderful for Yahweh ? As I
said, in a year's time I will come again, and Sarah shall have
a son." She was so frightened that she denied she had
laughed, but he insisted that she had.

When the men addressed themselves to their journey, looking
towards Sodom, Abraham went with them to put them on their
way. Then Yahweh thought, " Shall I hide what I am about
to do from Abraham ? He is to be the ancestor of a great and
powerful nation, a type for all the world of a prosperous man. 1
know that he will so teach his son and his family that after he is
gone they will still do my will, and I shall be able to do all that
I have promised him." So he said to Abraham, " I have heard
frightful rumours of the appalhng wickedness of Sodom and
Gomorrah. I am therefore on my way down to Sodom, to
find out whether the rumours which have reached me are true
or not." But when the men turned towards Sodom, Yahweh
stayed with Abraham,^ and the latter, humbly approaching
him, said, " Surely you would not destroy good and bad alike ?
Suppose there are fifty good men in the city, would you not spare
it for their sakes ? Surely you cannot do such a thing as this ?
Surely you must make some distinction between the good and
the bad ? Surely the judge of the whole world will himself act
justly ? "

" If I find fifty good men there," Yahweh answered, " I will
spare the city for their sake."

" Humble and insignificant as I am," Abraham answered,
" I have had the audacity to speak to Yahweh. Suppose there
are five short of the fifty ? Would you destroy the city for
the sake of five ? "

" If I find forty-five good men there I will not destroy the
city."

^ Altered by the Jewish Scribes into "Abraham. . . . Yahweh," because
they thought the original form blasphemous.

" Suppose there are only forty ? "

" If there are forty there I will not destroy it."

" O Lord, do not be angry if I ask, Suppose there are only

thirty ? "

" If I find thirty there, I will not destroy it."

" I am bold enough to ask again, Suppose there are only

twenty ? "

" If I find there twenty, for their sake I will not destroy it."
" Do not be angry ; this is the last time I shall speak. Suppose

there are only ten .? "

" For the sake of ten I will spare the city." So Yahweh

ended his conversation with Abraham, who went back to hir

tent.

17. HOW SODOM WAS DESTROYED AND LOT
ESCAPED.

xix. 1-28. When the two angels reached Sodom that evening
Lot was sitting at the city gate, and on seeing them he rose and
greeted them with a low bow. Rising, he begged them to take
shelter for the night in his house, and to wash their feet, that
in the morning they might go on their way. On their saying
that they preferred to stay in the open street, he pressed them
till they came to his house, where he had prepared for them a meal
and had baked unleavened cakes for them to eat. Before they
lay down for the night, the house was surrounded by a crowd
containing every man in the city, whatever his age was,
shouting to Lot, " Where are the visitors who came to you
to-night ? Bring them out to us that we may abuse them."
Lot himself went out to them, shutting the door behind him,
and implored them to desist from their foul purpose. Indeed, he
went so far as to offer to place at their absolute disposal his two
virgin daughters, if only they would not molest these men who
had accepted the shelter of his roof. But all they said was, " Be
off!" "This fellow came alone, a foreigner, and now he is
trying to set himself up as our judge ! " "We will treat you
worse than them ! " and with the words they mobbed him and
tried to get to the door to break it in. At last the visitors
interfered, and dragged Lot into the house, shutting the door,
whilst they blinded the men, great and small, who were round
the door, so that they failed to find it. Then, turning to Lot,

they said, " If you have here in this city any relative by
marriage, any son or daughter or another whom you cnro for, get
them out at once. We are about to destroy the wliolc place.
Yahweh has received such reports of them that he has sent us
to wipe them out." So Lot went to his* prospective sons-in-
law, and bade them instantly leave the city, for Yahweh was
about to destroy it. But they thought he was joking.

The dawn was already breaking when the visitors began to
hurry Lot away. " Bestir yourself," they said, *' take your wife
and the two daughters whom you have here at hand or you will
share the punishment of the city." Finding that he still
hesitated, through Yahweh's compassion on him, they gripped
them all four by the hand, drove them out and left them outside
the city. When they had them there, they said to him, " Fly
for your life to the hills. Do not stop to look behind you, or
you are doomed." Lot replied: " Oh, sir, I would beg of you
the favour of adding to the kindness which you have already
shown in saving my life. I cannot fly to the hills or fatal
disaster will overtake me. This city — it is only a small one —
offers a convenient refuge. Let me fly to it to save my hfe." He
answered, " Your request is granted ; this city of which you
have spoken shall not be destroyed. But make good your
escape to it with all speed, for I can do nothing until you reach
it." That is why its name is Zoar.^ Then, just at sunrise, as
Lot entered Zoar, Yahweh poured down from ^ the sky on Sodom
and Gomorrah floods of sulphurous flame, destroying those
cities and, indeed, the whole plain, with all its inhabitants and
all vegetation. But Lot's vdfe had looked behind and had
become a pillar of salt.

Next morning, when Abraham went out to the spot where
he had stood with Yahweh, on looking towards Sodom and
Gomorrah and the plain, he saw the smoke of the land going
up like the smoke of a furnace.

i8. OF LOT AND HIS DAUGHTERS,
xix. 30-38. Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar, so he went up
with his two daughters to the hills, and lived in a cave there.
One day the elder daughter reminded her sister that their

^ i.e., " little."

* MT adds "from Yahweh."

father was an old man, and that there were no men there to
marry them as happened to everyone else. So she suggested that
they should make their father drunk and take advantage of
his condition to get children by him. So that night they made
their father drunk with wine, and the elder lay with him with-
out his being aware of her coming or going. Next day she
said to her sister, " I have lain with my father ; to-night let us
make him drunk vidth wine again, that you in turn may lie with
him, and we may get children of our father." So that night too
they made him drunk with wine, and the younger took the step
of lying with her father, without his knowing when she came or
went. Thus Lot's two daughters became mothers by their
father, the elder having a son to whom she gave the name of
Moab — the ancestor of the modern people of Moab — and the
younger having a son to whom she gave the name of Ben Ammi —
the ancestor of the modern people of Ammon.

19. HOW ISAAC WAS BORN.

xxi. 1-7. In fulfilment of the promise which Yahweh had
made to Sarah, she bore Abraham a son in his old age. She said,
" Who would have told Abraham that Sarah is suckling children,
or that I have borne him a son in his old age .? ^Everyone who
hears of it will laugh at me ! "^

20. HOW ABRAHAM MADE A TREATY WITH
ABIMELECH.2

xxi. 25-33. . . .3 Every time Abraham began to discuss
with Abimelech the question of the wells'^ which the latter's
men had appropriated, he would deny all knowledge of the
matter, and say, "You never said a word about it to me
before, nor have I heard of it from any other source till this
moment." So one day Abraham set seven lambs apart by
themselves, and when Abimelech asked him the meaning of his
action, he rephed, '' Be good enough to accept these seven lambs
from me, in recognition of the fact that it was I who dug these

^ MT has these words before the preceding sentence.
* Compare p. 59.

3 The beginning of this narrative has not been preserved.

4 SoLXX; MT has the singular.

wells." When they had thus made an agreement, Abraham
planted a tamarisk tree and worshipped Yahweli, the eternal
God, there. He afterwards stayed on for a long time in
Phili^ia.

21. OF ABRAHAM'S RELATIVES IN HARAN.

xxii. 20-24. News came to Abraham that his brother Nahor
and Milcah his wife had had the following children : The eldest
was Huz, and with him was born Buz. Then followed Kemuel,
the ancestor of the Syrians, Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and
Bethuel, the father of Rebecca. These eight were the children
of Nahor and Milcah, Abraham's brother. He also had a
secondary wife named Reumah, whose children were Tebah,
Gaham, Tahash and Maacah.

22. HOW REBECCA WAS BROUGHT TO ISAAC.

xxiv. 1-67. Yahweh had now bestowed prosperity on
Abraham in all his undertakings, till at last, feeling that old
age was coming over him, he sent for the eldest of his slaves,
whom he had made supervisor of all his property, and gave him
a solemn charge. " Swear to me," he said, " by Yahweh, God
of Heaven, with your hand under my thigh, that you will not
marry Isaac my son to a woman of the Canaanites in whose
midst I hve, but that you will go to my own family to find a wife
for him."

" But," objected the slave, " suppose she will not follow me
to tliis country ? In that case am I to take your son back to the
country you have left ? "

" Not on any account ! It was Yahweh, God of the sky,
who brought me from my father's home where I was born, and
promised me with an oath that he would give me this land. Be
assured then that he will prepare the way for you in his own
fashion, and that you will succeed in getting my son a wife
from there. But should she by any chance refuse to follow you,
then you will be absolved from this oath of yours. But under
no circumstances may you take my son back." On this under-
standing the slave gave Abraham his master the required oath,
jvith his^hand under his thigh..

Shortly afterwards the slave began his journey with ten of hi?
master's camels and all kinds of valuable presents from his master,
and eventually reached Aram Naharaim, where Nahor lived.
In the evening, as the women came out to draw water, he made
his camels kneel by the well outside the city, and prayed, " O
Yahweh, my master's God, grant that thy favour may now be
shewn to my master Abraham. Here I sit by the well, while
the women of the city come out to draw water. Grant me this
proof of thy kindness to my master. If I speak to a girl and ask
her to let down her pitcher for me to drink, and she offer not
only to give me drink, but also to draw water for the camels,
may it be she whom thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac."
The words were not well out of his mouth when there came from
the city Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah and
Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher on her shoulder, a
very beautiful girl, still unmarried. She went down to the
well to fill her pitcher, and as she came up the slave ran to her
and begged for a drop of water to drink from her pitcher.
" Certainly, sir," she said, and at once let down the pitcher
on her hand. When he had drunk all he needed, she offered
to draw water for all the camels to drink. So she quickly
emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well and
drew water for all the camels to drink, while the man watched
her in silence, wondering whether Yahweh had given his
journey a prosperous end or not. At last the camels finished
drinking, and then the man took a golden ring of half-an-ounce
weight and ^put it in her nose^ and put two golden bracelets
of ten ounces on her wrists, as he asked her, " Whose daughter are
you ? Is there room in your father's house for us to spend the
night ? " She answered that there was plenty of litter and
fodder, and room for them to spend the night. On hearing this
the man bowed in prayer before Yahweh, saying, " Blessings on
Yahweh, the God of Abraham my master ! He has not ceased
to be loving and faithful to my master. I had only to begin
my journey for Yahweh to lead me to the home of my master's
family.'"

Rebecca had a brother named Laban, and when the girl ran
in and told her mother's family what had happened, and he

^ I MT omits,

saw the ring and the bracelet? on his sister's wrists and licard her
telling them what the man had said to her, 'he rushed out to the
welP and found the man standing by the camels near it. " Come
in ! ^ he cried, " with Yahweh's blessing. Do not wait out-
side ; I have cleared the house and made room for the camels."
So he brought* the man into the house and untied the camels,
giving them litter and fodder, whilst he had water brought to
wash the feet of the man and those who were with him. Food
was then set before him, but he refused to eat until he had told
his story. On receiving permission to speak, he thus began :

" I am the slave of Abraham. Yahweh has bestowed great
prosperity on my master, raising him to a high position, and
giving him flocks and herds, silver and gold, slaves of both
sexes, camels and asses. Now Sarah, my master's wife, has had
one son, born in 3his father's^ old age, and he is leaving to him
all his property. He made me swear that I would not find him
a wife from the Canaanites in whose land he is living, but would
come to the old home where his family still lived to find a wife
for his son. When I asked him what I should do in case the
woman refused to follow me, he said, ' Yahweh, in whose
presence I live, will prepare the way for you in his own fashion,
and the result of your journey will be that you will succeed in
bringing a wife for my son from my own family and my father's
home. All that is required of you to secure freedom from my
curse is to go to my family ; if they refuse to grant the request,
then you are absolved from the oath.' So when I came to the
well to-day, I prayed, ' O Yahweh, God of my master Abraham,
if thou wilt indeed make my journey a success, then here I
stand by the well ; if, when I ask a woman who comes out to
draw water, to give me a little to drink, she not only gives me
a draught, but also offers to draw for my camels, then may she
be the woman whom thou hast appointed for my master's son.'
Before the words were well out of my mouth I saw Rebecca
coming out vsdth her pitcher on her shoulder and going down
to draw water. I asked her for a drink, and she not only lowered
her pitcher quickly but also offered to get water for the camels.
So when I and they had drunk, I asked her whose daughter she

^ ^ MT has these words after " happened."

* MT has '* came."

3 3 SoLXX; MT has "her."

was, and she told me that she was the daughter of Bethuel the
son of Milcah and Nahor. So I fell down and worshipped
Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, because he had led
me straight to the niece of my master for his son. Tell me then
whether you intend to treat me kindly and honourably or not,
that I may know which way to go."

When they heard this, Laban and Bethuel answered, " This is
Yahweh's doing ; we can say nothing whatever to it. Here is
Rebecca ; take her with you, to be the wife of your master's
son, as Yahweh has said." On hearing this Abraham's slave
first bowed down in thanksgiving to Yahweh, and then brought
out various articles of silver and gold and clothing which he gave
to Rebecca, not forgetting to bestow presents on her brother
and mother. Then he and his men had their supper and spent
the night there, and in the morning he asked to be allowed to
go to his master. And when her mother and brother begged that
that the girl might stay with them a few days longer before
starting, he said, " Do not stop me, since Yahweh has so far
made my journey a success ; let me go to my master." They
answered that they would call the girl and let her decide. So,
calling Rebecca, they asked her whether she would go with the
man, and when she agreed, they sent her away with her nurse
and Abraham's slave and his men. This is the blessing that they
pronounced over Rebecca :

" Our Sister, become thou a thousand myriads !
May thy seed possess the gate of their foes ! "

So the man took Rebecca, and she and her maidens followed
him on camels. By this time Isaac had moved from ^the desert
oi^ Beer Lahai Roi, and was living in the Negeb. One evening as
he wandered in the country, he looked up suddenly and saw
camels coming. At the same moment Rebecca, too, looked up,
and on seeing Isaac, she dismounted from her camel. Then
she asked the slave who it was coming to meet her, and on
learning from him that it was his master, she wrapped her veil
about her. Then the slave told Isaac all that had happened,
so he took Rebecca into *his tent^ and married her, finding
in his love for her consolation for the death of his mother.

••■I So probably LXX ; MT " going into."
■••* MT " the tent of his mother, Sarah."
?8

23- OF ABRAHAM'S OTHER CHILDREN
XXV. 1-6, 1 8. A.braham married a second wife whose name was
KenVrah. Her children were Zimran, Jokshar, Medan, IMidian,
Jishban and Shuah. Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan,
and the descendants of Dedan were the Asshurites, the Letu-
shites and the Leummites, while the descendants of Midian
were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Eldaah. These were
the children of Keturah. To Isaac Abraham gave all his
property, while to the children of his secondary wives he gave
presents during his life-time, and sent them away eastwards, so
that they should not interfere with his son Isaac, who made his
home at Beer Lahai Roi. And (Ishmael) spread from Havilah to
Shur, on the borders of Egypt.

24. ON THE BIRTH OF ESAU AND JACOB.

XXV. 21-28. For a long time Rebecca had no children, but at
last, in answer to Isaac's earnest entreaties, Yahweh allowed her
to become a mother. Even before they were born, the children
struggled within her, till she said, " If this is what motherhood
means, why has it come upon me ? " In her trouble she went
to enquire of the oracle of Yahweh, and she was told : —
" Nations twain thou bearest,

Two peoples from thee shall break forth :
The one shall master the other,

The elder the slave of the younger."
At last her time came and the twins were born. The first one
was red all over, and as rough as a hairy garment, so he was
called Esau.^ The other was born with his hand gripping
Esau's heel, so he was called Jacob. ^ As the lads grew up, Esau
became a hunter, living in the open country, whilst Jacob was a
civihsed man with a home in a tent ; and Isaac, being fond of
venison, preferred Esau, whilst Jacob was Rebecca's favourite.

25. HOW ISAAC WENT TO GERAR AND WRAT
HAPPENED THERE,
xxvi. 1-22. In consequence of a famine — not the one in the
time of Abraham — Isaac went to the PhiHstine king Abimelech

^ The meaning of this name is uncertain.
* i.e., " takes by the heel."

at Gerar. There Yahweh shewed himself to him, saying,
" Do not go down to Egypt : stay in the land of which I tell
you. If you are content to live as a foreigner in the country,
then I will stay with you and make you prosperous, giving you
and your descendants all this country, thereby fulfilling the oath
which I made to your father Abraham, I will make your
descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, giving them
all this country, so they shall be the type of prosperity for all
the world. For Abraham obeyed me and kept my trust."
So Isaac stayed at Gerar, and when its people asked him about
Rebecca, he pretended she was his sister, for she was so beautiful
that he was afraid that if he admitted she was his wife they
would kill him in order to get her for themselves. Time passed
and one day Abimelech looked through a window and saw Isaac
in familiar intercourse with his wife. So he sent for Isaac, and
asked him why he had pretended that she was his sister when
all the time she was his wife. Isaac told him he was afraid
he might be killed because of her. Then Abimelech said,
" What have you been doing to us .? One of us might easily
have married your wife, and so have brought guilt upon us."
So Abimelech issued orders to all his people that anyone who
interfered with the man or with his wife should be put to death.

Whilst in that country Isaac engaged in farming, and in that
year, through the blessing of Yahweh, he reaped a hundredfold.

So he kept on getting richer and richer, till he had such
enormous flocks and herds, and so many slaves, that the Philis-
tines grew jealous of him. They stopped and filled with earth
all the wells which the slaves^ of his father Abraham had dug
a generation before. When, therefore, Abimelech asked Isaac
to go away because he was too powerful for them, he made his
home at Nahal Gerar, where he once more opened the wells
they had dug in the days of his father, but which the Philistines
had stopped after Abraham's death, giving them the same
names as his father had done. But when Isaac's men dug a well
and found fresh water, the shepherds of Gerar clairned the water
as against the shepherds of Isaac, so they gave it the name of
Beer Eshek^ because there they vexed one another. They then

^ So LXX ; MT adds " in the days."
^ i.e., " well of vexation."

dug another well, and the Philistines claimed that also, so they
called it Sitnah.^ A third time he dug a well, and there was no
dispute over this, so it was called Rclioboth,* because, he said,
*' At last Yahweh has made room for us to expand, and we shall
become numerous in the land."

26. HOW YAHWEH APPEARED TO ISAAC.

xxvi. 23-25. From there Isaac went to Beersheba, where
Yahweh appeared to him on the night of his arrival, and said,
*' I am the God of your father Abraham. I am with you, so
you have nothing to fear, and I will give you prosperity and make
your descendants very numerous for the sake of my servant
Abraham." So building there an altar, he worshipped Yahweh,
and made his camp near by, whilst his men once more dug a
well.

27. HOW BEERSHEBA GOT ITS NAME.3

xxvi. 26-33. O^^ ^^Y Abimelech, with Ahuzzath, his chief
minister, and Picol, his commander-in-chief, came to Isaac from
Gerar. Isaac was surprised to see them, because they hated him
and had expelled him from amongst them, so he asked them why
they had come. They answered, " We can see clearly that Yahweh
is on your side, so we should like to have an agreement with
you, confirmed by an oath that you will do us no harm, for we
did not hurt you but were kind to you and let you go safely, and
now you have received prosperity from Yahweh." Then Isaac
prepared a meal for them, in the morning they made an oath
to one another, and the PhiHstines left Isaac safely. That
very day his men came to tell him that water had been found
in the well they were digging, so they called it Shibeah,^ from
which comes the modern name Beersheba.

27. HOW JACOB STOLE A BLESSING.s

xxvii. 1-45. As Isaac grew old his sight failed, and one day
he called Esau, his elder son (and said to him) " Take your
weapons, quiver and bow, into the open country, and hunt

I i.e., " hostility." 2 ,-,^,^ » room."

3 Compiire p. 59. ^ i.e., " oath."

5 Compare pp. 6if., gof.

venison, and bring it me to eat." But Rebecca heard what
Isaac said to his son Esau, and when he had gone out into the
open country to hunt venison for his father,^ she said to her
younger son Jacob, " I have this moment heard your father
tell Esau your brother to bring him venison, that he may eat in
the presence of Yahweh. Now listen to me. (Go to the flock
and bring a kid, that I may cook it for you to take to your father
to eat.)" Then she took the best clothes of Esau her elder son,
for she had them in the house, and dressed her younger son Jacob
in them. Then he went in to his father, and Isaac asked his
son how it was that he had so quickly found venison.

" Yahweh, your God," he rephed, " drove it in front of me."
" Are you really my son Esau ? " again Isaac asked.
" Yes," he said.

" Bring it to me, and let me eat some of your venison, my
son, so that I may be inspired to bless you."

So he brought it to him, and he ate it, and he brought him
wine which he drank. Then his father Isaac said, " Come here,
my son, and let me kiss you," and when he came, as he kissed
him he smelt his clothes, and gave him this blessing :
" See ! my son smelleth

As a field that Yahweh hath blessed !
Nations shall serve thee.

Peoples bow down to thee ;
Cursed be they that curse thee,
Blessed be they that bless thee."

Hardly had Isaac finished blessing Jacob (when Esau came
in) and asked his father to eat of his son's venison. Isaac was
suddenly terrified, and said, "Who then was it who came in
with venison which he brought me, and I ate it and blessed
him ? " When Esau heard his father's words, he broke into a
loud and bitter cry, " Bless me, also, my father ! " ^But Isaac
was silent,^ and Esau cried aloud with bitter tears.

Then Esau thought, " My father will die soon, and then I
can lull my brother Jacob." But Rebecca heard of what her
elder son had said, so she sent for her younger son Jacob, and
said to him, " I find that your brother Esau means to be revenged

' So LXX ; MT " to bring it in."
2 2 So LXX; MT omits.

on you. Listen to me and fly at once to my brother Laban in
Haran, and stay with him for a time, while your brother's anger
cools. When he ceases to be angry with you and has forgotten
what you have done to him, I will send there and bring you
back. I do not want to lose you both on the same day."

28. HOW JACOB FOUND YAHWEH AT BETHEL.^

xxviii. 10-19. (One night), as Jacob was travelling from
Beersheba to Haran, he found Yahweh standing beside him and
saying, " I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and
of Isaac. I will give to you and to your descendants the land
on which you are lying. Your descendants shall be as the grains
of the soil, for you shall spread to the east and to the west and
to the north and to the south, so that every tribe of men shall
regard you and them as the true type of prosperity. I will
be with you, and will keep you wherever you go till I bring you
back to this land again. I will never leave you till I have done
what I have promised." So when Jacob woke up, he said,
" Surely Yahweh lives in this place — and I did not know it ! "
Then he called the place Bethel,^ though its earUer name was
Luz.

29. HOW JACOB CAME TO LABAN.3

xxix. I -1 5. Jacob travelled on, till one day he saw a well in
the open country, with three flocks resting beside it. This
was the well from which water used to be brought for the
flocks, but there was a large stone over the mouth of it, so they
used to wait till all the flocks had gathered there, and then roll
away the stone to water them, replacing it when they had done.
Jacob asked where they had come from, and when they told
him they came from Haran, he asked whether they knew
Laban, the son of Nahor. They told him they did, so Jacob
asked, " Is he weU ? "

" Yes," they said, " he is ; and here is his daughter Rachel
coming with his flock."

" It is still too early in the day," he went on, "to collect the
sheep for the night ; why not water the flocks and go on feeding
them ? "

^ Compare pp. 6zi. ^ i.e., " Home of God."

3 Compare pp. 63!.

33 3

" We cannot do that," they answered, " till all the flocks arc
here, then they will roll away the stone from the mouth of the
well and give the sheep water." During the conversation
Rachel, who was a shepherdess, came up with her father's
flock, and when Jacob saw his cousin with his uncle's sheep,
he came and rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well
and gave water to Laban's flock. Then he kissed Rachel,
weeping aloud for joy, and telling her that he was a relation of
her father's, the son of Rebecca. She ran at once to tell her
father, and as soon as he heard of Jacob, he in turn ran to meet
him with embraces and kisses. Then he brought him into his
house, and Jacob told him his whole story. When Laban heard
it he said, " You really are the nearest of relatives to me,"
so Jacob stayed with him for about a month.

30. HOW JACOB GOT HIS WIVES AND CHILDREN.^

xxix. 18-XXX. 24. Jacob fell in love with Rachel, and offered
to be Laban's servant for seven years in return for her hand.
Laban answered, "It is better for me to give her to you than
to anyone else ; stay here with me." He loved her so much
that the time seemed very short to him, but at last the day came
when he could say to Laban, " My time is up ; let me marry my
bride." So Laban invited all the people of the place to the
wedding feast, but when the evening came it was his daughter
Leah instead of Rachel whom he married to Jacob. The next
morning Jacob found out that it was Leah, and remonstrated
with Laban, charging him with having cheated him because he
had bargained for Rachel. Laban said, " That would have been
impossible ; in our country the elder daughter is always married
first. But if you will finish the week's festivities, then we will
give you Rachel also, on condition that you give me seven years
more service for her." Jacob agreed, and at the end of the
week he married Rachel, whom he loved more than Leah, and
willingly gave another seven years' service for her.

Yahweh found that Leah was dishked by her husband, so,
while Rachel was childless, he gave Leah children. She called
her first child — a boy — Reubenj^* thinking that Yahweh had
looked at her distress, and that her husband would now love .

' Compare pp. 63f. ^ i.e.^ " See I a son."

her. She then had another son, to whom she gave the name
Simeon,' " For," she said, " Yahweh has given me this because
he heard that my husband did not Hke me." When her third
son was born she said, " I have given my husband three sons ; he
will certainly be attached to me now." So she called him
Levi.^ Then she had a fourth son, whom she called Judah,"*
saying, " This time I will praise Yahweh " ; and after his birth
she had no more children for a time.

When Rachel realised that she was having no children (she
gave her slave Bilhah to Jacob) that she might have children by
her. Leah, too, found she had no more children, so she gave
her slave Zilpah to Jacob to marry. Zilpah had a son, and
Leah said, " Good luck," and called him Gad.'^ Then Zilpah
had another son, and Leah said, " How happy 1 What happiness
is mine ! The women will call me happy," so she gave him the
name of Asher.5

During the wheat harvest, Reuben went into the open country,
where he found some mandrakes which he brought to hi? mother
Leah. Rachel asked her to give her some of her son's man-
drakes. Leah answered, " Is it not enough for you to take away
my husband, that you should want to take away my son's
mandrakes as well ? " Then Rachel offered to let her spend the
night with her husband in return for some of her son's man-
drakes, and when Jacob came home from the country in the
evening, Leah met him outside and told him of the bargain she
had made with her son's mandrakes, and how he mnst spend the
night vnth her. . . .^ and she called the second Zebulun,7
thinking that now she had had six sons, her husband would never
desert her. She also had a daughter whom she called Dinah.

About the same time (Yahweh) also allowed Rachel to have
a son, whom she called Joseph,^ saying, " May Yahweh give
me another ! "

^ i.e.j "hearing."
*i.e., "attachment."

3 i.e., " praise."

4 i.e.y "luck."

5 i.e., " happjr."

^ A portion of the narrative has not been preserved.

7 i.e., " gift," or " honour."

8 i.e., " may he add."

31. HOW JACOB GOT HIS FLOCKS.^

XXX. 25-43. After the birth of Joseph, Jacob asked Laban
to let him go back to his own home. Laban answered, " Let
me beg of you to stay here as a favour to me. I have been taking
omens, and I find it is on your account that Yahweh has sent
me prosperity."

Jacob said, " You know how I have served you, and how
your flocks have grown under my care. When I came, you
had only a Httle ; now it has expanded into a great deal, for
Yahweh has brought you prosperity wherever I have been. Is
it not time that I did something for my own family ? "

" What shall I give you ? " asked Laban.

Jacob repHed : " You need give me nothing ; if you will
do what I ask you, I will undertake the care of^ your sheep
again. I only ask that you shall separate from them all the
spotted and speckled animals, and all the black lambs." At
once Laban removed all the spotted and speckled goats with
white on them, both male and female, and all the black lambs.
These he handed over to his sons, sending them three days'
journey away from Jacob, who now had charge of all the rest
of Laban's flock. Then Jacob took switches cf poplar, almond
and plane, and peeled off the bark in patches, so as to show the
white. These prepared switches he put before the sheep in the
water troughs when they came to drink in the breeding season,
so that they bred amongst the switches. The result was that
the young were spotted and speckled, and Jacob set these apart,
not including them with Laban's flock, but making a flock of
his own. He used to put the switches in the troughs when the
stronger animals were breeding, but not in the case of the
weaker ones, so that the deUcate beasts were Laban's and the
hardy ones Jacob's, Thus his property grew rapidly, and he
became rich in flocks, in slaves of both sexes, in camels and in
asses.

32. HOW JACOB LEFT LABAN.3

xxxi. 1-53. As time went on, Jacob heard of the com-
plaints of Laban's sons, " Jacob has taken all our father
had ; it is out of our father's property that he has gained all

' Compare p. 64. ^ So LXX ; MT adds " I will watch over."
3 Compare pp. 6^S.

this wealth," whilst Yaliweh bade him go back to his native
land and his father's home, at the same time promising to be
with him. So one day, when Laban had gone to shear his
sheep, Jacob fled with all his property across the Euphrates and
travelled towards the Gilead hills. Laban pursued him and
camped on Mount Gilead, whilst Jacob camped on Mizpah.

(Laban said) " Why did you deceive me by steahng away in
flight without telling me ? I would have set you on your way
with happy song and the music of tambourine and harp."

(He answered) " I was afraid you would take your daughters
from me."

Then Jacob grew angry and began to accuse Laban, *' Twenty
years was I with you ; your sheep and goats never failed with
their young, I never ate your rams, I never brought you animals
that had been torn by wild beasts — I bore the loss myself, and
you always used to take the full price from me, whether it was
lost by day or by night. I have perished with heat by day and
with cold by night, and small has been my sleep. Come, let
us make an agreement, you and I, building a heap of stones as a
memorial." So, at Jacob's orders, his kinsmen gathered
stones into a heap, by which they ate a solemn meal. Laban
called the heap " Jegar Sahaduthah,"^ and Jacob " Gilead,"^
" For," he^ said, " this heap is a witness between us." Laban
answered, " Yes, this heap of stones which I have built is
witness ; I wall not pass this heap to attack you, and you shall
not pass it to attack me. May the God of Abraham and the
God of Nahor3 judge between us ! "

33. HOW JACOB MET ESAU, AND WHAT liAPPENED

AT PENUEL.4
xxxii. 4-xxxiii. 17. Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to
Esau his brother in the land of Seir, telling them to give this
message to Esau : " I, your servant Jacob, have been visiting
Laban, and during the years that I have spent with him I
have gained cattle and asses and flocks and slaves, both male
and female ; therefore I am now sending to tell you, in the

^ Both these names mean " heap of witness."
a MT has " Laban."

3 So LXX ; MT adds " the God of their fathers."
♦ Compare pp. 66f.

hope that you may regard me with favour." When the
messengers returned, they told Jacob that they had come to his
brother Esau, and found him coming to meet Jacob with an
escort of four hundred men. Terrified and distressed by the
news, Jacob divided into two companies all the people who were
with him, also the flocks, the herds and the camels, in the hope
that if Esau found and destroyed one of them, the other might
escape. Then he prayed this prayer : " O Yahweh, God of
my father Abraham and of my father Isaac, who didst bid me
return to the land of my birth that thou mightest grant me
prosperity, too small am I for all the acts of kindness and fidelity
which thou hast shown to me. With nothing but my staff
I crossed this Jordan, and now I have grown into two companies.
Save me, I beseech thee, from the grasp of my brother Esau,
for I fear lest he come and smite me, mothers and children too.
But thou didst promise to grant me prosperity, and to make my
descendants as the sands on the sea-shore, whose grains are too
many to be counted." So he stayed where he was that night.

During the night he took his two wives, his two female slaves
and his eleven children and sent them across the ford of the
Jabbok, whilst he himself was left alone on the other side.
There a man wrestled with him until daybreak, and as he
wrestled the socket of Jacob's thigh was put out. Then the
man asked him what his name was, and when he said " Jacob,"
he said, " Your name shall no longer be Jacob ; from now onward
it shall be Israel,^ because you have successfully wrestled with
God and man." And as the sun rose, he crossed Penuel, hmping
because of his thigh. That is why even the modern Israelites
do not eat from the socket of the thigh, because it was there on
the nerve of the thigh he touched Jacob.

When Jacob saw Esau coming with his four hundred men, he
arranged his children with their respective mothers, putting
the slave-wives and their children in front, then Leah and
her children, and finally Rachel and Joseph, whilst he
himself went on in front of them all, bowing low seven times
as he approached his brother. But Esau ran to meet him, falling
on his neck with tears of joy. When he saw the women and
children, he asked who they were.

' i.e., wrestler with God."

So the slave-wives and their children came up with low bows ;
then, in the same way, Leah and her children and Joseph and
Rachel.

Then Esau asked, " What was the company I met ? "

And Jacob rephed, " I sent them in the hope of securing your
favour."

Esau said, " I have all I need, brother, keep what is your
own."

But Jacob pressed him with the words, " Not so ! If you
really regard me with favour, accept this present from me,"
and at last he agreed to take it. Then Esau said, " Let us
move forward, while I go in front." This Jacob refused,
saying, " You can see for yourself that the children are tender-
footed, and that I have with me suckling sheep and cattle who
will all die if they are over-driven even for a single day. Go
on ahead, I beg of you, and I will follow slowly, at the pace of
the flocks and the children, to rejoin you at Seir." " But at
least," said Esau, " let me give you some of my men as escort."
When Jacob again begged to be excused Esau turned back
at once towards Seir, while Jacob moved to Succoth. There
he built a house for himself, and sheds for his cattle, so the place
received the name of Succoth.^ »

34. HOW SIMEON AND LEVI SLEW THE
SHECHEMITES.2

xxxiv. 3-31. (Shechem, the son of Hamor) became enamoured
of Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and so strong was his passion
for the girl that he carried her off and ravished her by force.
The news came to Jacob, but as his sons were all away in the
country wdth the sheep, he remained quiet till they came back.
When they heard of it, they came home in bitter sorrow and
hot anger, for the violation of Jacob's daughter was a scandalous
folly which had no place in IsraeHte Hfe. Shechem, however,
said to her father and brothers, " If you will regard me with
favour, I wall do whatever you may tell me. Make the marriage
price as high as ever you please, and I will comply with your
demands, if you wall allow me to marry the girl." But

' i.e., •' sheds."
* Compare pp. 6jf.

Jacob's sons could not forget what Shechem had done to their
sister, so they gave him a deceitfuP answer. The young man
fulfilled their conditions without delay, for he was deeply in love
with Jacob's daughter, and was the most important member of
his family. But two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, who
were Dinah's full brothers, went sword in hand into the un-
suspecting city, and massacred every male indiscriminately,
including Shechem,* and carried Dinah off from his house,
because he^ had ravished their sister. Then Jacob said to
Simeon and Levi, " You have brought terrible trouble on me,
for you have given me a most unsavoury reputation in the
country. Our numbers are small and if they combine against
us they will utterly destroy me and my family." But they replied,
" Surely we could not let him treat our sister as a harlot ? ."

35. HOW REUBEN SINNED.

XXXV. 21, 22. Moving thence, Israel camped on the further
side of Migdal Eder. And there one day Reuben committed
incest with his father's secondary wife, Bilhah. When Jacob
heard of it . . .^

36. OF THE KINGS OF EDOM.s

xxxvi. 31-39. The following are the kings who ruled in Edom
before the establishment of the Israehte monarchy : The first
king of Edom was called Bela, whose city was named Dinhabah.
After his death, Jobab, the son of Zerah of Bozrah succeeded
to the throne. After his death Husham of Teman succeeded
to the throne. After his death Hadad, the son of Bedad, suc-
ceeded to the throne. It was he who defeated the Midianites in
Moabite territory, and the name of his city was Avith. After
his death Samlah from ATasrekah succeeded to the throne.
After his death Saul from Rehoboth Hannahar succeeded
to the throne. After his death Baal Hanan, the son of Akbor,
succeeded to the throne. After his death Hadad succeeded to

^ MT omits.

* MT prefixes " Ilamor and."

3 MT •' they."

4 Tlic continuation of this narrative has not bicn preserved.
•^ Compare pp. g2{.

the throne. His city was Peor/ and his wife's name was Mehet-
abel, the daughter of Matred, the son^ of Me Zahab.

-"37. HOW JOSEPH WAS SOLD INTO SLAVERY 3
xxxvii. 3-35. Israel was an old man when Joseph was born,
so he loved him more than he did any other of his sons, and
shewed his preference by making him a long-sleeved coat.
And when his brothers found he was his father's favourite, they
hated him. One day, when the brothers had gone to feed
their father's flock in Shechem, Israel said to Joseph, " Your
brothers have gone to Shechem to feed the flock ; come, let
me send you to them." So he sent him from the valley of
Hebron to Shechem. There a man found him wandering in the
open country, and asked him what he was looking for. He
answered, " I am looking for my brothers ; can you tell me where
they are ? " The man said, " They are at Dothan, for I heard
them say, ' Let us go to Dothan.' " So Joseph followed them and
found them there. Before he came near them they began to
discus'? kilHng him, but Judah,'^ on hearing them, tried to save
him from them, and said, " No ; do not let us take his Hfe."
So when Joseph reached them, they stripped him of the long-
sleeved coat he was wearing, and then they saw an Ishmaehte
caravan, with camels loaded wath gum and balm and labdanum,
which they were taking down to Egypt. Thereupon Judah
said, " What good wall it do us if we kill our brother and hide
his death ? Let us sell him to the Ishmaehtes, rather than lay
violent hands on him. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh
and blood." So the brothers agreed and sold Joseph to the
Ishmaehtes for thirty pieces of silver^ Then they killed a goat and
dipped Joseph's long sleeved coat in its blood, and sent it to
their father with this message, " We found this ; look well at it
and see if it is your son's coat or not." When he looked at it
he cried. " It is my son's coat. Oh ! Joseph has become the
prey of some animal ! " All his sons and daughters tried to
console him, but he would have none of their comfort, but
said, " I will mourn till I go down to SheoP to meet my son."
So his father wept for him.

» So LXX ; MT " Peo." « So LXX j MT " daughter."

3 Compare pp. 6gt 4 MT " Reuben."

5 The underground home of the dead, an idea very simUar to the Greek
" Hades."

38. OF JUDAH'S FAMILY.

xxxviii. 1-30. During this period Judah separated from his
family, and made friends with an Adullamite named Hirah.
Whilst with him he saw and married the daughter of a Canaanite
named Shua. A son was born to them, to whom he gave the
name of Er, and there followed a second son named Onan and
finally a third named Shelah, who was born whilst Judah was
Hving at Kezib. Later Judah married Er his eldest son to a
woman named Tamar, but Er displeased Yahweh, who slew
him. Thereupon Judah told Onan to marry his brother's
widow, and to play the part of brother-in-law by bringing up a
family in his brother's name. But Onan, realising that children
of the marriage would not be counted as his, tooks steps to
prevent conception, which so displeased Yahweh that he killed
him also. Then Judah, fearing that the third son might perish
like his brothers, told Tamar to go back to her own home and
wait there till Shelah was grown up. This she did.

Years passed. Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died,
and after the funeral and mourning ceremonies were over, he
went up to Timnah with his friend Hirah of AduUam to shear
his sheep. Tamar realised that though Shelah was now grown
up she had not been given to him in marriage, so, when she heard
that her father-in-law was going to Timnah to shear his sheep,
she exchanged her widow's costume for that of a sacred prosti-
tute, and sat by the roadside at the gate of Enaim on the way
to Timnah. She had, of course, covered her face with her veil,
so that when Judah saw her he took her for a prostitute. Not
knowing that she was his daughter-in-law, he stopped and asked
her for an assignation. She asked what price he was prepared
to pay.

" I will send you a kid from the flock," he said.

" Will you give me a deposit till you send it ? "

" What deposit shall I give you ? "

" Your signet ring and cord and the staff you are
carrying."

So on these terms he had his will, and then Tamar went back
and exchanged the prostitute's veil for her widow's costume.

When Judah sent his friend the Adullamite with the kid
to recover the deposit from the woman, he could not find her.

So he asked the people of the^ place where the prostitute was
who sat bv the roadside at Enaim, but they denied that there
had ever been one there. He then went back to Judah, and told
him he could not find her, and that the people of the place
denied that there was any sacred prostitute there at all, Judah
said, " Well, I sent her the kid and you could not find her ;
she must keen the things, for we cannot have a scandal."

Three months later Judah was told that his daughter-in-law,
Tamar, had been guilty of incontinence and was about to have
a child. He ordered her to be brought out and burnt. But
when she was brought out for execution, she sent a message to
her father-in-law, and said, " The father of my child is the man
to whom this signet ring, cord and staff belong ; look at them,
and see whose they are." So Judah looked at them, and
acknowledged that she was in the right rather than he, because
he had not given her to Shelah. But he had no more inter-
course with her.

When her time came, twins were born, and one of them put
out his hand. The nurse bound a scarlet thread round it, in
order to know which was the elder. But he drew his hand back
and his brother was born first. Then the nurse said, "What a
violent breaking out ! " so he was called Perez.* Then came
his brother v^ith the scarlet thread on his^rist, so he was called
Zerah.3

39. HOW JOSEPH MET TROUBLE IN EGYPT.*

xxxix. 1-23. When Joseph was taken to Egypt, he was
bought by an Egyptian from the IshmaeHtes who had taken him
down there. With Yahweh's help he prospered while he
remained in the house of his Egyptian master, and when the
man reaUsed these facts he shewed him favour, making him
first his personal servant and then the superintendent of all
his property. From that time onwards Yahweh sent prosperity
on the house of the Egyptian for Joseph's sake, his blessing
resting on all his indoor and outdoor property aHke. So he
left everything except the food he ate in Joseph's hands, and
no longer exercised any supervision over anything.

I So LXX; MT"her."

« i.e., " Breaking."

3 The meaning of the name is not clear.

♦ Compare p. 7of.

Joseph was so handsome that after a time his master's wife
fell in love with him, and made improper advances to him.
He refused, saying to her, " My master takes no account of
anything in his house, leaving everything in my hands. There
is no one who holds a higher position in the household than
I do ; you alone — and that because you are his wife — has he
withheld from me. I cannot sin against God by commiting
such a crime." So, though she pressed him daily, he refused
to listen to her repeated solicitations. But at last he went in-
doors one day to do his work when there was no man of the
household about, and she caught hold of his coat and urged him
to commit adultery with her. So he slipped out of his coat and
ran out of the house. Finding that he had left the house,
leaving his coat in her hands, she called the men of the house-
hold and said to them, " See how he has brought this Hebrew
fellow in to insult us ! He has just come in to outrage me, so I
screamed, and when he heard me scream he dropped his coat
beside me and rushed out of the house." So she put his coat
away till her husband came in, and then told him the same
story — " That Hebrew slave whom you brought home one day
came in to insult me, and when I screamed, he dropped his coat
beside me, and rushed out of the house." When his master
heard what his wife had to say about the conduct of his slave,
he was very angry, and threw Joseph into the prison where state
criminals were confined.

Whilst Joseph was in prison, Yahweh was still with him, and
continued to shew him kindness, so that the governor of the
prison treated him well. In fact, he gave Joseph complete
charge over all the other prisoners, and he was the person who
did everything that was done in the prison. The governor
exercised no oversight of anything that he entrusted to him,
because Yahweh was with him and everything he did
succeeded.

40. HOW JOSEPH'S FORTUNE WAS MADE.^
xl. i-xli. 57. One day the court butler and baker offended
their master, the king of Egypt (and were thrown into) the
prison where Joseph was. Whilst they were there (Joseph
asked them, if they were released, to try) to secure his freedom.
(The butler was liberated, and eventually, in Pharaoh's hearing,

^ Compare pp. 7 iff.

said) *' At last I have remembered my fault." (He then asked
for Joseph's release) and they brought him hastily out of the
dungeon. (In Pharaoh's presence he foretold years of plenty),
to be followed by years of famine so severe that the plenty
would be entirely forgotten. He therefore advised Pharaoh
to appoint officials all over the country to collect the harvests
of the good years and store them up in the cities. This
store would serve as a protection for the land of Egypt during
the seven years of famine which were to follow. Pharaoh said
to his courtiers, " Where can we find a man so full of divine
wdsdom as this man is ? " Then turning to Joseph, he said, " I
hereby appoint you overseer of the whole land of Egypt." So
saying he took the signet ring from his finger and put it on that
of Joseph, thus setting him in authority over the whole land of
Egypt. Then he said to Joseph, " Whilst I keep for myself the
{supreme power, no man shall move hand or foot in all the land
of Egypt without your consent." Then Pharaoh gave him
the name of Zaphnathpaaneah, and married him to Asenath,
daughter of Potiphera the priest of On.

Then Joseph went through all the land of Egypt, and gathered
all the crops of the land of Egypt for seven years, storing in each
city the produce of the country round it, quantities far too great
to be counted. When the seven years of plenty were over, the
seven years of famine which Joseph had foretold began. As the
famine grew severe in Egypt, the people appealed to Pharaoh
for food, and he told them to go to Joseph and obey his in-
structions. Then Joseph opened the granaries^ and sold corn
to the Egyptians who were in the grip of the famine, and as the
famine was universal, everyone came to Egypt to buy corn of
Joseph.

41. HOW JACOB'S SONS CAME TO EGYPT AND
FOUND JOSEPH.^

xlii. 2-xlv. 28. One day (Israel) said to his sons, " I hear
there is corn in Egypt ; go there and buy us a Uttle food to
save our lives." (But he would not let Benjamin go with them)
for fear some harm might come to him. So, because the famine
was very severe in Canaan, the sons of Israel came down to

I So LXX ; MT " all that was in them."
^ Compare pp. y^S.

Egypt with the rest. When Joseph saw his brothers, he recog-
nised them, but he treated them as if he were a stranger, asking
them harshly where they had come from.
" From Canaan," they said, " to buy corn."

" Not so ; you have come to find out the weak points in the
land."

They said, " No, my Lord, we have come to buy corn. We
are all of one family."

But Joseph insisted that they had come to find out the weak
points in the country. (He then asked if they had another
brother, and when they told him they had, he said, " Unless
you bring your brother with you, you shall never be allowed to
see me again." With that he ordered the corn to be given to
them and dismissed them.) When they stopped for the night,
one of them opened his sack to feed his ass, and found his money
in the mouth of his sack, and when he told his brothers what
had happened their hearts sank.

The famine still continued to be severe, so when they had
exhausted the corn which they had brought from Egypt, their
father said to them, " Go again and buy us a little corn." " But,"
he added, " my son shall not go with you. His brother is dead
and he is all I have left ; if any harm were to befall him on
the journey, you would have sent my grey head to Sheol with
sorrow."

Then Judah said, " The man absolutely insisted to us that we
should not be allowed to see him again unless our brother was
with us. If you are ready to let him come with us, we will go
to buy you food ; otherwise it is impossible, for he told us
we should on no account be allowed to see him unless our
brother was with us."

" Why did you bring this trouble on me," said Israel, " by
telhng him you had a brother ? "

" We could not help it," they answered ; " the man asked
us about ourselves and our family — was our father still living ? —
had we another brother f — we only answered his questions. How
could we possibly tell that he would insist on our bringing our
brother down with us f "

Then Judah said to Israel his father, " Let the lad go in my
charge ; only let us start at once, and save our Uves and your*
and those of our Httle ones. I will be surety for him, so that

you may hold me responsible. If I do not bring him back to
you and set him before you, I will bear the guilt of it as long as
I live. If we had not wasted so much time we should have been
there and back the second time by now."

Then Israel their father said to them, " If there is no alter-
native, this is what you must do. Take a httle of the produce
of the land — a Httle balm, honey, gum, nuts, almonds — and
offer it as a present to the man. Take also double the money
so as to include that which was returned in the mouths of your
sacks ; it may have been a mistake. If I am bereaved, I am
bereaved."

They took this present and the double money, and went down
to Egypt with Benjamin. At last they found themselves in the
presence of Joseph, and when he saw Benjamin with them, he
told his steward to take them to his own house, and to kill and
cook meat, for he would eat with them at midday. The man
did as Joseph told him, and brought them into the house.
Finding where they were being taken they were frightened, and
said, " We are being brought into the house; it is so that he may
get us absolutely into his hands and take us and our asses into
slavery because of the money which found its way back into
our sacks last time." So they went up to Joseph's steward at
the door of the house, and said to him, " Sir, we came down to
buy corn once before, and when we reached the first camping-
place, we opened our sacks and found our money — full weight —
in the mouths of our sacks, so we have brought it back. We have
also brought more money to buy corn with ; we do not know
who put the money in the mouths of our sacks." He answered,
" It is all right ; do not be afraid, it must have been your God
and the God of your ancestors who put treasure in your sacks. I
had your money." With this he brought them into Joseph's
house, and gave them water to wash their feet and fodder for
their asses. But they put the present they had brought on one
side till Joseph should come in, for they had heard that he^
would have his meal there. So when he came in they pro-
duced the present* and bowed low before him. Then he asked,

^ So LXX ; MT " they."

* MT adds : " which was in their hands into the house."

" Are you well ? And the old father of whom you told me, is he
still living ? " They answered, with another bow, that he
was well and was still alive. Then he saw Benjamin, his
own full brother, and said, " Is this your youngest brother of
whom you told me ? God be gracious to you, my son ! "
With these words, Joseph rushed out, for his heart was deeply
stirred at the sight of his brother, and he was on the point of
breaking into tears. He betook himself to an inner room, where
he gave vent to his emotions, then he washed his face and came
back with his feeHngs under complete control. At his order
the meal was served, separately for him and for them and for the
Egyptians who shared it, for to Egyptians it would be a dis-
gusting thing to sit at the same table with Hebrews. Joseph's
brothers were arranged in his presence in order of age, and they
were amazed at the arrangement. During the meal he sent
portions from his own table to each of them, and to Benjamin
he sent five times as much as to any other. So they ate merrily
with him.

Joseph then ordered his steward to fill the men's sacks as
full as they would hold with food, placing each man's money
in the mouth of his sack. In the mouth of the sack belonging
to the youngest he was to put not only the money for his corn,
but also Joseph's silver cup. The steward did what Joseph told
him, and in the morning the men and their asses were sent on
their way. They had not gone far, when Joseph said to his
steward, " Run at once after these men, and when you over-
take them, ask them why they have returned evil for good. ' Is
not this,' say, ' the cup from which my lord drinks, and which
he uses for divination, that you have taken ? It is a wicked
thing you have done.' " The steward did what Joseph told him,
and they said to him, " Sir, why do you speak to us like this ?
We should never think of doing such a thing. Why^ we even
brought back the money we found in our sacks ; how could we
steal silver and gold from your master ? If it is found in
possession of any of us, that man shall die, and the rest of us
will become slaves to your master." He answered, " Very
well ; it shall be as you say. If the thing is found in the
possession of any of you, he shall become my slave, while the
rest of you are held innocent." Then they all hastily let down
their sacks to the ground and opened them, searching them from

that of the eldest to that of the youngest, so finally the cup
was found in Benjamin's sack.

On this discovery they tore their mantles, and, loading their
asses, went back to the city. Joseph was still in the house when
Judah and his brothers came in, and they flung themselves on
the ground before them. He said to them, " What is this that
you have done ? Did it not occur to you that such a man as I
would certainly use divination ? " Judah said, " What can we
say to my lord ? How can we speak ? How can we prove
our innocence ? God has discovered our crime and we are all
your slaves, we and he in whose possession the cup was found."
He answered, " I could not think of such a thing ; the man on
whom the cup was found shall become my slave ; the rest of
you may go safely to your father."

Then Judah approached him and said :

*' O my Lord ! May your slave speak a word in your ear
without giving offence ? For you are to us what Pharaoh is.
Your lordship asked us whether we had a father or a brother, and
we said we had an aged father, and that there was a son who had
been born to him in his old age, who, since his brother's death, is
the only surviving son of his mother — he is his father's darling.
You then told us that we must bring him down here that you
might see him. We said the boy could not leave his father,
for if he did, the old man would die. But you told us that
unless our youngest brother came with us, we should on no
account be allowed to see you again. We went back to our
father and told him what you had said, and after a while he
bade us come down again to buy a Httle food. We said, ' We
cannot ; if our youngest brother comes with us we can, but
otherwise we shall on no account be allowed to see the man.'
Our father said, ' You know that my wife had only two sons ;
one of them went out one day, and I have always believed that he
became the prey of some wild animal, for I have never seen him
since. Now you would take this one also from me, and if
any disaster befall him, then you will bring down my grey head
to Sheol with calamity.' Now when I go back to my father
without the boy — his life is bound up with the lad's, — when he
sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and we shall have
brought our father's grey head down to Sheol with sorrow. I
am surety for the lad with my father, and I have promised

49 4

that if I do not bring him back, I will bear my guilt as long as
I live. Let me, then, stay here as your slave, in the boy's place,
and let him go back to his father. How can I return to my
father without the lad, and face the agony which will fall
upon him ? "

Then Joseph could no longer control himself in the presence
of the bystanders, and sent them out. Then he broke into
tears, and the Egyptians^ heard him weeping. He said, " I
am Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. Do not be distressed
because you sold me here, for the result has been to keep your
family alive in the land. (Tell my father to come) and live
in the land of Goshen, and describe all my splendour in
Egypt to him, and all you have seen. Only be quick ; bring
my father here." Then he fell weeping on the neck of his
brother Benjamin, and Benjamin wept on his neck. (So
they sent and toid) Israel, and he said, " It is enough ; Joseph
my son is still alive ; I will go and see him before I die."

42. HOW ISRAEL CAME TO EGYPT.^

xlvi. l-xlvii. 6. So Israel set out on his journey, taking all his
property v^dth him. He sent Judah to the land of Goshen to
Joseph, to appear^ before him. When he reached that country
Joseph had his chariot harnessed, and went up to meet his
father Israel in Goshen. When he appeared before him he fell
on his neck, and wept and wept again. Israel said to Joseph,
" Now I can die, for I have seen you, and know that you are
still alive," Then Joseph said to his brothers,^ " I will go and
tell Pharaoh that my brothers and my family, who have hitherto
lived in Canaan, have now come to me, bringing their flocks
and herds with them, for they are shepherds and graziers. So
when Pharaoh sends for you and asks what your occupation is,
tell him that you and your ancestors have been shepherds and
graziers all your lives. The Egyptians have a horror of shep-
herds, so you will certainly be allowed to hve in Goshen."
Then Joseph went to tell Pharaoh that his father and brothers,

I So LXX ; MT " Egypt."

* Comprire pp. y6i., 95.

3 MT " to give instructions."

< So LXX ; MT adds " and to his family."

with all their sheep and cattle and other property, had come from
Canaan, and were then in Goshen. He had taken five of his
brothers with him, and presented them to Pharaoh, who asked
what their occupation was. They repHed, " We and our
ancestors have been shepherds all our lives. We have come to
settle for a time in this country, for the famine is so severe in
Canaan that there is no pasture for our flocks. May we have
your permission to settle in Goshen .? " Pharaoh said to
Joseph, " They may settle in Goshen, and if you know of any
competent men amongst them, appoint them to take charge
of my own flocks."

43. HOW JOSEPH MADE ALL THE EGYPTIANS

SERFS.

xlvii. 13-26. By this time the famine was so severe in Egypt
and Canaan, that all food supplies failed, and the whole land
languished. In return for the corn men bought from him,
Joseph collected all the money in Egypt, and stored it in
the royal coffers. When all the money in Egypt and Canaan
was exhausted, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said,
" Give us food, or we shall die before your very eyes, for we have
no more money." Joseph answered, " If that is so, I wall accept
your cattle ^in exchange for food.^" So they brought their
live stock, horses, sheep, cattle, asses, to Joseph in exchange for
the food he gave them, and during that year he secured all their
live stock in return for bread. At the end of that year and the
beginning of the next they came again and said, " We can hide
nothing from you ; our money has gone and you now have all
our cattle, we have nothing left except our bodies and our land.
We would ask you, then, to accept both in exchange for food ;
why should we and our land perish before your eyes ? If only
you will give us seed so that our lives may be spared and our land
may not become desert, our persons and our land will become
Pharaoh's absolute property." So Joseph bought all the land
in Egypt for Pharaoh, for men were suffering so in the grip
of famine that every one sold his estate, and the whole country
passed into Pharaoh's hands, whilst he made the people them-
selves serfs from one end of the land to the other. The priests'

I ^ SoLXX; MT omits.

and, however, he could not buy, for it was one of their per-
quisites to Hvc on the customary allowance that Pharaoh had
always made them, so that their land did not come into the
market. Joseph said to the people, '* I have bought you and
your land to-day for Pharaoh ; here is seed with which you are
to sow the land. One fifth of the crop you shall give to Pharaoh
and four-fifths you shall keep for sowing and to feed yourselves and
your households." They said, " You have saved our lives, and
we would win your favour; we will become Pharoah's serfs."
Thus Joseph instituted the modern practice whereby a fifth
of the produce of the land goes to Pharaoh, the land of the
priests alone being exempt from Pharaoh's claims.

44. HOW ISRAEL DREW NEAR THE TIME OF HIS

DEATH.^

xlvii. 29-xlviii. 20. Feeling at last that death was near,
Israel called his son Joseph to him and said, " If you love me,
take a solemn oath, with your hand under my thigh, that you
will prove your love and fidehty by not burying me in Egypt.
Let me rest with my ancestors ; take me up from Egypt to bury
me in their tomb." He said, " I will do as you have said."
Then, at his request, Joseph took the oath, and Israel bent over
the head of his bed.

Recovering his strength, Israel sat upon the bed and said,
" Bring (your children) to me, that I may bless them." Now
old age had dimmed his eyes almost to bHndness. So Joseph
brought his two sons, and presented them with his own right
hand facing Israel's left, so that Manasseh was at his left hand
but on Israel's right. But Israel crossed his hands and laid his
right hand on Ephraim's head, and his left hand on Manasseh's,
though he was the elder. When Joseph saw his father lay his
right hand on Ephraim's head, he was distressed, and would
have moved the hand from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's,
saying, *' That is wrong, father ; this is the elder, lay your right
hand on his head." But his father refused, and said, " I know,
my son, I know ; he shall indeed become a great people, but
his younger brother shall be greater than he, for his descendants
shall fill the whole world." And he at once blessed them,
putting Ephraim before Manasseh.

^ Compare pp. yjf., 95f.

5»

45. HOW ISRAEL BLESSED HIS SONS.

xli-x. 1-27. Then (Israel) said, "Gather together, that I
may tell you what shall happen to you in ages to come : —

Gather and hear, sons of Jacob,
Give ear to Israel, your father.

Reuben, my firstborn art thou,

My strength, the firstfruits of my manhood ,
Excelling in pride and in passion.

Wanton as water — excel not !
To thy father's bed went'st thou up,^ •*•

Then defiledst the couch of thy parent.

Brethren are Simeon and Levi,

Weapons of crime are their daggers ;
Let my soul never enter their council,

Nor my spirit be one in their gatherings :
In their anger they massacre man,

In their pleasure they mutilate oxen.
A curse on their wrath — it is passion.

On their fury — for it is cruel.
As spoil I divide them in Jacob,

In Israel I scatter them.

Thee, Judah, thy brethren shall praise, ,

Falls thy hand on the neck of thy foes.
Lowly greet thee the sons of thy father ;
The whelp of a hon is Judah,

From the prey, O my son, thou ascendest.
As a hon he stoopeth, yea, croucheth,

An old hon — who may bestir him ?
From Judah the sceptre departs not,

Nor his staff from between his feet.
Until Shiloh come.

Him shall the peoples obey.
To the vine he bindeth his ass.

To the red vme his she-ass's foal ;

I MT "he went up."

He washeth his garments in wine,

In the blood of the grapes his raiment

Darker than wine are his eyes,

And whiter than milk are his teeth.

By the sea shall Zebulun dwell,

By the shore of the ships is his home.
With his flanks upon Zidon.

An ass big-boned is Issachar,

Between the panniers he croucheth ;

And he seeth that rest is good.
And that the land is pleasant ;

His shoulder he giveth to burdens,
A labouring slave he becometh.

Dan shall judge his people.
As one of the tribes of Israel ;

A serpent be Dan by the roadside,
A viper beside the path ;

The heel o^ the steed he biteth,
Backward his rider falleth.

For thy salvation, O Yahweh, do I wait.

Gad — the raiders shall raid him,
And he shall raid their rear.^

Asher^ — his food is rich,

And dainties royal he provideth.

A free-ranging hind is Naphtali,
Fair are the fawns^ she bestoweth.

A fruitful bough is Joseph,
A fruitful bough by a well,
3 by a wall.

I I So LXX ; MT " the rear. From Asher."

» So LXX ; MT " words."

3 MT has some words which, in the present state of our knowledge, are
unintelligible.

Bitterly shot they at him,

The arcliers tried him sorely ;
But steadfast remaineth his bow,

And supple^ his arms and his hands,'
Through the hands of the mighty of Jacob,

And the name of the rock of Israel,
Through the God of thy father that helpeth thee,
Through El* Shaddai who doth bless thee,
Blessings of heaven above,

And blessings of Ocean3 beneath,
Blessings of breast and of womb,
Blessings ancestral — great are they, —
Blessings of mountains eternal.

Produce of hills everlasting —
Be these on the head of Joseph,

On the brow of the Prince of his brethren.

Wolf-like doth Benjamin raven ;
At morn the prey he devoureth,
At eve the spoil he divideth."

46. HOW ISRAEL DIED AND WAS BURIED.^

xHx. 33-I. 14. So (Israel) lifted his -feet into the bed
(and died). Then Joseph fell on his face weeping and kissing
him, and ordered the physicians amongst his slaves to embalm
his father. This they did, spending forty days over the task,
which is the usual period. Then Joseph said to the officers
of Pharaoh's household, " I beg of you to prove your favour
to me by speaking to Pharaoh, and by telling him of the oath,
which my father exacted of me as he lay dying, that I would
bury him in the tomb he had prepared in Canaan, and to
say that now I would go to bury my father and return."
Pharoah gave him permission to go and bury his father in accord-
ance vdth his oath, so Joseph went up for the purpose. With
him went all Pharaoh's servants, the officers of his household, all

^ ■ ^ MT " the arms of his hands."

2 SoLXX; MT omits.

3 MT inserts " crouching."

4 Compare pp. 78, 96.

the officials of the land of Egypt, Joseph's own family and that
of his father — women and children and flocks and herds were
left in Goshen. Chariots and horsemen, too, were with them,
and there was a very large caravan. At length they came to
Goren Haatad beyond the Jordan, and they made great and
sorrowful lamentation there, lasting for seven days. When
the Canaanites who lived in Goren Haatad saw it, they said,
" This is a very grievous mourning the Egyptians have,"
so they called the place Abel Mizraim^ — it is beyond Jordan.
So when he had buried his father, Joseph came back to Egypt
with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to the
funeral.

' i.e.f *' Mourning of Egypt."

THE STORT OF THE
BEGINNING OF THINGS, AS TOLD IN
NORTHERN ISRAEL.

I. HOW GOD PROMISED ABRAM A SON.»
XV. 1-16. Some time afterwards God appearing to (Abram)
in a vision, said, "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield."
Abram said, " You have given me no son* and my heir is a man
of Damascus — Eliezer."^ So he took him outside and said,
" Now look at the sky and count the stars." Then he made
Abram fall into a trance, and said to him, " Your descendants
shall live as strangers in a foreign land, being oppressed as slaves
for four hundred years, but in the end I will judge the nation
which has enslaved them, so that they shall escape wdth great
wealth. As for yourself, you shall die a peaceful death, and shall
come to the grave at a ripe old age. Your descendants will not
come back for four generations, because the Amorites have not
yet reached their Urnit of wickedness."

2. HOW ABRAHAM WENT TO GERAR AND WHAT
HAPPENED THERE.
XX. 1-17. Abraham's^ next migration was to the Negeb,
where he made his headquarters between Kadesh and Shur,
living as a foreigner at Gerar. Finding that Abraham said of
Sarah — who was really his wdfe — that she was his sister,
Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took her into his harem.
But that night God came to him in a dream and said to him,
" You must die because of the woman you have taken ;
she is married." Now Abimelech had kept away from her,
so he said, " Surely you wiU not kill the people who are in the
right ? He claimed her as hi? sister, and she claimed him as her
brother ; what I did was done in all innocence and guileless-
ness." God answered in his dream, " It is just because I know
the innocence of your heart that I am keeping you from her
so that you may not sin against me. Send her back to the man
without delay, for he is a prophet, and you will save your life

^ Compare pp. 19, 86flP.

' MT is very obscure, but this is probably the original meaning.

5 Cf. p. 20, note 6.

by securing his prayers on your behalf. But if you do not send
her back, then be assured that you and all who belong to you
will certainly die."

So the next morning Abimelech assembled all his household,
and terrified thera by teUing them what he had heard. He then
sent for Abraham, and said, " What have you been doing to
us ? What harm have I done you that you should bring great
sin on me and my kingdom .? Your conduct to me has been
utterly unjustifiable. Whatever possessed you to do it .? "
Abraham said, " I thought that as there was no religion here
they would kill me for the sake of my wife. Besides, before I
married her she really was my sister, on the father's side, though
not on the mother's. So when God sent me wandering from
my ancestral home, I begged her to do me the kindness of
saying T was her brother." Thereupon Abimelech not only
sent Sarah, Abraham's wife, back to him, but also gave him
sheep, cattle and slaves, male and female. Further, he told
Sarah he had given her brother a thousand pieces of silver
as compensation for all ^that had befallen her,^ which would
completely restore her reputation. Finally, in answer to
Abraham's prayer, God cured Abimelech, his wife, and his
female slaves, so that they were again able to have children.

3. HOW HAGAR AND ISHMAEL WERE DRIVEN
INTO THE DESERT.

xxi. 6-21. (When Isaac was born), Sarah said, " God has
made laughter for me." In time Isaac^ grew, and Abraham
made a great feast on the day he was weaned. And Sarah
saw the boy whom the Egyptian slave Hagar had borne to
Abraham, playing 3with Isaac,3 so she said to Abraham, " You
must expel her son, for I cannot bear this slave girl's son to share
the inheritance with my boy." Abraham was greatly dis-
tressed on account of his son, till God said to him, " Do not be
distressed on account of the lad and your slave ; do exactly
what Sarah tells you, for your descent will be traced through
Isaac. The slave girl's son, however, for your sake, I will make

' I MT " that were with her."

* i.e., " laughter."

.3 3 SoLXX; MT omits.

5«

into a great' nation." Next morning Abraham gave Hagar
some bread and a skin of water, and, 'putting her son on her
shoulder,' sent her away. She wandered in the desert of Beer
Sheba till the water in the skin was exhausted, when she put
the boy down under one of the bushes, and went and sat helpless
about a bowshot off, for she felt she could not bear to see her
son die. The boy broke into tears, and God heard him. Then
the angel of God called from the sky to Hagar, and asked what
was the matter with her. " Do not be frightened," he said,
** God has heard the boy where he is. Come, pick him up and
hold him firmly ; I will make him into a great nation." Then
God gave her clear vision, and she saw a well, where she filled
the skin with water and gave it to the boy to drink. So God was
with the boy, and as he grew up he lived in the desert, becoming
an archer. His home was the desert of Paran, and his mother
found him a wife from Egypt.

4. HOW ABRAHAM AND ABIMELECH MADE A

TREATY.3

iii. 22-32. About that time Abimelech and his commander-
in-chief Picol said to Abraham, " You enjoy the help and
presence of God ; I pray you take an oath in his name here that
you wdll never deal harshly wdth me or my family or my descen-
dants, but will always be as kind to me and the country whose
hospitaUty you have enjoyed as I have been to you." Abraham
agreed, and gave sheep and cattle to Abimelech to complete
the agreement they had made. So they called the place Beer
Sheba,'^ because it was there that they took an oath, and
Abimelech and his commander-in-chief Picol went back to their
home.5

5. HOW GOD TESTED ABRAHAM.

xxii, I -19. Some years later, God put Abraham to the test.
He spoke to him, and when he replied, said to him, " Take your
only son Isaac, whom you love so well, to the land of Moriah,

' So LXX ; MT omits.

' ' So LXX ; MT has the words in a different order.

3 €■ mpare pp. 24f., 31.

4 i.e., " Well of the oath."

5 MT has " the land of the Philistines."

where you must sacrifice him as a whole burnt offering on a
peak which I shall tell you." The next morning Abraham
harnessed his ass, cut wood for a burnt offering, and started for
the mountain which God had mentioned, taking with him two
servants and his son Isaac. After travelUng for three days,
Abraham saw the mountain in the distance, and told the servants
to wait with the ass, while he and the boy went on, saying that
they would come back when they had finished their devotions.
The wood he put on Isaac's back, while he himself took the fire
and the sacrificial knife. As they walked on together, Isaac
said to his father, " Father ! "

" Yes," said his father.

" Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep
which we are to offer ? "

" God will provide the sheep for himself." And with this
they walked on again.

At length they reached the place of which God had spoken.
There Abraham built up his altar, and, after arranging the wood
on it, laid his son Isaac bound upon the wood. But as he
grasped the knife to kill his son, the angel of God^ called to him
from the sky, " Abraham ! Abraham ! " " Yes ! " he said.
" Do not lift your hand to the lad : do nothing whatever to
him ! Now I know your piety is real, — so real that you
would not withhold even your only son from me." Abraham
looked up, and found a ram caught by its horns in the brush-
wood. This he took, and sacrificed it in place of his son, giving
the place the name of Yahweh Yeraeh,* " For," he said,
" Yahweh has appeared in the mountain to-day."

Again the angel of God called to Abraham from the sky,
and said, " I have sworn by myself, oracle of Yahweh,3 that
because you have done this and have not withheld your only
son from me, I will indeed bless you, and I really will make
your descendants as many as the stars in the sky or the grains of
sand on the seashore, and they shall possess the cities of their
enemies. Because you have obeyed me, all nations shall regard
them as the type of the prosperous people."

^ So some Versions ; MT " Yahweh."
* i.e., *' appears."

3 A phrase used of words dictated by God.

Then thev went back to the servants, and so returned to
Beer Sheba, which Abraham made his home from that time on.

6^' HOW JACOB BOUGHT ESAU'S BIRTHRIGHT.

XXV. 29-34. One day Jacob was stewing something when
Esau came in exhausted from the open country, and said,
*' Give me mv fill of that red stuff, for I am exhausted." That
is why the name of Edom^ was given to him.

" Will you sell me vour birthright for it ? " Jacob said.

" I am dying," Esau said ; " what is the use of a birthright
to me ? "

" Swear to it," Jacob said.

So when Esau had sworn to surrender his birthright to Jacob
he gave him bread and lentil soup, which he ate and drank
before going away. This was all the value that Esau set on his
birthright.

7. HOW JACOB STOLE ESAU'S BLESSING.^

xxvii. I -41. One day (Isaac) called his son (Esau), and when
he answered, he said to him, " I am growing old, and I cannof
tell how much longer I have to live. Make me the kind of
savoury stew I like so much, that I may give you a blessing before
I die." (Rebecca said to Jacob, " I have this moment heard your
father telling your brother) to make him the kind of savoury
stew he Hkes so much, that he may bestow on him a blessing
before he dies. (Listen) to what I tell you. Go to the flock
and bring me two fat kids, that I may make them into your
father's favourite savoury stew. This you shall take to your
father, and when he has eaten it he will bless you before he dies."
" But," objected Jacob to his mother, " remember my brother
Esau is a hairy man, whilst my skin is smooth. Suppose my
father feels me ? If he does, he will find out that I am deceiv-
ing him, and I shall get a curse instead of a blessing." Rebecca
answered, " If only you will Hsten to me and go and get me
what I asked for, I will bear any curse that falls on you."

So Jacob went and brought her what she wanted, and when she
had made his father's favourite savoury stew, she put the skins
of the kids on Jacob's hands and on the smooth parts of his neck.
Then she gave the stew and the bread she had made to Jacob.

^ i.e., "red." 2 Compare pp. 3iflF., 9oflF.

He said, " Father ! " and his father answered, " Yes, who are
you, my son ? " Jacob answered his father, " I am your elder son
son, Esau. I have done what you told me ; now sit up and eat
of my venison, that you may bless me." Isaac said to Jacob,
" Come here, and let me feel you, to see if you really are Esau
or not." He went up to him, and when he had felt him he
said, " The voice sounds like Jacob, but the hands feel like Esau."
Thus he failed to detect him because his hands were as hairv as
those of his brother Esau. Then he blessed him : —
" God give thee of heaven's dew,

Of earth's fatness, abundance of corn and wine.
Be thou lord over thy brethren,

Let thy mother's sons bow down to thee."
Hardly had Jacob left Isaac, when Esau came in from his
hunting, and he too made a savoury stew which he brought to
his father that he might bless him. Isaac said, " My son,
who are you ? " Esau rephed, " I am Esau, your elder son."
He said, " Your brother came treacherously and stole your
blessing." He answered, " Is it because he is named Jacob
that he has now twice got the better of me ? Once he took my
birthright, and now he has taken my blessing. Have you not
a blessing in reserve for me ? " Isaac replied, " I have made him
your master, and I have given him all his brothers as slaves, with
corn and wine to support him ; what can I do for you, my son ? "
But when Esau pressed him, " Have you only one blessing,
father f Oh ! bless me too ! " the father answered,
" Far from the fat of the land

Thy dwelling shall be.

And far from the dew of the heavens.
By thy sword shalt thou hve.

Thy brother's slave shalt thou be.
But when thou art restive

Thou shalt shake his yoke from thy neck."
Then Esau cherished hatred against Jacob because of the
blessing which his father had bestowed upon him.

8. HOW JACOB FOUND GOD'S HOME.^

xxviii. 10-22. (As Jacob travelled towards the home of
Laban) he happened to lie down one night in a certain place,

' Compare p. 33,

using a stone for a pillow. There he had a dream in which he
saw _a. ladder set up on earth, whose top reached the sky, with
the angel^ of God going up and down by it. He was afraid, and
thought, " What a terrible place this is ! It must be the home
of God, the gate of the sky." Next morning he set up the stone
on which his head had rested as a sacred pillar, pouring oil on
its top. Next he made this vow, " If God will help me and
watch over me during my present journey, giving me food to
eat and clothes to wear, so that I come home safely, then this
pillar which I have set up shall be a sanctuary, and I will surely
give you a tenth of all you give me.''

9. HOW JACOB GOT HIS WIVES AND CHILDREN.^

xxix. 1-23. Jacob came on foot to the land of the Sons of the
East, (where he met Laban and offered to take service with him).
Laban said to him, " You are a relative of mine ; it is not right
that you should give me service for nothing. What wages will
you have ? " Now Laban had two daughters, the elder being
called Leah and the younger Rachel, and whilst Leah was weak-
eyed, Rachel was very beautiful. (And Jacob asked and
received both of them in marriage.) Rachel became jealous
of her sister, and said to Jacob, " Give me children, or else I
die." Jacob was very angry with Rachel and said, " Can I take
the place of God ? It is he who has kept you from having
children." Rachel said, " Here is my slave Bilhah ; marry her,
and she may bear children for me." So Jacob married her,
and when her son was born, Rachel said, " God has judged me
and heard my call," so she gave him the name of Dan. 3

Bilhah had a second son, and Rachel said, " A divine fight have
I fought with my sister," giving him the iiame of NaphtaU.*

At length, in answer to her prayers, God allowed Leah to
bear a fifths son to Jacob. She called him Issachar,^ " Because,"
she said, " God has rewarded me for giving Jacob my slave."
One more son, a sixth,5 was born to her, and with the words,

^ MT plural. * Compare pp. 34!. 3 i.e., "judge." 4 i.e., "struggle."

5 5 It is possible that these figures do not belong to the original

form of this narrative. If they do, the portion describing the birth of the
first four sons has not been preserved.

6 " reward."

" God has given me rich dower," (she called him Zebulun).^
Finally God answered Rachel's prayer for a son, and when he was
born she said, " God has taken away my reproach," and called
him Joseph.^

10. HOW JACOB GOT HIS FL0CKS.3

XXX. 25-34. (Eventually Jacob said to Laban), " You know
how well I have worked for you ; let me take away the wives and
children -with, whom you have paid me."

" Name your own pay, then," Laban replied ; " I shall have
to give you what you ask."

" I will go all through your flocks and take away as my pay
all the speckled and spotted animals. To-morrow morning,
to test my honesty, you shall come and look at my share, and if
you find a single animal that is not spotted^ and speckleds you
can call it stolen." To this Laban agreed.

II. HOW JACOB LEFT LABAN.^

xxxi. 2-xxxii. I. As time went on, Jacob reahsed that
Laban's attitude towards him had changed. Sending for
Rachel and Leah to come to the flock in the open country,
he said to them, " I find your father's attitude towards me
has changed. You know that I have served him with all my
strength, whilst he has cheated me and changed my wages
time after time. But God has not allowed him to do me any
harm. Whenever he has said that the spotted animals were to be
my wages, all the young animals have been born spotted.
Whenever he has said the striped animals were to be my
wages all the young have been born striped. Thus God
has been taking away your father's flocks and giving them
to me. Indeed, I once had a dream in the breeding season, and
all the breeding rams were speckled and spotted and mottled.
Then I dreamt that the angel of God spoke to me, and when
I answered, he said, ' Look round, and see how all the breeding
rams are speckled and spotted and mottled ; this is because I

' i.e., " gift." * i.e., " removal "(?)

3 Compare p. 36. 4 MT adds " among the goats."

5 MT adds "among the sheep." ^ Compare pp. 36f.

have seen what Laban has been doing to you. I am the God
^who appeared to you^ in Bethel, where you anointed the pillar
and tnade a vow. Get out of this land and go back to the
country where you were born.' " Rachel and Leah answered,
*' We have no share or lot in our father's property. He treats us
as if we were strangers, because he has sold us and has devoured
all our dowry. Truly all the property God has taken from
our father belongs of right to us and to our children. Do
exactly what God has told you." On hearing this, Jacob took
his children and his wives on camels, and drove off all his flocks.
Rachel, meanwhile, had stolen her father's household god.

Thus Jacob circumvented Laban the Aramean, by not telhng
him when he took his departure. Indeed, it was three days
before Laban heard of Jacob's flight. He immediately collected
his fellow-tribesmen and followed Jacob for seven days, over-
taking him in the Gilead hills. One night God came to Laban
the Aramean in a dream, and warned him to say nothing,
good or bad, to Jacob. But he said to him, " Why did you
circumvent me, and carry off my daughters like prisoners of
war, without allowing me to kiss my grandsons or my daughters ?
What a foolish thing you have done ! I might have injured you,
but the God of your father has forbidden me to say anything
to you, good or bad. You pretend to have left me because
you wanted to see your own home, but why have you stolen my
god .? " Jacob, not knowing that Rachel had stolen the god,
answered, " If your god is discovered in the possession of any
of us, the thief shall die ; if you can, in the presence of your
fellow-tribesmen, identify anything of yours, take it away with
you." So Laban searched the tents of Jacob, of the two
slave-wives and of Leah unsuccessfully. Leaving Leah's tent,
he went into Rachel's, where he found her sitting on the camel's
litter, where she had hidden the god. When Laban had felt all
round the tent and found nothing, she said to her father,
" Please excuse me from getting up in your presence ; I am
suffering from my seasonal trouble." So he continued his
search, but failed to find the god.

Then Jacob said to Laban, " What harm have I done ?
What sin have I committed that you should follow me ? If, in
your thorough search of my property, you have found anything

•» So LXX ; MT omits.

wKatever that belongs to you, lay It before our fellow-
tribesmen, and let them decide the case between us. For the
last twenty years I have been a slave in your household, serving
you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your
sheep. Time after time you changed my wages, and if the God
of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had
not been on my side, you would have sent me away now empty-
handed. It is God who has seen what I have suffered and how
I have toiled, and so has settled the matter to-night." Laban
repHed, " The women and the children and the sheep — every-
thing you sec here — belong to me ; what am I to do about these
daughters of mine and their children ? " Then Jacob took a
stone and set it up to serve as a sacred pillar, of which (Laban)
said, " May God keep watch between us when we are out of
one another's sight ! If you ill-treat my daughters or give them
any rival wives, when there is no man present to see to it,
remember that God is the witness between us." So Jacob took
the oath by the Fear of Isaac his father, then, sending for his
fellow-tribesmen to share his meal, he offered sacrifice, and they
all ate their meal, spending the night on the mountain. In
the morning Laban kissed his children, and after giving them
his blessing returned to his home.

12. HOW JACOB PREPARED TO MEET ESAU.^

xxxii. 2-22. Jacob continued his journey till he was met by
the angels of God. When he saw them he said, " This is
God's camp," and called the place Mahanaim.^ (Hearing
that Esau was coming to meet him) he prepared from what he
had with him the following as a present : Two hundred she-
goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
thirty she-camels with colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty
she-asses and ten he-asses. These droves he put separately in
charge of slaves of his with orders to follow one another at
some distance. He gave the first slave these orders, " When my
brother Esau meets you and asks whose you are, where you are
going, and whose these animals are, tell him that they are a
present for Esau from his brother, who is following." To
the second and the third and all who followed the droves he

' Compare pp. 27^- ^ i-^-t " two camps."

gave exactly the same order?, bidding them all add iliat Jacob
himself was coming behind. " Thus," he thought, " I may
appease Esau with the present wliich goes in front of me, and
perhaps he will receive me kindly, when he actually does see me."
Then the present was sent on in front, while Jacob spent the
night in his camp.

13. HOW JACOB WRESTLED AT PENUEL.^

xxxii. 26-31. (During the night a man wrestled with Jacob)
and when he found that he could not defeat him, he touched the
socket of his thigh, saying, " Let me go ; here is the dawn ! "
He answered, " I will not let you go unless you bless me."
Then Jacob asked what his name was, and he said, " Why do
you ask my name ? " and blessed him. Jacob called the
place Penuel,* because there he had seen God face to face and
escaped alive.

14. HOW JACOB MET ESAU.

xxxiii. 4-10. (When Jacob met Esau) he embraced and kissed
him. (Esau asked about the women and children, and Jacob)
said, " They are the children whom God has bestowed on me. I
have seen you as man sees God, and you have been kind to me.
Accept the present which has been sent to you. God has been
very good to me and I have all I need."

15. HOW JACOB'S SONS MASSACRED THE
SHECHEMITES.3

xxxiii. i8-xxxiv. 29. (Jacob then travelled as far as Shechem)
and camped outside the city, where he bought from Hamor the
father of Shechem for a hundred Keshitah'^ the land on which his
camp stood. There he set up an altar which he called El Elohe
Israel. 5 One day Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob,
went out to see the women of the place. There she was seen
by Shechem, the son of Hamor, the prince of the country. He
talked kindly to her, and afterwards asked his father Hamor

*
^ Compare p. 38.

2 i.e., " face of God."

3 Compare p. 39f.

4 A coin or sum of money whose exact value is no longer known.

5 U., *' El, the god of Israel."

to get her hand in marriage for him. So Hamor, the father of
Shechem, went to Jacob and said to him, " Shechem my son ha?
fallen in love with your daughter ; give him her hand in marriage.
Make a general marriage treaty with us, giving us your daughters
and receiving ours. Make your home with us ; you shall be
free of the whole country, live there, trade there, and make it
your home." They answered, " We cannot agree to give our
sister to an uncircumcised man ; that would be revolting to us.
We will only consent on condition that you become like us,
with every male circumcised as we have been. If you will do
this, we will give you our women and accept your women,
living with you and uniting into a single people ; but if you do
not agree to be circumcised, we will take our daughters away
with us." Hamor, well satisfied with what they said, came
with his son Shechem to the city gate and said to their fellow-
countrymen, " These men are well-disposed towards us ; let
them Hve in our land and carry on their business there ; the
land is wide enough for them on all sides. Let us also marry
their daughters, and give them ours. This is, however, the
condition on which they will agree to Hve with us and to form
a single people with us, — that all our males should be circum-
cised like them. If we do this, then their flocks, property and
cattle will belong to us, so let us agree that they may live with
us." All who passed through the city gate agreed with Hamor
and Shechem, and all their males were circumcised. Three
days later, before they had time to recover from the operation,
the sons of Jacob came on them, wounded as they were, kilHng
every male, and took all their sheep and cattle and asses, all that
they had inside the city and outside, and carried off all their
wealth, making slaves of their women and their little ones,
taking as spoil all that they found in the houses.^

i6. HOW JACOB CAME BACK TO BETHEL.^

XXXV. 1-14. One day God said to Jacob, " Go up to Bethel
to live, building there an altar to the God who appeared to you
when you fled from your brother Esau." So Jacob said to his
family and all who were with him, " Remove the foreign gods
who are amongst you, and purify yourselves and change your

^ MT hai singular. * Compare p. 91.

clothes. Then we can go up to Bethel, where I must build an
altar to the God who answered me at the time when I was in
trouble, and has been with me wherever I have gone." Then
they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had, together
with the rings in their ears. Jacob buried them under the
terebinth near Shechem. When they moved camp, the cities
in their neighbourhood were so afraid of their God that they
did not pursue the sons of Jacob. When he and all his people
reached Bethel, he built an altar, calHng the place Bethel, because
it was there that God appeared to him during his flight from his
brother. Rebecca's foster-mother, Deborah, had died there,
and had been buried under the oak tree called the Oak of Tears.
There Jacob set up a sacred pillar, pouring a libation on it
and anointing it with oil.

17. HOW BENJAMIN WAS BORN.

XXXV. 16-20. They left Bethel, and when they were a short
distance from Ephratah, Rachel gave birth to a child, with
terrible suffering. In the midst of her agony, the midwife
said to her, " Courage ! here is another son for you." But as
her spirit failed in death she called her son Benoni,^ though
his father gave him the name of Benjamin.^ So she died, and
was buried on the road to Ephratah, i.e. Bethlehem. By the
grave Jacob set up a sacred pillar, the modern Pillar of Rachel's
Tomb.

18. OF JOSEPH'S DREAMS.3

xxxvii. 2-1 1. (Joseph) was a lad with the sons of
Zilpah and Bilhah, his father's v^dves. He used to tell
tales of their misdeeds to his father, so that they could
not speak kindly to him at all. One night he had a
dream, which he told to his brothers, thereby aggravating
their hatred. " Listen to this dream of mine," he said.
" As we were binding sheaves in the country, I saw
my sheaf hft itself up and stand upright, while your sheaves
got round it and bowed down to it." His brothers said, " Do

^ i.e.^ " Son of my sorrow."
* t.«., " Son of the right hand."
3 Compare p. 41.

you think you are going to be our king and Lord ? "
Naturally they hated him still more because of his dream and the
way he had told it to them. Another night he had another
dream, which he told to his brothers — " I dreamed that the sun
and moon and the eleven stars all bowed down to me." This
time^ his father rebuked him, saying, " What is this dream of
yours ? Am I to come with your mother and brothers and bow
down at your feet ? " But whilst his brothers were merely
jealous, his father remembered what he had said.

19. HOW JOSEPH WAS KIDNAPPED.^

xxxvii. 13-34. ^^^ ^^7 (^^^ father called him) and when he
answered, he told him to go and bring back news of the welfare
of his brothers and of the flock. Seeing him in the distance, his
brothers said to one another, " Here comes the dreamer ! Let
us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say
that a wild animal has eaten him ! Then we shall see what
his dreams will come to ! " But Reuben, in the hope that he
might be able to rescue him and bring him back to his father,
said to them, " Do not shed blood ; drop him without hurting
him into this pit, here in the desert." They agreed, and took
him and dropped him into a pit, which, fortunately, had no
water in it.

Whilst they were eating their meal, some Midianite traders
came by and pulled Joseph up from the pit, and carried him down
to Egypt. When Reuben went back to the pit and found
Joseph gone, he tore his clothes in sorrow, and returning to his
brothers, said, " The boy is gone ! Oh me ! where shall I
go ? " Coming3 home to their father, (they told) him that some
wild animal had eaten Joseph, and when he heard it he tore his
cloak and put on mourning, and grieved for a long time.

20. HOW JOSEPH WAS A SLAVE IN EGYPT.4
xxxvii. 36, xl. 1-23. On reaching Egypt the Midianites sold
Joseph to Pharaoh's chief executioner, a eunuch named
Potiphar. Some time afterwards Pharaoh was offended with
his head butler and his head baker, and he imprisoned them in
the chief executioner's house. It was to Joseph that his master
entrusted them, and he waited on them for some time.

^ So LXX ; MT inserts " and he told it to his father and his brother,"
^ Compare p 41. 3 MT " and they brought." 4 Compare p. 44f.

One night they both had dreams with different meanings.
When Jacob came in to them next morning, seeing that they
werevvorricd, lie asked these two eunuchs of Pharaoh's who were
imprisoned in his master's house, why they looked so sad.
They said, " We have had dreams, and there is no interpreter
here." Joseph said, " Dream interpretation belongs to God ;
tell me your dreams." Hearing this the head butler told
Joseph his dream : *' I dreamed there was in front of me a vine
with three branches on it. As it budded it blossomed, till the
grapes ripened. I was holding Pharaoh's cup, which I placed
in Pharaoh's hand after pressing the grapes into it." Joseph
said to him, " This is the interpretation : the three branches are
three days, and mean that in three days' time Pharaoh will
remove you and restore you to your position, so that you will
once more serve Pharaoh with his cup, as you used to do when
you were his butler. Only when prosperity has come to you
once more, then I beg you to remember me and be kind to
me. See that my name is brought before Pharaoh, for I was
kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews."

When the head baker found that the meaning of the dream
was good, he said to Joseph, " I too dreamed I had three
baskets of white bread on my head. In the top one were all
kinds of confectionery for Pharaoh's own table, but the birds ate
them all from the basket on my head." Joseph answered,
" This is the interpretation : The three baskets mean three days,
and in three days' time Pharaoh will remove you and hang you
on a tree till the birds have eaten the flesh from you."

Three days later was Pharaoh's birthday, when he made a
feast for all his ofhcials. On this occasion he removed his
head butler and head baker, restoring the former to his duties,
and hanging the latter, as Joseph had foretold in interpreting
the dreams. But the head butler, so far from remembering
Joseph, forgot him altogether.

21. HOW JOSEPH INTERPRETED PHARAOH'S
DREAMS.^

xli. 1-57. One night, about two years later, Pharaoh dreamed
that, as he stood by the river, he saw seven beautiful fat cows
come up out of the river and begin to browse on the sedge.

^ Compare pp. 45flF.

After them there came up seven other cows, ugly and thin, which
stood by the cows on the river bank. Then the thin, ugly
cows ate up the fat beautiful ones — and at this point Pharaoh
woke up. When he got off to sleep again he had a second dream
in which he saw seven rich and good ears of corn coming up
on a single stalk. After them there sprouted seven other ears,
thin and blasted by the east wind. The thin ears swallowed up
the rich and full ones — and again Pharaoh woke up to find it a
dream. So distressed was Pharaoh with his dreams, that in the
morning he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt,
and, telling them the dreams, asked them to interpret them.
When Pharaoh failed to find an adequate interpreter amongst
them, the Chief Butler said to him, "Pharaoh was once dis-
pleased with his servants, and imprisoned them,^ in the house of
the Chief Executioner, myself and the Chief Baker. One night
we both had dreams, each with a different meaning, and we
found there a young Hebrew who was a slave of the Chief
Executioner's. When we told him our dreams he gave to us the
proper interpretation, and it befell as he foretold ; I was
restored to my office, and the Baker was hanged."

Pharaoh immediately sent for Joseph, and as soon as he had
shaved and changed his clothes, he came into the royal presence.
Pharaoh said, " I have had a dream which no one can interpret,
and they tell me you can interpret a dream merely by hearing
it." Joseph answered, " It is not I, but God. May he send
Pharaoh a good answer ! " Pharaoh said to Joseph, " I dreamed
that as I stood by the banks of the river, I saw seven fat and
beautiful cows come up out of the river and begin to browse
on the sedge. After them there came up seven other cows,
ugly and lean — I have never seen such bad cows in all the land of
Egypt. The lean and ugly cows ate up the first fat ones. They
passed right into them, but no one would have known that they
had done so, for they looked just as bad as they had done at
first. Then I woke up, ^but when I went off to sleep again^ I had a
second dream, in which I saw seven full rich ears of corn spring
up on one stalk. After them there sprouted seven other ears,
thin and blasted by the east wind, and the thin ears swallowed

^ MT "me."

« 2 So LXX; MT omits.

- 7a

up the full ears. I have told the magicians, but none amongst
thcm^can interpret this."

Joseph said to Pharaoh, " Pharaoh's two dreams mean the
same thing ; it is God who has been shewing Pharaoh what he
is doing. The seven good cows are seven years, and so are the
seven good cars ; both dreams mean the same thing. The seven
lean and ugly cows, and the seven ears which were thin and
blasted by the east wind, are seven years of famine. It is as I
said, God has been shewing Pharaoh what he is about to do.
There will be seven years of great plenty all over the land of
Egypt, followed by seven years of famine so severe that none shall
remember any of the plenty, such destruction will the famine
cause in the country. The fact that the dream was repeated
was intended to shew Pharaoh that the thing was absolutely
settled by God, who will make no delay. Pharaoh would be
well advised to seek and appoint a wise and prudent man over the
country, to take a fifth part of the produce of the land during the
seven years of plenty, thus amassing corn under Pharaoh's
authority, so that the whole land may not perish from famine."

So pleased were Pharaoh and all his court with this advice,
that he said to Joseph, " Since God has made all this known to
you, it is clear there is none so wise and prudent as you are ;
you shall be my Prime Minister, your orders shall be obeyed
by all my people, and only in the matter of the throne itself
will I be your superior." Then Pharaoh had him dressed in
linen, had a gold chain put round his neck, gave him the second
chariot to ride in, and had the cry " ^Abrek " uttered before
him, thus signifying his supremacy over the whole land of
Egypt. Thus Joseph left him and went all over the land of
Egypt.^

During the seven years of plenty the land grew abundant
crops, and Joseph amassed corn beyond measure, Uke the sand of
the sea shore. Two sons were born to him before the years^ of
famine came :3 the eldest he called Manasseh,'^ because God

' A proclamation of honour, whose exact meaning is not certainly known.
* MT singular.

3 MT adds, " whom Asenath, daughter of Potlpherah, priest of On,
bore."

4 i.e.j " Forgetfulness."

made him forget all his former troubles, and his home, and the
second he called Ephraim,^ because God had made him fruitful
in the land where he had suffered so much. (Afterwards) the
famine spread over the whole earth, food being obtainable in
Egypt alone.

22. HOW JOSEPH'S BROTHERS CAME TO BUY
CORN OF HIM.2

xlii. i-xlvii. 12. Jacob found there was corn in Egypt, and
said to his sons, " Why do you sit and look at one another ? "
So ten of Joseph's brothers went down into Egypt to buy corn,
for Jacob would not let Joseph's full brother, Benjamin, go with
the rest. Joseph himself, now the Prime Minister of the country,
was the person who superintended the sale of the corn to all
the people of the country, so it was before him that his
brothers prostrated themselves with their faces to the ground.
He recognised them, but they did not recognise him. Then he
remembered the old dream he had once had about them, and
said, " You are spies ! "

" No ! we are honest men, we are no spies. We are twelve
in all, brothers on the father's side. Our home is in Canaan, and
the youngest of us is there with his father, whilst one is dead."

" No ! " Joseph said to them. " It is as I said to you. You
are spies. Here is a test for you ; by the life of Pharaoh I swear
that you shall not leave the country unless your youngest brother
comes here. Send one of yourselves to bring your brother,
while the rest remain here in prison. Then we shall find out
whether you are speaking the truth or not. But — by Pharaoh's
life ! — you are spies ! " Then he shut them up in prison for
three days, and at the end of that time Joseph said to them, " I
fear God, so I will allow you to do this to save your lives. If
you are honest, one of your brothers shall stay in prison, while
the rest of you go back with corn enough to satisfy the needs of
your family. Then bring your youngest brother to me, that the
truth of your words may be proved, to save your lives."

To this they agreed, and said one to another, " Now we
must admit our guilt towards our brother. It is because we
would not listen when we saw his distress as he pleaded

^ i.e., " Fruitfulness." * Compare pp. 45ff., 95.

with us for mercy that this distress lias come upon
us." And Reuben said, " Did I not tell you not to
sin against the lad ? You would not hsten to me, and now
we shall have to pay for his death." So they talked, not
knowing that Joseph was listening to them, for he spoke to them
through an interpreter. But, after listening to them, he
turned away to weep, and when he came back, spoke to them and
took Simeon from them, letting them see him imprison him.
Joseph gave orders that their sacks should be filled with corn,
each man's money being placed in his sack, and that they should
be given provisions for the journey. This was done ; they
loaded their asses with their sacks, and went away, looking at
one another in terror, and asking what this was that God had
done to them.

On reaching Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they
told him all their adventures. "The lord of the country,"
they said, " spoke harshly to us, treating us as spies. We told
him we were honest men, and not spies ; that there were
twelve of us, brothers on the father's side, that one of us was
dead and the youngest was still with our father in the land
of Canaan. Then the lord of the country told us that he would
test us as to whether we were honest men by making us leave one
of us with him and bringing away enough food^ to meet the needs
of our family, till we could take our youngest brother to him.
Then having proved that we were honest men and not spies, he
would restore our brother to us and give us free leave to trade
in the country."

When the time came for them to empty their sacks, each of
them found his money in a bundle in his sack. They and their
father were terrified when they saw the bundles of money, and
Jacob said to them, " It is I whom you have bereaved. Joseph
is gone, Simeon is gone, and now you are going to take Benjamin
from me. It is on me that all this falls." Reuben said to him,
" You may kill my two children if I do not bring him home to
you. Put him in my charge, and I v^dll see that he returns."
(So Jacob said as they were starting back) " May God grant that
the man will be kind to you, and give you both your other
brother and Benjamin ! "

' So LXX i MT omits.

(So when they came to Joseph, and when he saw Benjamin,)
he brought Simeon out to them. And when he had them alone,
he made himself known to his brothers, Joseph said, " I am
Joseph ; is my father living ? " So terrified were his brothers
that they could not answer till he said, *' Come nearer to me."
When they did so (he went on), " Do not let it trouble you, for
it was to save life that God sent me in front of you. Two years
has the famine lasted in the land, and for five years to come there
will be no ploughing and no reaping. So God sent me before
you to save many lives amongst you. After all, it was not you,
but God who sent me here, and made me a father to Pharaoh, a
lord to all his family and a ruler to all the country of Egypt.
Hurry back to my father, and give him this message from his
son Joseph, ' God has made me master of all Egypt ; come down
to me and live near me, where I myself can care for you. There
are still five years of famine to come, and there is a danger
that you may be impoverished, together with your family
and all who belong to you.' You and my brother Benjamin
can see with your own eyes that it is I myself who am speaking
to you." Then after he had kissed his brothers and wept
over them, they all talked freely together.

The news of the arrival of Joseph's brothers was brought to
Pharaoh, to his satisfaction and that of his court. He said to
Joseph, " Tell your brothers to harness their animals and go
back to the land of Canaan and bring their father and their
famiUes to me, that I may give them the best of the land of
Egypt. Do ^you yourself tell them^ to take from Egypt waggons
for their little ones and women, and bring their father with them.
Do not let them trouble about their goods, for the best of
Egypt is theirs." The sons of Israel obeyed, and Joseph gave
them waggons at Pharaoh's orders, and provisions for the
journey. Further he gave a suit of clothing to each of them
except Benjamin, to whom he gave three hundred pieces of
silver and five suits of clothing. To his father he sent ten asses
laden with Egyptian produce, and ten she-asses laden with corn
and bread and food for the journey. Then he sent his
brothers away, telling them not to annoy one another on
the journey.

I ^ SoLXX; MT •' you yourself have been told."

Leaving Rgypt, they came to Canaan, to their father
Jacob. But when they told him Joseph was still alive, and
was "how the master of all Egypt, his mind was too numbed
to believe them. When, however, they told him all tliat Joseph
had said to them, and saw the waggons which Joseph had sent
to bring him, he recovered.

On reaching Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his
father Isaac. There God spoke to him in a vision of the night,
calling, " Jacob ! Jacob ! " When he answered, he said, " 1
am the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go to Egypt,
for there I will make your descendants into a great nation. I
vyill come down wdth you — yes, and bring you up again, and
Joseph shall close your eyes." Then Jacob travelled on from
Beersheba (to Egypt). Thereafter Joseph maintained hi?
father, his brothers and all their families with food sufficient
for all their little ones.

23. JACOB'S LAST HOURS.^

xlviii. 1-22. After some time, news was brought to Joseph
that his father was sick. Taking his two sons Manasseh and
Ephraim with him, he told Jacob he had come to see him.^

When Jacobs saw Joseph's sons, he asked who they were.
Joseph replied, " They are the sons whom God has given me
here." He then brought them up to Jacob, who kissed and
embraced them, saying to Joseph, " I never even expected to see
you again, and now God has allowed me to see your children as
well." Then Joseph brought them from between his knees, and
they bowed to the ground.

Jacob gave Joseph the follovying blessing : " May the God
before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, walked, the God
who has been my shepherd from my youth until to-day, the angel
who has kept me from all harm — may he bless the lads, that my
name and the names of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, may be
known through them, that they may grow and become great in
the earth." (Of the children he said) " Israel shall use their

^ Compare pp. 44ff., 95f.

* MT inserts (from some other ancient source ?) " As I came from Paddan,
Rachel died on the journey, some distance from Ephratah, and I buried her
on the road to Ephratah, i.e., Bethlehem."

3 MT " Israel."

name in blessing, saying, " May God make you like Ephraim
and Manasseh/' so putting Ephraim before Manasseh.

To Joseph he said, " I am dying, but God will bring you back
to the land of your fathers. I give you Shechem before your
brothers, for I took it from the Amorites with my sword and
bow."

24. HOW JOSEPH FORGAVE HIS BROTHERS.

1. 3, 15-21. (When Jacob died) the Egyptians mourned for
him for seventy days. At the close of this time, Joseph's
brothers, reaUsing that their father was now dead, were afraid
Joseph might repay them for the harm they had done him.
They told Joseph that, before he died, their father had told them
to say to him, " Forgive the sin which your brothers com-
mitted in inflicting evil on you." So they begged him to for-
give them, for they too were servants of the God of their father.
Joseph wept on hearing them. Then they came and fell down
before him, offering to become his slaves. But Joseph said to
them, " You have nothing to fear. I am not in God's place.
You thought you were doing me harm ; God accounted
it good, so as to save the Hves of many people, as he has done to-
day. Now have no fear, for I will maintain you and your little
ones." With these kind words he comforted them.

25. HOW JOSEPH DIED.

1. 22-26. So Joseph and his family lived in Egypt. He
lived to see the third generation of Ephraim's children, and
on his knees were born the children of Machir the son of
Manasseh. At last one day he said to his family, " I am dying.
One day God will visit you, and will take you out of this country
into that which he promised with an oath to Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob." Then he made the sons of Israel swear, " When
God visits you, see to it that you take up my bones with you
from here." So on Joseph's death, at the age of a hundred and
ten years, they embalmed his body, and placed it in a coffin in
Egypt.

THE SrORr OF THE
BEGINNING OF THINGS AS FOLD BY
. FHE JEWISH PRIESTS.

I. THE GENEALOGY OF THE UNIVERSE AT ITS

CREATION.^

i. i-ii. 4. When, in the very beginning, God created the
material universe, it was utter chaos, with darkness over the
ocean and the breath of God hovering over the water. First,
then, God ordered Hght to come into existence. He was
obeyed and found it satisfactory. Next he separated the hght
from the darkness, calHng the Hght day and the darkness night.
So evening came, and morning, a single day.

Next God ordered a sohd surface to come into being in the
middle of the water, to separate parts of it from one another,
^and was obeyed.* After making the solid surface, he separated
the water below it from the water above it, 3and found it
satisfactory. And he called the sohd surface sky. So evening
came, and morning, a second day.

Next God ordered the water below the sky to collect into
a single mass,'^ that dry matter might be visible, and he was
obeyed, the water below the sky collecting into its mass and
the dry matter becoming visible. He found it satisfactory, and
called the dry matter earth and the collected mass of water sea.

Next God ordered the earth to grow green over its whole
surface with seed-bearing plants and various kinds of trees which
produce fruit containing seed, and he was obeyed. For the
earth sent out various kinds of green seed-bearing plants and
various kinds of trees which produce fruit containing seed.
He found them satisfactory. So evening came, and morning,
a third day.

^ MT has the title at the end of the section, in ii. 4. For the narrative
compare pp. gf.

* 2 So LXX ; MT has the words after " above it."

3 MT omits ; LXX has the words after " sky."

4 So LXX ; MT has " place."

Next God ordered radiant bodies to come into being in the
solid surface of the sky, separating day from night and indi-
cating festivals and days and years, and to be radiant in the
solid surface of the sky and to give light on the earth, and was
obeyed. For God made the two large radiant bodies, the larger
one to dominate the day and the smaller one to dominate the
night — also the stars, putting them in the sohd surface of the
sky to shed Hght over the earth, and dominating day and night
and separating hght from darkness. He found them satisfactory.
So evening came, and morning, a fourth day.

Next God ordered the water to swarm with living reptiles,
and birds to fly above the earth under the sohd surface of the
sky, ^and he was obeyed.^ So God created all the great sea-
monsters, and all the various kinds of hving reptiles with which
the water swarms, and all the various kinds of winged birds. He
found them satisfactory, and blessed them with the words,
" Reproduce yourselves and be many and fill the water in the sea,
and let the birds be many on the earth.' 'So evening came, and
morning, a fifth day.

Next God ordered the earth to produce various kinds of
Hving animals, cattle and reptiles and wild beasts of different
kinds, and he was obeyed. Thus God made different kinds of
land animals, different kinds of cattle and different kinds of
land reptiles, and found them satisfactory.

Finally God said, " Let us make man, of the same shape and
form as we are, to be master of the fish in the sea and the birds
in the sky and the cattle and all the land animals* and all the
reptiles on earth." So God created Man, giving him exactly
his own shape and form, and creating the two sexes. And God
blessed them with the words, " Reproduce yourselves in numbers
large enough to fill the earth and subdue it, and be masters over
the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, 3and over the cattle3
and all the land animals and all the land reptiles." Then God
told them he had arranged for them to eat all seed-bearing
plants over the whole earth, and all trees with seed-bearing fruit.
And the food of all the land animals and the birds in the sky
and all the land reptiles — indeed of all hving things — was to be

1 So LXX ; MT omitg.

2 MT omits.

3 3 So LXX; MT omits.

all the foliage of the plants, and he was obeyed. Now God
found" all his work satisfactory. So evening came, and morning,
a sixth day.

So the universe in all its details was completed, and God
finished all his constructive work on the seventh day, and on
that day ceased all constructive work, llicn God blessed the
seventh dav and made it holy, because on that day he ceased
from all his creative labours.

2. THE GENEALOGY OF MAN.

V. 1-32. When God created Man, making him in exactly
the same form as Himself, in two sexes, he blessed them and gave
them the name of Man when they were created. And after
living a hundred and thirty years the man had born to him a son'
exactly like himself, and called him Seth. He lived after the
birth of Seth eight hundred years, having other sons and
daughters, making a total of nine hundred and thirty years before
he died. After living a hundred and five years, Seth had Enosh
born to him, and lived after the birth of Enosh eight hundred
and seven years, having other <5ons and daughters, making a
total of nine hundred and twelve years before he died. After
living ninety years, Enosh had Cainan born to him, and lived
after the birth of Cainan, having other sons and daughters, for
eight hundred and fifteen years, making a total of nine hundred
and five vears before Enosh died. After living seventy years
Cainan had Mehalaleel born to him, and lived after the birth of
Mehalaleel, having other sons and daughters, eight hundred and
forty years, making a total of nine hundred and ten years before
he died. After living sixty-five years, Mehalaleel had Jered
born to him, and after the birth of Jered, having other sons and
daughters, he lived for eight hundred and thirty vears, making
a total of eight hundred and ninety-five years before he died.
When Jered had lived a hundred and sixty-two years, Enoch
was born to him, and after the birth of Enoch, having other sons
and daughters, he Hved for eight hundred years, making a total
of nine hundred and sixtv-two years before he died. When
Enoch had Hved sixty-five years, Methuselah w^s born to him.
Now Enoch was a constant companion of God, and after the birth
of Methuselah, having other sons and daughters, he hved three

^ MT omits.

81 6

hundred years, making a total of three hundred and sixty-five
years. Now Enoch was a constant companion of God, and he
disappeared — God took him. When Methuselah had Hved a
hundred and eis:hty-seven years, Lamech was born to him, and
after the birth of Lamech, having other sons and daughters, he
lived for seven hundred and eighty-two years, making a total of
nine hundred and sixty-nine years before he died. When
Lamech had lived a hundred and eighty-two years (Noah) was
born to him. After the birth of Noah he had -other sons and
daughters and lived five hundred and ninety-five years, making
a total of seven hundred and seventy-seven years before he
died. When Noah had lived five hundred years, Shem, Ham
and japheth were born to him.

3 THE GENEALOGY OF NOAH^

vi. 9-ix. 29. Throughout his life, Noah was absolutely just,
and was a constant companion of God. He had three sons,
Shem, Ham and Japheth. From God's point of view the world
had grown utterly corrupt, for it was full of crime. God realised
how corrupt it was, and that the morality of the whole race
had decayed, and he told Noah that in view of the mass of crime
due to humanity, he would destroy the whole race. "• So,"
he said, " make yourself an ark of gopher wood, divided into
compartments, and cover it inside and outside with tar. Its
dimensions shall be 450 feet in length, 150 feet in breadth and 45
feet in height. Make a window in the top of the ark, as much
as a foot and a half in size, and put a door in the side. There
shall be lower, second and third decks. Then I will bring the
flood on the earth, destroying every living thing below the sky ;
everything on earth will die. But with you I will make an
agreement ; you shall go into the ark with your sons and yoi^r
wife and your sons' wives. Further, you shall take into the ark
to save them a pair — both sexes — of every living thing, different
kinds of birds, different kinds of animals, different kinds of
reptiles ; a pair of each shall come to you for preservation. Take
also stores of all kinds of edible food for you and them to eat."
So Noah did exactly what God had ordered him.

Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came on the
earth, and he went into the ark to escape from the flood, with

^ Compare pp. i^i.

his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. Pairs of animals,
both those which are ceremonially clean and those which are
ceremonially unclean, also of birds and reptiles, went into the
ark to Noah, both sexes going as God had ordered him.

Seven days later the flood was over the earth. For on the
seventh day of the second month of Noah's six hundredth year,
all the fountains of the great ocean broke open, and windows
were opened in the sky. On that very day Noah went into the
ark with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives, also all the
various kinds of animals, cattle, reptiles and birds. In fact,
pairs of all living things came to Noah in the ark, all being of
both sexes, as God had ordered him.

The water rose very rapidly over all the earth, while the ark
floated on its surface. Indeed, it rose so enormously all over
the world that the tops of all the highest mountains below the
sky were covered, and covered to a depth of twenty-two feet.
Consequently every living thing on earth perished — cattle,
birds, animals, insects, all the human race, the water'retaining
its mastery over the world for a hundred and fifty days.

God, however, did not forget Noah and all the animals and
cattle he had with him in the ark, and he sent^a wind over
the earth. At the same time the water began to go down, for
the fountains of the great ocean and the windows of the sky were
shut. It was after a hundred and fifty days that the water began
to fall, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the
ark grounded on the mountains of Ararat. The water continued
to fall steadily till the tenth month, and on the first day of that
month the mountain-tops became visible. On the first day of
the first month of the six hundred and first year of Noah's life
the waters began to dry up, and on the twenty-seventh day of
the second month the ground was dry.

Then God ordered Noah to come out of the ark with his
sons and his wife and his sons' wives, and to bring with him
all the animals, birds, cattle, and reptiles and let them breed
freely and increase in numbers all over the earth. So Noah
came out of the ark with his sons and his wife and his sons'
wives and all the animals of different kinds — cattle,^ birds and
reptiles. God blessed Noah and his sons in the following words :
" Reproduce yourselves ; grow in numbers, and fill the world.

I So LXX ; MT omits.

83 6A

Fear and terror of you shall fall upon all the wild animals and
on every land reptile and all the fish of the sea, for they have been
handed over to you. Every living thing shall become your food ;
I will make no difference in this respect between them and the
vegetable world, with this restriction, that you shall not eat the
life-blood with the flesh. Further, I will hold every animal
responsible for your life-blood — and man, too ; yes, I will hold
men responsible for one another's lives. Whoever sheds human
blood shall have his blood shed by man, for I made man in the
exact shape of God. But do you reproduce yourselves, grow
in numbers, fill the earth and ^be its masters.^"

God said to Noah and his sons, " I will make this promise to
you and to your descendants, and to all living things that are
with you — birds, cattle and wild animals — all that come out of
the ark. I will confirm this promise to you, that never again
shall all living things be destroyed by a flood, and never again
shall the earth be so ruined ; and this," said God, " shall be
the evidence of the agreement I have made with you and
all the animals for ever. I am putting my bow in the clouds,
and it shall be evidence between me and the world. Whenever
I bring clouds over the earth, then the bow shall be visible in
them, and I will remember the agreement I have made
with you and v/ith all the animals and with all other living things,
so that no flood shall ever again destroy them all.

" When the bow is in the cloud, then I will see it and remember
this perpetual agreement between God and the animals and every
living thing on earth. This is the evidence of the agreement
which I am making with every living thing in the world."

After the flood Noah lived another three hundred and fifty
years, making a total of nine hundred and fifty years before he
died.

4. THE GENEALOGY OF NOAH'S SONS.^

X. 1-32. The children of Shem, Ham and Japheth were not
born till after the flood. The sons of Japheth were Gomer and
Magog and Madai and Tubal and Meshek and Tiras. The sons
of Gomer were Ashkenaz and Riphath and Togarmah. The
sons of Javan were Elishah and Tarshish, the Kitians and the

^ ^ MT has " be many." ^ Compare pp. 1 5f.

Dcdanians. It was from these with their various languages
tribes and nations that the Foreign Islands were populated
country by country.

The sons of Ham were Cush and Egypt and Put and Canaan.
The sons of Cush were Seba and Havilah and Sabtali and
Raamah and Sabtakah. And the sons of Raamah were Sheba
and Dedan. These were the descendants of Ham in their
various tribes, languages, lands and nations.

The sons of Shem were Elam and Asshur and Arphaxad and
Aram. And the sons of Aram were Uz and Hul and Mash,
and Arphaxad was the father of Shelah and Shelah of Eber.
These are the various descendants of Shem with their different
tribes, languages, lands and nationalities. And all the pre-
ceding are the descendants of Noah, with their genealogies in
their different nationalities, by whom the nations of the world
were populated after the flood.

5. THE GENEALOGY OF SHEM.

xi. 10-26. At the age of a hundred years, Shem had Arphaxad
born to him, two years after the flood. After the birth of
Arphaxad, having other sons and daughters, he hved five hundred
years, making a total of six hundred years before he died.
When Arphaxad had lived thirty-five years Shelah was
born to him. After the birth of Shelah he lived four
hundred and three years, having other sons and daughters,
making a total of four hundred and thirty-eight years before
he died. When Shelah had lived thirty years, Eber was born
to him, and after the birth of Eber, having other sons and
daughters, he Uved four hundred and three years, making a
total of four hundred and thirty-three years before he died.
When Eber had lived thirty-four years, Peleg was born to him,
and after the birth of Peleg, having other sons and daughters, he
lived four hundred and thirty years, making a total of four
hundred and sixty-four years before he died. When Peleg
had hved thirty years, Reu was born to him, and after the birth
of Reu, having other sons and daughters, he lived two hundred
and nine years, making a total of two hundred and thirty-nine
years before he died. When Reu had lived thirty-two years,
Serug was born to him, and after the birth of Serug, having

other sons and daughters, he Hved two hundred and seven years,
making a total of two hundred and thirty-seven years. When
Serug had Uved thirty years, Nahor was born to him, and after
the birth of Nahor, having other sons and daughters, he lived
two hundred years, making a total of two hundred and thirty
years before he died. When Nahor had lived twenty-nine years
Terah was born to him, and after the birth of Terah, having
other sons and daughters, he lived a hundred and nineteen years,
making a total of a hundred and forty-eight years before he
died. And when Terah had Hved seventy years, Abram,
Nahor and Haran were born to him.

6. THE GENEALOGY OF TERAH.^

xi. 27- XXV. II. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor and
Haran, and Haran was the father of Lot. And Terah took
Abram his son and Lot his grandson, the son of Haran, and
Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they left
the Chaldean city of Ur, to emigrate to Canaan. When they
reached Haran they remained there, and when Terah was two
hundred and five years old, he died, still in Haran. (xii. 4)
When Abram was seventy-five years of age, he left Haran,
taking with him Sarai his wife. Lot his nephew, and all the
property he had amassed and all the persons he had acquired
in Haran, emigrating to the land of Canaan, (xiii. 6) When,
however, they reached their destination, they found that the
resources of the land were too slender to allow them to keep
together, so large was their property. They therefore separated,
Abram remaining in Canaan, and Lot taking up his residence in
the cities on the Plain.

(xvi. i) Sarai, Abram's wife, had hitherto been childless,
so after Abram had been ten years in the land of Canaan, she
took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband in
marriage, (xvi. 15) She became the mother of a son, and
Abram, who was now eighty-six years of age, gave to the son
of Hagar and himself the name Ishmael.

(xvii. l) When Abram was ninety-nine years of age, Yahweh
appeared to him and said to him, " I am El Shaddai ; see that
your conduct is blameless in my sight. If it is, I will make a
formal agreement with you, and your descendants shall increase

^ Compare pp. 17, igf.

enormously in numbers." Thereupon Abram bowed till his
facfr-touched the ground, and God continued, " In accordance
with the agreement I am setting before you, you shall
become the ancestor of many nations. In token thereof
your name shall be changed from Abram to Abraham, because
I am making you the ancestor of many nations. For your
descendants shall be so numerous that I will make them into many
nations, and they shall include kings. This present agreement
shall be valid for you and your descendants, generation after
generation in perpetuity, and I will become the God of yourself
and of all your successors after you. All Canaan, the land in
which you are travelling as a visitor, I will give you as your own
property, for yourself and for your descendants in perpetuity,
and I will become your God." Further, God said to Abraham,
" You and all your descendants after you must keep the con-
dition on which I grant this agreement. This is the condition
which must be kept by you and your descendants after you :
All your males must be circumcised, circumcised in your foreskin,
thus testifying to the covenant which has been made between me
and you. Every male child amongst your people for ever must
be circumcised on the eighth day after birth, including the slave
who is born in your family and the slave whom you purchase
from foreigners who is not of your race. The home-born slave
and the purchased slave must be circumcised, so that the agree-
ment may be stamped upon your bodies for ever. If there is
a male who has not been circumcised in the foreskin, that
person must be expelled from his people on the ground that he
has broken my agreement."

God further said to Abraham, " For the future your wife's
name shall be changed from Sarai to Sarah. I will so bless her
that she herself shall bring you a son, and shall become the
ancestress of many nations." And Abraham fell forward, with
his face to the ground, laughing at the idea that a man a hundred
years of age, and Sarah, now ninety, should have a son born to
them. So he said to God, " May your protection preserve the
life of Ishmael ! " But God said, " It is not of him that I
speak ; it is Sarah your wife who is to bring you a son, to whom
you are to give the name of Isaac, ^ and it is with him and his

^ i.e.^ "laughter."

descendants after him that I will ratify the agreement I make —
an agreement in perpetuity. As for Ishmael, I will do what you
have asked, and I will make his descendants very very numerous.
His sons shall include twelve princes ruling over a great nation.
But it is with Isaac, who shall be born to Sarah a year hence,
that I will ratify the agreement I have made." With these
last words, God left Abraham.

Without a single day's delay, Abraham took his son Ishmael
and all the slaves who had been born in his household and all
those whom he had bought — in fact, every male in his house-
hold— and, in obedience to God's command, he circumcised
them in the foreskin. Abraham was ninety-nine years old and
Ishmael thirteen when they were circumcised in the foreskin.
On that very same day were circumcised both Abraham and
his son Ishmael, together with all the men born as slaves
in his household and all the slaves he had bought from
foreigners.

(xix. 29) When God destroyed the cities of the Plain, he did
not forget Abraham, but sent Lot safely out of the ruin which
he brought on the cities where Lot lived.

(xxi. i) God^ did for Sarah what he had promised at the time
that he had indicated. And Abraham gave the name of Isaac
to the son who was born to him and to Sarah. In accordance
with God's command, Abraham circumcised his new-born son,
Isaac, when he was eight days old, he himself being a hundred
years old at the time of Isaac's birth.

(xxiii. i) Sarah lived altogether a hundred and twenty-seven
years, and died at Kiriath Arba, i.e., Hebron, in the land of
Canaan. And Abraham went in to mourn for her with tears.
Then he left the corpse and went to speak to the Hittites. He
reminded them that he was only a foreigner and had no standing
amongst them, but asked that they should grant him a grave
amongst them where he might bury the corpse. They replied :
" Listen, sir, you are a heaven-sent prince amongst us ; bury
the corpse in the best of our graves ; there is not one of us who
would withhold a grave from you, and so prevent you from
burying your dead." Rising from his seat, and bowing low,

^ MT " Yahweh."

Abraliam replied to the Hittites, *' If it is indeed your pleasure
that_l sliould bury tlie corpse of my dead, so that 1 may sec it no
more, then I beg that you will approach Ephron, son of Zohar,
and ask him to grant me the Cave of Macpclah, at the extremity
of his property. I am prepared to offer its full value in money
if he will allow me to have it as my own grave in your midst."
Now Ephron the Hittite was sitting amongst the rest, and he
replied in the hearing of all the Hittites who had come in to the
city gate, " Not so, sir ; permit me to give you the field as a
present, together with the cave which it contains. In the
presence of these my fellow-countrymen I have bestowed them
on you, that you may bury the corpse." Once more Abraham
bowed to the citizens present, saying to Ephron so that ail the
citizens could hear, " No, I beg of you, let me give you money
for the field ; please accept it from me, that I may bury the
corpse there." Thereupon Ephron replied to Abraham,
*' The land is only worth four hundred shekels of silver — a merp
trifle between u<5 ; bury the corpse there." To this Abraham
agreed, and counted out the sum mentioned in the presence of
the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver of commercial
standard.

In this way the field of Ephron at Macpelah, near Mamre,
the field together with the cave in it and all the trees within
its boundaries on every side, passed legally into the possession
of Abraham, as was witnessed by the Hittites, that is by all who
passed in to the gate of the city. And then Abraham buried his
wife Sarah, in the cave in the field of Alacpelah near Mamre,
i.e. Hebron, in the land of Canaan. Thus the field and the
cave in it passed legally into the possession of Abraham from the
Hittites, for use as a burying-place.

(xxv. 7) The total length of Abraham's life was a hundred
and seventy-five years. He died after a long life, having spent
his declining years in happiness before he joined the great
majority. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave
of Macpelah in the field of Ephron, son of Zohar, the Hittite,
near Mamre. Both Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried
in the ground which he had bought from the Hittites. And
after the death of Abraham, God sent prosperity on Isaac
his son.

7. THE GENEALOGY OF ISHMAEL, THE SON OF
ABRAHAM AND HAGAR, SARAH'S SLAVE.

XXV. 12-17. The following are the names of the sons of
Ishmael, names borne both by themselves and their descendants :
Nebaioth— Ishmael's eldest son— Kedar, Adbeel, Mishma,
Duma, Massa, Hadad, Toma, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedmah.
These are the names of the sons of Ishmael by their villages and
their encampments — twelve princes over their tribes. After
a life of a hundred and thirty-seven years, Ishmael failed and
died, and so joined the great majority.

8. THE GENEALOGY OF ISAAC, THE SON OF

ABRAHAM.^

XXV. 19-XXXV. 29. Isaac was the son of Abraham, and when
he was forty years of age he married Rebecca, the daughter of
Bethuel the Aramean, and the sister of Laban the Aramean, of
Paddan Aram. (xxv. 26) (Esau and Jacob) were born to them
when Isaac was sixty years old. (xxvi. 34) At the age of forty
Esau married Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite and
Basmath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, which terribly
distressed Isaac and Rebecca.

(xxvii. 46) Eventually Rebecca told Isaac that she was sick
to death of these Hittite women, and if Jacob married a
Hittite woman of the country like them, her own life would not
be worth living. So Isaac summoned Jacob, and, giving him
his blessing, strictly forbade him to marry a Canaanite woman.
" Up ! " said he, " and go to Paddan Aram, where your uncle
Laban lives, and marry one of his daughters. May El Shaddai
bless vou, giving you many children, and so many descendants
that they may become a number of nations. May he also give
you and your descendants the blessing which he gave Abraham,
so that vou may some day possess the land where you now travel
as a visitor, the land he promised Abraham-." So Isaac sent
Jacob away to go to Paddan Aram, to see Laban, the son of
Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebecca, and uncle of
Jacob and Esau. When Esau reahsed that Isaac had sent Jacob
with his blessing to Paddan Aram for a wife of that country,
and with his blessing had strictly forbidden him to marry a

I Ccmpare pp. 3 iff., 61 ff.

woman of Canaan, and that Jacob had obeyed his parents and
had gone to Paddan Aram, and that they disHked Canaanite
women, then he went to Ishmael and married Mahlah the
daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, and sister of Nebaioth,
in addition to the wives he had already.

(When Jacob reached Paddan Aram, Laban gave him his
daughter Leah in marriage), (xxix. 24) and gave I.eah his
daughter his slave Zilpah to be her slave, (xxix. 28) He also
gave him his daughter Rachel in marriage, and gave her his
slave Bilhah as a slave, and Rachel allowed Jacob to marry
Bilhah her slave, (xxx. 9) and Leah also allowed Jacob to marry
Zilpah her slave, (xxx. 22) But God did not forget Rachel.

(xxxl. 18) (Then Jacob collected) all the property in flocks
and herds he had acquired in Paddan Aram, and started to
return to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan, (xxxiii. 18) in
his journey reaching the city of Shechem safely.

(xxxv. 6) When Jacob reached Luz in the land of Canaan,
(xxxv. 9) as he came from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him
to bless him. He told him that his name, which had hitherto
been Jacob, should be changed to Israel, so he was afterwards
called Israel. Further, God said, " I am El Shaddai ; you shall
have children so numerous that they shall be a nation, or rather a
commonwealth of nations. You shall have kings amongst your
descendants, and I will give you and your descendants the
land which I pledged to Abraham and Isaac." God then left
him,^ and Jacob gave the name of Bethel to the place where God
had spoken to him.

(xxxv. 22) Jacob had twelve sons : —

(a) Sons of Leah :

Reuben, Jacob's eldest son.

Simeon,

Levi,

Judah,

Issachar,

Zebulun.

(b) Sons of Rachel :

Joseph,
Benjamin.

* MT adds : " the place where he had spoken to him."

9 1'

(c) Sons of Bilhah, Rachel's slave :
Dan,
Naphtali.
(rT) Sons of Zilpah, Leah's slave :
Gad,
Asher.
The above sons of Jacob were born in Paddan Aram, before
Jacob returned to his father Isaac at Mamre — also called Kiriath
Arba, or Hebron — in the land of Canaan, the place visited by
Abraham and Isaac. The w^hole length of Isaac's life was a
hundred and eighty years. Then he failed and died and joined
the great majority, at an extreme old age, being buried by his
sons Esau and Jacob in the tomb which Abraham had bought.

9. THE GENEALOGY OF ESAU, i.e. EDOM.

xxxvi. 1-9. Esau married a Canaanite woman, Ada, the
daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah, daughter of Anah,
son^ of Zibeon the Horite,^ and Basmath, daughter of Ishmael,
the sister of Nebaioth. Whilst he still lived in the land of
Canaan, Esau had born to him, by Ada, Eliphaz, by
Basmath, Reuel, and by Oholibamah, Jeush, Jalam and Korah.
Later, Esau, with his wives, his sons, his daughters, all his
household, his flocks, his cattle and all the property he had
acquired in the land of Canaan, migrated to the land of Seir,3
to make room for his brother Jacob. For their property was
too large to allow of their living together, and the country
over which they wandered could not support them because
of the size of their flocks. So Esau, i.e., Edom, made his home
in Mount Seir. This is the genealogy of Esau, the ancestor of
Edom in Mount Seir.

10. THE NAMES OF THE DESCENDANTS OF ESAU.

xxxvi. 10-14. Eliphaz was the son of Ada and Esau ; Reuel
was the son of Basmath and Esau. The sons of Eliphaz were
Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz. He also had a

1 So LXX ; MT *' daughter."

2 SoJLXX; MTHivite."

3 MT omits.

secondary wife named Timnah, who was the mother of Amalek.
So far.ihe descendants of Ksau and Ada.

The sons of Reucl were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and
Mizzah. So far the sons of Basmath and Esau.

The sons of OhoHbamah, daughter of Anah, son of Zibeon,
and Esau were Jeush, Jalam and Korah.

II. THE CHIEFTAINS OF THE ESAUITES.

xxx^a. 15-19. {a) Sons of Eliphaz, Esau's eldest son :

The chieftains Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, Korah, Gatam,

Amalek. These were the chieftains of Eliphaz in the land of

Edom. So far the descendants of Ada.

(b) Sons of Reuel, son of Esau :

The chieftains of Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, Mizzah, These
were the chieftains of Reuel in the land of Edom. So far the
descendants of Basmath and Esau.

Thfe chieftains of Jeush, Jalam, Korah. These were the
chieftains of Oholibamah, daughter of Anah, wife of Esau.
So far the sons of Esau, i.e., Edom, and their chieftains.

12. THE DESCENDANTS OF SEIR THE HORITE—

ABORIGINES.

xxxvi. 20-30. The chieftains of the Horites who were
descended from Seir in the land of Edom, were Lotan, Shobal,
Ziphon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. The sons of Lotan
were Hori and Hemam, and his sister Timnah. The sons of
Shobal were Alwan, Mahanath, Ebal, Shepo and Onam. The
sons of Zibeon were Ajjah and Anah, who found water in the
desert while he was feeding the asses of his father Zibeon. The
children of Anah were Dishon and Oholibamah. The sons of
Dishon were Hendah, Eshban, Jithron and Keran. The sons
of Ezer were Bilhan, Zawan and Ekan. The sons of Dishan
were Uz and Aran.

The chieftains who ruled over the Horites in the land of
Edom, were those of Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon,
Ezer, and Dishan. So far the chieftains of the Horites, named
according to their families^ in the land of Seir.

I So LXX ; MT " Chieftains."

13. THE NAMES OF THE CHIEFTAINS OF ESAU,
MENTIONED BY THEIR TRIBES AND LOCALITIES.

xxxvi. 40-xxxviI. I. The chieftains of Timnah, Alwah,
Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar,
Magdiel and Irani. These are the chieftains of Edom,
together with the territories which they owned.

All this time Jacob lived in the land of Canaan, through
which his father had wandered as a stranger.^

14. THE GENEALOGY OF JACOB.

xxxvii. 2-1. 13 At the age of seventeen Joseph was a herds-
man of hi? father's flock.

(xU. 46). At the age of thirty, Joseph was in high office at
the court of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, (xlvi. 6). So Jacob, with
all his descendants, sons, grandsons, granddaughters, and all
the cattle and property they had acquired in Canaan, migrated
to Egypt.

The descendants of Israel, who migrated to Egypt, were as
follows : —

{a) Reuben, Jacob's eldest son. His sons were Henoch,
Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

{b) The sons of Simeon : Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar,
and Saul, whose mother was a Canaanite woman.

{c) The sons of Levi : Gershom, Kohath and Merari.

{d) The sons of Judah : Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez and Zerah, of
whom Er and Onan died in Canaan, and Perez had sons named
Hezron and Hamul.

(<?) The sons of Issachar : Tola, Puwwah, Job and Shimron.

(J) The sons of Zebulun : Sered, Elon and Jahleel.

The above were all sons of Leah, and were born in Paddan
Aram, together with Jacob's daughter Dinah, making a total,
including both sexes, of thirty-three persons.

{g) The sons of Gad : Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri,
Arodi, and AreH.

{h) The sons of Asher : Jimnah, Jishwi, and Beriah, with their
sister Serah. Beriah had two sons, Heber and Malkiel.

The above were all the children of Zilpah, whom Laban gave
to his daughter Leah, making a total of sixteen persons.

* MT adds " that is Esau, the father of Edom."

Rachel, the wife of Jacob, had two sons

(0 Joseph,

(j) Benjamin.

Joseph and Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, the Priest of
On, had two sons born to them in Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim.

The sons of Benjamin were Bela, Beker, Asbel, Gera, Naaman,
Ahiram, Shupham, Hupham and Ard.

These were all the children of Rachel and Jacob, making a
total of fourteen persons.

(k) The son of Dan was Hushim.

(/) The sons of Naphtali : Jahzeel, Guni, Jezr and Shillem.

These were all the children of Jacob and Bilhah, whom Laban
gave to his daughter Rachel, making a total of seven persons.

So when Jacob came down to Egypt, his direct descendants
who came with him, not including the wives of his sons, numbered
sixty-six persons in all. To these must be added the two
sons who were born to Joseph in Egypt, making the total of the
family seventy persons when they entered Egypt.

xlvii. 5. ^When the news reached Pharaoh's court, he said
to Joseph,^ " Now that your father and brothers have joined you,
you can choose any portion of the land of Egypt and settle them
in the best part" of the country." Then Joseph brought his
father and presented him to the king, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
Pharaoh asked Jacob his age, and he repHed, " I have wandered
but a hundred and thirty years ; short and sorrowful has been
the time of my wandering, and I have not reached the age
of my ancestors," and before Jacob left Pharaoh he blessed him
again. So Joseph carried out Pharaoh's instructions and
made his father and his brothers a home in the land of Egypt,
giving them an estate in the best part of the country, in the
district of Rameses. (xlvii. 27) This was how Israel came to
settle in the land of Egypt,* where they held property and
grew rapidly in numbers and in strength.

Jacob himself lived seventeen years in Egypt, making the
total length of his Hfe a hundred and forty-seven years, (xlviii. 3)
Before his death he said to Joseph, " El Shaddai appeared to me
at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, promising to make

^ So LXX ; MT omits.
* MT Goshen.

my descendants numerous and strong, a company of nations, and
to give me and my posterity after me that land as property for
ever. I therefore hereby adopt the two sons who were born t-o
you in Egypt before I came, and will give the same treatment to
Ephraim and Manasseh as to Reuben and Simeon. But any
children who were born to you after them shall be yours,
when they come to take their share of the family property, they
shall be included under the names of their two elder brothers."

(Then Jacob called his sons together) (xlix. 28) and after
giving to each of them a separate blessing, added the following
instructions : " I am about to join the great majority ; bury
me in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. It is the cave
in the field of Macpelah, opposite Mamre in the land of Canaan,
which was bought for a family grave by Abraham from Ephron
the Hittite. There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah,
there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebecca, and there
I buried Leah." After Jacob had given these instructions
he failed and passed over to the great majority. (1. 12) So his
sons carried out his wishes by bearing his body to the land of
Canaan and burying it in the cave in the field of Macpelah,
opposite Mamre, which had been bought for a family grave by
Abraham from Ephron the Hittite.

A Narrative of Uncertain Origin Describing an
. Tnvasion of Palestine by Four Mesopotamian
Kings ^ Contemporary with Abraham.

CHAPTER XIV.

During the reign of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king
of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goyim,
an expedition was made by them against Bera king of Sodom,
Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemebed^
king of Zeboim and the king of Bela or Zoar, who had formed
confederation in the valley of Shiddim, i.e.^ the Dead Sea.
These five had for twelve years acknowledged the supremacy of
Chedorlaomer, revolting in the thirteenth. A year later,
Chedorlaomer and his allies undertook their expedition. In
turn they crushed the Rephaim at Ashtoreth Karnaim, the
Zuzim at Ham, the Emin at Shaveh Kirjathaim, and the Horim,
in the hills^ of Seir, penetrating as far as El Paran on the edge
of the desert. Retracing their steps, they reached Ain Mishpat,
where they ravaged the Amalekite country and that of the
Amorites who inhabited Hazazon Tamar. At this point they
were opposed by the five Canaanite kings already mentioned,
and a pitched battle was fought between the four kings on the one
one side and the five on the other. (The Canaanite forces were
utterly routed), their flight was impeded by their constant falHng
into the bitumen wells in which the Valley of Shiddim abounds,
and the remainder made good their escape to the hills. Lot^
was at the time Hving at Sodom, and was carried away (by the
Mesopotamian kings) together with all the goods and food of
Sodom and Gomorrah.

News of these events reached Abram through a fugitive who
found him Hving by the oak of Mamre the Amorite, brother of
Eschol and Aner, who were his allies at the time. Hearing that
his kinsman Lot, was a prisoner, he armed"^ his household slaves.

1 MT " Shemeber."

2 So LXX ; MT " in Hararam."

3 MT adds : " Abraham's nephew."

4 So LXX (?) ; MT " emptied."

three hundred and eighteen in number, and followed (the
retreating army) as far as Dan. In a surprise assault^ at night he
utterly routed them, and, after pressing the pursuit as far as
Hobah to the north of Damascus, recovered the goods and
liberated his kinsman Lot, together with the women and the
other prisoners.

On his return from his victory over Chedorlaomer and his
allies he was formally received by the king of Sodom at the
Valley of Shaveh or Kingsdale. Mechizedek, king of Salem,
who was a priest of El-Eljon, offered him bread and wine,
with the following blessing :

" Blessings on Abram from El-Eljon,
Master of sky and of earth ;
And blessings on El-Eljon,

Who delivered thy foes to thy grasp."

Thereupon Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

The king of Sodom said to Abram, " Give me the persons
who have been recovered and keep the goods."

" No," said Abram, " I have sworn to El-Eljon, master of
sky and of earth, that I will not take so much as a thread or
boot-lace from your property, that you may have no ground
whatever for claiming to have enriched me. All I will accept
for myself is the rations of my soldiers, but my alUes, Aner,
Eshcol, and Mamre, shall have their share of the spoil."

' LXX ; MT " was divided."

INDEX OF PASSAGES

The figures refer to pages ; where a composite passage Is
found in more than one division of the book, both are
given.

Genesis
i. I — ii. 4
ii. 4-24
ii. 25 — iii.
iv. 1-24
iv. 25, 26
V. 1-32
(v. 29
vi. 1-4
vi. 5— ix. 1
ix. iS-27
ix. 28-29
X. 1-32
xi. 1-9
xi. 10-26
xi. 27
xi. 28 — xii
(xii. 4.
xii. 10-20
xlii. I- 1 8
(xiii. 6
xiv. 1-24
XV. I -2 1
xvi. 1-3
xvi. 1-14
xvi. 15
xvii. 1-27
xviii. 1-33

Pages

Genesis

Page*

79-81

xix. 1-28 . .

22-2-5

9-10

xix. 29 . .

lO-I I

xix. 3D-38

23-24

11-13

XX. 1-17 . .

57-58

xxi. I-/ . .

24,88

81-82

xxi. 8-21 . .

58-59

13)

xxi. 22-33

24-

-25, 59

xxii. 1-19

59 61

5,82-84

xxii. 20-24

xxiii. 1-20

88-89

xxiv. 1-67

25-28

6, 84-85

XXV. 1-6, 18

16-17

XXV. 7-1 1

85-86

XXV. 12-17

XXV. 19-20

XXV. 21-28

86)

(xxv. 26 . .

90)

17-18

XXV. 29-34

18-19

xxvi. 1-22

29-31

86)

xxvi. 23-25

97-98

xxvi. 26-33

i9> 57

xxvi. 34 . .

xxvii. 1-45

• 3i-33>

61-62

19-20

xxvii. 46 — xxviii. 9

)

90-91

xxviii. 10-22

62-63

86-88

xxix. 1-23

• 33-34,

63-64

20-22

xxix. 24 . .

INDEX

Genesis

Pages

Genesis

Pages

xxix. 25 — XXX. 24

• 34-35

xxxvii. 2

(xxix. 28, XXX. 9, 22

• 90

xxxvii. 3-35

41, 69-70

XXX. 25-43

• 36, 64

xxxvii. 36

xxxi. I — xxxii. I . .

36-

37, 64-66

xxxviii. 1-30

• • 42-43

(xxxi. 18 . .

• 91)

xxxix. 1-23

■ • 43-44

xxxii. 2 — xxxiii. 17

37-

39, 66-67

xl^. I — xU. 57

• • 44

-45, 70-74

xxxiii. 18 — xxxiv.

39-40,

(xU. 46 . .

94)

67-68, 91

xlii. I — xlvii. 12

45-

-51, 74-77

XXXV. 1-5, 7-8, 14

. 68-69

(xlvi. 6-27

•• 94-95)

XXXV. 6, 9-13, 15 . .

(xlvii. 5-1 1

•• 95)

XXXV. 16-20

xlvii. 13-26

. . 51-52

XXXV. 21-22

xJvii. 27-28

XXXV. 22-29

• 91-92

xlvii. 29 — xlviii.

52, 77-1'^

xxxvi. 1-9

(xlviii. 3-6

. . 95-96)

xxxvi. 10-14

• 92-93

xlix. 1-27

• • 53-55

xxxvi. 15-19

xlix. 28-32

xxxvi. 20-30

xlix. 33 — 1. 21

55-56, 78

xxxvi. 31-39

. 40-41

(1. 12 . .

96)

xxxvi. 40 — xxxvii.

1. 22-26 . .

lero .

5M-5-23

BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN COLLOQUIAL SPEECH.

Edited by G. Currie Martin, M.A., R.n.,and F. H. Robinson, M.A., D.D.

NUMBER THREE.

THE BOOK OF

JEREMIAH

TRANSLATED INTO COLLOQUIAL ENGLISH BY

ADAM C. WELCH, D.D.

Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Exegesis in
New College, Edinburgh.

NATIONAL ADULT SCHOOL UNION
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English by the Rev. J. Garrow Duncan, B.D.

THE BOOK OF OBADIAH. Translated into Colloquial
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EDITORS' PREFACE

THE modern translations that exist of parts or of the
whole of the Old Testament are, as a rule, too expensive
and too scholarly for the ordinary reader. In the case
of the New Testament excellent help has been afforded by many
recent translators, notably by Dr. Moffatt. In a wide experi-
ence among working men and women we have found frequent
requests for a simple version of the Old Testament in similar
language to that employed in the modern versions of the New
Testament. By the generous help of our colleagues in this
enterprise we are able to present a translation that is well
within the reach of everyone, and that rests upon the best
results of modern scholarship.

Whilst the original se<:tions of the book have been kept
distinct from one another, no attempt has been made to
reproduce the poetic form or language of the Prophet. We
trust, nevertheless, that the following pages will help many
readers to grasp the message of one of the noblest of the heroes
of faith, and to appreciate the personality of one of the greatest
figures of all time.

We can now definitely promise a continuance of this series,
and further issues will follow shortly. We are grateful for
the reception given to " The Books of Amos and Genesis,"
and have, tried to benefit by many helpful criticisms received,
for which we are thankful.

Suggestions and criticisms will be welcomed by us.

G.C.M.
T.H.R.

THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH

IN COLLOQUIAL SPEECH.

INTRODUCTION.

JEREMIAH belonged to a priestly family of Anathoih, a
village in Benjamin, some three miles north of Jerusalem.
Himself of the stock from which Benjamin and Ephraim
claimed descent, he sees in the ruin of the North mother Rachel
bewailing her children, he remembers Shiloh the original
centre of Ephraim's worship, and he refuses to believe that the
race which bred Amos and Hosea is a castaway from the grace
of God. The priestly clan, settled in Anathoth, was the
family of Abiathar which Solomon deposed : the future
prophet, therefore, could claim descent from Eli. Such an
origin brought its own contribution. On the one hand,
Jeremiah, like Luther, Wyclifi^e and many others, proves how
the best reformers of religion generally appear among a
period's religious men, who enjoy at least the advantage of
knowing something about the subject with which they deal.
On the other hand, he was not identified with the interests and
prejudices which are apt to blind a professional caste.

Called to the prophetic office in the thirteenth year of Josiah,
i.e. 626, he began his work in a time which was big with portent
to the world and to the little kingdom of Judah. Assyria had
during more than a century dominated everything ; in 722 it
conquered Samaria, in 670 it overran Egypt, in 648 it put down
a rebellion in Babylon ; Judah was its vassal, paying tribute.
But now, with a suddenness and completeness which have no
parallel in history, the mistress of the world collapsed. " In
606, after a terrible siege, Nineveh was taken by storm and the
last king of Assyria perished in the holocaust of his palace, his
courtiers and his slaves."

The instant question was who should take its place. Egypt
had not waited for the final disaster to Nineveh before moving,
Pharaoh Necho raised a great army and led it into North
Palestine. There at Megiddo, 608, he killed Josiah of Judah,
and proceeded to subdue Syria, before pushing on to the
Euphrates. At Carchemish, however, which commanded the

river crossing, he was met by Nebuchadrezzar of [Babylon,
who, while Necho was busy in Syria, had been preparing a
force ; and here in 604 the Egyptians suffered an utter rout
which determined the fate of the world for a time, Babylon
was to succeed Nineveh as mistress of the world ; and Judah,
from being vassal to Assyria, was to be subject to Babylon.

Josiah had fallen at Megiddo. When his body was brought
back to the capital, the people made his son Jehoahaz Hng.
It did not, however, suit the plans of Egypt to have the strong
fortress in the rear of its army held by one who might continue
the policy of his father. So Necho deposed the new king in
favour of his brother, Jehoiakim, who, as nominee of Egypt,
would govern in its interests. This was the king who treated
Jeremiah so cavaherly, slitting up and burning his prophecies.

With the defeat at Carchemish the prospects of Judah were
changed. As, however, Nebuchadrezzar had many and
important matters to determine, the little kingdom was probably
left alone for a time. The condition of the great power seems
to have encouraged Jehoiakim in a bid for independence ; at
least he rebelled and was apparently able to maintain himself
during his life-time. Nebuchadrezzar, however, when his
Empire was settled, marched against Jerusalem ; and in the
first captivity, 596, carried away Jehoiachin, son and successor
of Jehoiakim, appointing Zedekiah in his place.

Already after Carchemish Nebuchadrezzar had pursued the
routed Egyptians to their own borders and had only turned
back because of troubles in Babylon. It was to be expected
that he should renew his attack. Accordingly Egypt continued
to intrigue in Palestine and Syria, fomenting disaffection
against the Eastern power. In particular, after Psamtik II
succeeded Necho in 594, an attempt seems to have been made to
form a league, with Egypt in the background, and efforts were
made to win over Zedekiah. To some such scheme Jeremiah's
oracle as to the iron yoke, c. 28, may refer. Other prophets,
notably Hananiah, were urging Zedekiah to join the league.
On what grounds they did this it is impossible to tell, and, in
the absence of information as to their motives, it is wise to keep
steadily in view that we cannot tell. It is much to be regretted
that we do not possess the utterances of any of the " false "
prophets of the period. To know why they took the attitude

they did would not only be interesting in itself, init mii^ht help
us to learn the reasons which prompted Jeremiah in the name of
Yah'weh to set himself resolutely against every effort at resistance
to Babylon.

Apparently Babylon heard of the movement and summoned
Zedekiah, personally or through representatives, to explain
himself. To this embassy we may ascribe c. 29, which contains
a letter from Jeremiah to the exiles, meant to quiet the minds
of the Jews in Babylonia who, under the influence of two
prophets of the type of Hananiah, were cherishing hopes of
return linked probably with projects of rebellion. Though,
however, the earlier movement came to nothing, Zedekiah was
over-persuaded later, for, when Hophra, 589, succeeded Psamtik
as Pharaoh, Egyptian intrigues stirred up rebellion in Judah.
Evidently Zedekiah counted on Egyptian support, but Egypt
was always slow. Nebuchadrezzar, giving his enemy no time,
struck at once and struck hard. In 587 Jerusalem was besieged.

To this period belong several incidents reported in our book.
One was the freedom given to the debtors who had sold them-
selves as slaves in the city, c. 34. Apparently the purpose of
the decree was to stiffen the resistance of the capital. As
soon, however, as the delayed Egyptian army advanced and
the report of their approach compelled the Babylonians
temporarily to raise the siege, the solemn engagement was
departed from and the slavery renewed. Against this cynical
conduct Jeremiah uttered his vehement protest.

Another incident is the interesting story of how the king at
least once consulted the prophet as to the result of the siege.
The leading men, who were resolved on resistance to the last,
and who recognised that the prophet's unvarying and uncon-
cealed conviction of the certainty of Nebuchadrezzar's victory
could only damp the ardour of the king and the garrison, did
their best to silence him, c. 38. It is wise and just to recognise
that they had some reason for their attitude.

Throughout the period Jeremiah never swerved from the
conviction that the one thing to be done was for Judah to
submit to the inevitable, because Yahweh had revealed to him
His vidll that Babylon should rule the world. In particular,
during the siege, he not only believed, but steadily declared
that the city was doomed. Since Zedekiah, at least once,

inquired privately as to Yahweh's will, it is evident that the
king hesitated. It is well not to decide too readily from this
that Zedekiah was a mere weakling : he had good reason for
hesitation. It is easy to say that, in obedience to Jeremiah's
advice, he ought to have surrendered. We do not even know
that he would have been allowed, if he had tried. It is possible
that his officials, who seem to have followed the " false "
prophets, might have deposed him and continued the hopeless
struggle. And, since it is not clear why Jeremiah was so sure
that the city was doomed, or why the ''" false " prophets were
equally sure that resistance was possible, it is unwise to say that
we have sufficient ground for making up our minds. Probably
the honour which is due to Jeremiah should not be claimed on
the ground of the position he took in a question of politics.
Politics is a matter in which, after the lapse of 2,600 years, it
is profoundly difficult to decide who was wise and who was
unwdse.

We should rather rest Jeremiah's claim to greatness on the
principles he advocated, which made it possible, however the
political game turned out, that religion could continue in Judah,
and so could hope to continue in the world. He seems, with
Hosea and Amos, to have believed that the State was doomed,
i.e., that in the interests of true religion it was better that the
Jewish State should go. He seems further to have become
convinced that, in the interests of true religion, it was better
that the temple should go. Holding these things strongly, he
bent his whole energies in the direction of showing that religion
was independent of these two outward forms and could
continue, even after they had vanished.

In times, however, of grave national peril, when patriotism
is alive and men are eagerly maintaining their State with all for
which it stands, a man who puts into a secondary position
the things which engross his fellow countrymen is sure to be
accused of being no patriot. Jeremiah had this fate. It is
only the later generation which can see how, in his effort to
preserve the soul, he ignored the form. We all stone our
prophets, while we build sepulchres over the bodies of the
prophets of the past.

What, however, is certain is that Jerusalem fell in 584 and
the last and greatest captivity was carried out. When the

city was captured, the Babylonian commander-in-chief,
recognising Jcrcmiali's altitude during the siege, set liim at
liberty. The favour shown the prophet by the conquerors
naturally suggests that the position he had taken had made
their work easier, and further suggests that the patriotic
leaders had some excuse for their charge that he weakened the
courage of the garrison. The fact seems to be that Jeremiah
was not primarily interested in the independence, but in the
religion, of Judah. The glory of Judah in his eyes did not
consist in its being a political, but in its remaining a religious,
force. Yet it is we who can most naturally record our gratitude
that, to one man at least in that early time, religion seemed more
important than success.

Of the fate of the Judean community after the capture of
Jerusalem it is unnecessary to write, since the account given
in cc. 40-43 is so clear that any account would amount to no
more than a useless epitome. It is enough to say that, after
Jeremiah was taken to Egypt by the band of frightened men who
retired thither, he disappears from history.

While the period was thus one of great political movement,
it was no less one of far-reaching religious change ; for it was
a time when all devout and serious men felt the need for reform.
Already Hezekiah, influenced by Isaiah, had made an effort in
this direction, but the movement was brought to nothing
through the reaction under Manasseh. The submissive vassal
of Assyria, this king was content to copy his liege-lord in religion
as well as in politics. He introduced the worship of Eastern
deities into his capital, and, to quiet opposition, even resorted
to persecution, probably because the prophets, following the
example of Elijah, did not submit patiently to the introduction
of a foreign worship. Along with the worship of the gods of
the conqueror went a weakening in the people's national
religion and a slackening of the moral fibre. Hence arose an
increase in every form of gross superstition, which had been
kept under while the Yahweh faith was vigorous. The
political situation helped the religious lapse. The nation lost
heart ; it began to take its place, as merely one among the many
little nations which cowered, living on sufferance under Nineveh.
Crushed by ruinous taxation for payment of tribute, losing its
national aspirations, it was in danger of losing its soul. Since

Its religion was precisely what gave it its distinctive character
among the other nations, its religion was losing ground. On
the high places of the country villages there had always been a
bastard mixture of the worship of Yahweh and Baal ; and now
the Baal elements, which meant at bottom nature worship and
lax morality, gained more strength. Many of Jeremiah's
early oracles deal with this worship, cc. 2, 3, 13^^^^, and it
is only necessary to read his grave indictment of the practices
at these shrines in order to recognise how serious the peril was.

Conscious of the danger, all serious men in Judah saw that
something must be done to reform their worship ; and, to
meet the need, in 621 the code of Deuteronomy was made the
law for the Kingdom. The code was not a wholly new creation,
but mainly a collection of the best practice which had grown
up at different religious centres. What was new about it was
that all this practice was made subservient to and gathered
round one central principle, viz., that everything which
in origin or use was heathen must be finally purged out of the
national worship. Only what agreed with the character of
Yahweh, as this had been defined and revealed by the great
prophets, must be retained in Judah's worship. All which was
tainted with Baalism, shrine or sacrifice or emblem, must be
utterly rooted out.

Naturally such an effort at reform had the effect which every
effort at reform has ; it set men thinking about principles.
Everyone who recognised the terrible need for a reform in faith
and morals saw how necessary some such code as Deuteronomy
was. But the further question could not be silenced, viz., what
was it which Yahweh, as contrasted with Baal, required ? Did
Yahweh demand sacrifices like any other god, or was it indifferent
to Him whether men sacrificed at all ? If He required them,
what did He do with them, after they were given t Inevitably
reform raised broad issues as to Yahweh's nature and demanded
clear and reverent thought on what was His will to men.
What Jeremiah's attitude to these questions was, what he
counted essential and suflBcient for his people's worship, what
were his views about sacrifice and the temple, and what, in
particular, was the attitude he took to the new code, are precisely
questions which are still debated among students of his book.
It is impossible to enter into these here, since the subject is

involved with many other questions. Yet it deserves attention
that, with their adoption of this code and specially through
the way in which they interpreted and applied the code, tlie
Jews took one of the most significant and influential steps in
their history as a religious community, and that the eflFects of
their attitude are being felt to-day in all our Christian com-
munities. Perhaps it may be lawful to cherish the hope that
this new translation may interest some and help others in
thinking out these questions for themselves.

A little of a general character needs to be said as to the way
in which the oracles in our book came to be collected and as to
how the book came into its present form. It is, however, as
necessary to insist that whatever is said is very tentative, because
the questions are far from determined.

The book then seems to be a collection of prophetic material
rather than the work of one mind. Thus chapters 50 and 51
appear to have existed once in an independent form and to
show a common source, though that source is certainly not
Jeremiah, Again, certain oracles on Edom occur both in this
book and in the book of Obadiah, certain others on Moab occur
not only here but in the book of Isaiah. The most natural
explanation of such phenomena appears to be that these oracles
were current in the community with no name attached to them.
One collector assigned them to Jeremiah, another to Isaiah,
on grounds which we are wholly unable to discover. Whether
such a collector was guided by tradition or by internal evidence
it is impossible to say. Now, what seems proved as to these
few oracles may well be true about others in our book, viz.,
that they, too, were circulating under no name, and, for
reasons which we cannot trace, were ascribed to Jeremiah. As
however, we have no certain standard by which to test whether
any oracle is genuinely Jeremianic, students differ greatly in
their view of how much in the book is original.

When, further, we examine the material which deals with
Jeremiah, one broad distinction is visible. Thus we have
collections of oracles by the prophet, more or less authentic —
compare chapters 2-7, 21 "-2 34° On the other hand, we have
a series of incidents from his life, which sometimes contain
words uttered bv Jeremiah in connection with these incidents.
The last increase in number and detail towards the end of the

prophet's career and of the doomed city. The same method
appears in the New Testament. There also the Sermon on
the Mount contains a series of words of Jesus uttered at different
periods of His career ; but a great part of the Gospels consists
of selected incidents from His life, often with the words He
uttered then. There, too, it will be noted that the incidents
increase in number and detail towards the end.

Now it is generally recognised to-day that the Sermon on
the Mount was not delivered as it stands. The sayings are a
collection of utterances of the Lord on very varied subjects,
dating from very different periods in His life ; and we under-
stand them best when we give up trying to force them into
connection with each other, and take each by itself. I am
convinced that the habit of reading Jeremiah in chapters, as if
each chapter were a longish sermon, dealing with a special
subject, prevents us from seeing what is actually there. I have
accordingly broken up these passages into what seem the short,
pithy, oracular sayings which originally formed their basis.
Everyone will not agree with my division, but this is of less
importance than to recognise and follow the method. It is
probable that anyone who reads this rendering for the first time
will be irritated by the jerkiness which these breaks in the sense
seem to introduce. But I venture to think that, if anyone
will read a chapter in the Revised Version and then read it in
this translation, he may be helped to understand the actual
sense. Reading it in the chapter form, we inevitably attempt
to make a connection between two utterances, and, if none be
apparent, to force one. Unconsciously we distort the meaning
of both oracles, if we attempt to force a connection which was
never intended. If the oracles once existed separately, and
each was uttered as a brief saying, memorable, curt, close-packed,
we are more likely to reach their sense if we read each by itself.
And it is only as a humble effort to represent Jeremiah's meaning
more correctly that I venture to offer this translation at all.

JEREMIAH.

i. 1-3. Utterances of Jeremiah ben Hilkiah who came of a
priestly family at Anathoth in the district of Benjamin, to
whom the word of Yahweh came during the reign of josiah ben
Amon of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign, and
continued to come during the reign of Jehoiakim ben Josiah of
Judah till the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah ben Josiah
of Judah when Jerusalem was taken into captivity in the fifth
month.

1 . The Call and the Commission oj the prophet.

i. 4-10. The word of Yahweh came to me :

I chose you before I formed you in the womb and I set you
apart before you were born. I have appointed you a prophet
to the nations. Then I said : Ah Yahweh, my Lord, I do not
know how to speak, for I am but young., Yahweh replied : Do
not say I am but young, for you shall go to all to whom I send
you and say everything which I order you. Have no fear before
them, for I am with you to deliver you. Oracle of Yahweh.^

Then Yahweh stretched out His hand and touched my mouth
and said to me : See, I have put my words into your mouth. I
have this day given you authority over the nations and kingdoms
to tear up and to dash down, to destroy and to ruin, to build
up and to plant.

2. Two visions which declare that Yahweh is about to come and
must come for judgment.

(a) II, 12. The vision of the almond-twig.

The word of Yahweh came to me :

What do you see, Jeremiah .? I said : An almond-twig.
Yahweh replied : You have seen correctly : I am intently
watching over My word to bring it to its result.

{b) 13-15, 17-19- The vision of the boiling pot.
Again the word of Yahweh came to me :

^ The phrase marks that the speaker is uttering no saying of his own, but
something which he believes hirriself to have received by revelation.

What do you see ? I said : A boiling pot, and^ the blower is
from the North. Yahweh replied : Out of the North mischief is
being blown against all the inhabitants of the land, and I will
pronounce sentence against them for their evil conduct in
forsaking Me, in sacrificing to other gods and in worshipping
things they made for themselves. But gird up your loins,
up and say to them everything which I order you. Have no
fear before them, or else I will make you afraid before them.
See, I have made you a wall of bronze against the whole land.*
They s'hall fight against you but shall not have the mastery, for
I am with you to deliver you. Oracle of Yahweh.
'^ (c) i6. A later addition.

For see, I am about to summon all the Kingdoms^ of the
North. Oracle of Yahweh. They shall come, and each of them
shall set up his throne round Jerusalem over against its gates
and against its walls, and against all the towns of Judah.

3 • A collection of oracles, dealing chiefly with the religious

faithlessness of the nation.

(a) ii. 1-3. The people have degenerated, showing less love and
faith than at first.

The word of Yahweh came to me :

Go and shout this in the hearing of Jerusalem : Thus speaks
Yahweh : I recall in your favour the love you had for Me in
your early days, a love of the honeymoon, how you followed Me
through the desert, that barren land. Then Israel was set
apart to Yahweh as His property, so select and sacred that every-
one who interfered with her was to be held guilty and find
mischief light upon him. Oracle of Yahweh.

{!/) 4-12. The apostasy of the nation means bitter ingratitude.

Listen to the word of Yahweh : O nation of Jacob and all
the families of the nation of Israel. Thus speaks Yahweh :
What wrong did your fathers find in Me, that they left Me
and went after false gods to become false like them .? They
never thought, where is Yahweh who brought us out of

^ MT here is corrupt and gives no good sense. With the help of LXX
and with other emendations I have offered a translation which, it is right
to say, is not accepted by all students.

* The phrases "a fortress, an iron pillar, and," "for the kings of Judahj
its chiefs and priests and common people" are additions.

3 So LXX ; MT reads " families of the Kingdoms."

Egvpt, and led us through the desert, a waste and liorrible
place, given up to drought and desolation, where no human
bein'g travelled or lived ? Yet it was I who brought you
to a fertile countrv to enjoy its rich fruits ; but you
came only to make My land foul and to ♦urn the inheritance
which I gave into an abomination. The priests never thought,
Where is Yahweh ? Those who had charge of the law did not
know My will ; the rulers rebelled against Me, and the prophets
prophesied in the name of Baal and went inquiring for useless
gods. Therefore, oracle of Yahweh, I have still My right to
assert against you, and against your children I wall assert it.
Go to the lands of the West^ and inquire, send out East^ and
make full inquiry, find out whether anything of this kind has
ever happened. Has any nation ever changed its god, nonentity
though that was ? Yet My people has put in place of Me, who
am its glory, a helpless idol. The verv heavens may be aghast
at this and horribly afraid. Oracle of Yahweh.

(c) 13-19. Judah's dependence on foreign powers was another sign
of national apostasy ; to join with foreigners was to become tainted
with their ideals.

My people has committed two sins ; it has left Me, the spring
of running water, and hewed for itself cracked cisterns which
cannot even retain their stale water. Is Israel then a slave,
bought in the market or born into bondage that he should
become a prey to every man's will ? Lions roar with full
throat against him, they make his country a desolation, they
waste his towns till they are empty. The people of Memphis
and Pelusium are shaving you bare !^ Is not the cause of it
all, that you have left Yahweh your God ?3 What right,
now, had you to go to Egypt and drink from the Nile, or to go
to Assyria and drink from the Euphrates .? The resulting
disaster may teach you and convince you of your blunder ;
only know and recognise how bitter a thing it is for you to leave
Yahweh your God, -^so that I could no longer help you.'^ Oracle
of Yahweh.

^ Literally MT reads : " The coast lands of ' Kittim,' and ' Kedar.' "

2 MT is uncertain 5 the above translation implies a slight change.

3 The last clause is untranslatable ; it is a bad copy of the first clause in
the following verse.

* The text is uncertain.

»5

(d) 20-22. Judah's apostasy is of long standing.

It is an old habit with you to break your yoke, to burst your
bonds, to say " I will not submit," for on every high hill and
under every spreading tree you play the harlot. Yet I
planted you a choice vine from a first-rate stock : What a
change has come upon you, turning you iAto a wild and degenerate
plant ! Though now you should wash yourself with soda, not
sparing soap, your vileness stands out in My sight. Oracle of
Yahweh.

(e) 23-29. " The devil was sick — the devil a monk would be."
How can you say, I am not defiled ?^ Recognise your

conduct in the valley, acknowledge what you have been doing.
You dromedary in heat, changing its mates, whose appetite
cannot be restrained ! You wild ass of the desert, snuffing up
the wind in its lust which any male that wants it need not tire
itself to discover, for in its season anyone may find it ! Do not
run your feet sore and your throat dry. But you reply : It is
useless to give advice^ for I love strangers and mean still to
follow them. As a thief is disappointed, when he is found out,
so shall Israel be disappointed. King, leaders, priests and
prophets together, who say to a wooden idol, thou art my
father, and to a stone image, thou art my mother. They
turned their backs to Me instead of their faces, but, let evil
days come, they cry : Up and save us. Where then are the
gods which you made for yourselves ? Let them rise and save
you in evil days, for as numerous as the towns of Judah are
its gods, 3 and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the sacrifices
its people offer to Baal.^ Why then do you complain against
Me, since you have all rebelled against Me ? Oracle of Yahweh.

(0 3°"37- ^" oracle, which has suffered severely so that some parts
are no longer intelligible. It seems to form a parallel to vv. 13-19
and to deal with the national apostasy as false worship and foreign
alliance. Probably it really consists of fragments.

In vain have I punished members of the nation ; they
refused all correction : in vain has the sword, like a devouring

^ To make sure that the phrase was understood, an annotator added : " I
have not gone after the ' baals ' " ; a correct, but unnecessary, explanation.

^ I have added " to give advice " in order to make the sense clear.

3 Clause added from LXX.

Hon, devoured vour prophets.' Have I been to Israel a desert
or a land of horror ? Why then has My people said : We are
dorrc writh Thee, and will seek Thee no more ? * Does a girl
forget her ornaments or a bride her wedding dress ? Yet My
people has forgotten Me times without number. How
excellently you guide your conduct so far as seeking out lovers
is concerned : in good truth you are now capable of teaching
the vilest women your methods.

On your hands is found the blood of innocents. 3 Then you
said : Now I have made myself clean, surely His anger is turned
away from me. I will judge you on the very ground of your
having said : I have not sinned.

How can you with careless heart change your conduct ?
You shall be disappointed in Egypt as you were disappointed in
Assyria. From Egypt too you shall come, ashamed, with your
hands on your head ; for Yahweh has rejected both your
sources of confidence, and you shall, prosper with neither.

4- Another collection of oracles, dealing with the people^ s religion.
It brings out more clearly what Jeremiah considered the two
essentials of religion, God and the penitent soul,
{a) ill. 1-5 ;* 19-20. False repentance and true.
If a man divorced his wife, and she, leaving him, went to
another man, would he yet go back to her ? Is not that
woman5 defiled .^ But you of your free will have played the
whore with many lovers, and there is to be a return to Me,
oracle of Yahweh. Look up to the bare heights and see whether
there is one where you have not played the whore ; you have
sat by the public roads like a Bedawi in the desert ; you have
defiled the land with your lewdness and vileness, so that the
showers failed and the rain did not fall. But with a forehead
of brass^ you refused to feel any shame. Even then did you
not call Me " My husband," " Thou art the comrade from

^ MT is very dubious, and so is the reconstruction offered above.
^ MT prefixes a clause of which I can make nothing. Fortunately its
absence seems to make no difference in the sense.
3 The second half of the verse is hopeless.
4^ For vv. 6-18 see p. 19.
■5 So with LXX ; MT has " land."
° MT has "a whore's forehead."

my earliest days," " He will not always be angry," " He does
not keep up a quarrel for ever " ? See, you talked and did
vile things, and were able to put up with the blend of fine talk
and evil deeds. ^

It was in my mind to treat you as a son, giving you a charming
land, a superb heritage ; and I thought that as a result you
would call Aie " Father '" and never more forsake Me. But,
as a. woman becomes disloyal for her lover's sake, you IsraeUtes
have betrayed Me, oracle of Yahweh.

(b) 21-25. The false worship has brought moral impotence, and,
since it cannot satisfy men's souls, disappointment.

Hark, I hear on the bare heights Israel weeping and mourning,

because they have gone astray through forgetting Yahweh their

God. Repent, ye prodigal sons ; I will heal your wounds.

Behold, we are Thine* for Thou art Yahweh, our God. Surely

the riot3 on the hills, the clamour on the mountains has proved

itself a lie ; surely in Yahweh our God is Israel's salvation.

But the Baal-worship, so long as we can remember, has eaten

out the vigour of our fathers, flocks and herds, sons and daughters.

Let us then lie down in our shame, and let our dishonour cover

us, for we have sinned against Yahweh our God ; we and our

fathers all our life long to this day have never listened to the

voice of Yahweh our God. Oracle of Yahweh.

(c) iv. 1-4. There is no impotence where sincere repentance is present.
O Israel, if it is in your mind to return, to Me you must

return ; if it is in your mind to cast off your false idols, do
"aot wander out of My Presence. ^You shall take oath by Yahweh
in truth, judgment, and righteousness ; in Him nations bless
themselves, in Him they boast.'^ For thus speaks Yahweh to
the men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem : |Plough up
your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. When you
circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, circumcise your hearts,
O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest My anger
at your evil deeds blaze up and burn like a fire which cannot
be quenched.

^ I have added " of fine talk and evil deeds " in order to bring out the
sense.

* So with LXX ; MT has " we have come unto Thee."

3 Adding a word with Driver.

4 Probably this is an addition.

(d) iii. 6-13. An oracle, later in Jeremiah's life, which says Judah is
worse than Israel, because, warned by its neighbour's fate, it has

"*' only carried out a reform which is false in principle.

Yahweh said to me during the reign of Josiah : Have you
noticed what apostate Israel has done, how she climbed every
high hill and went under every spreading tree and played the
whore there ? 1 thought that, when this was past, she would
return to Me, but she did not. Her sister Judah, the traitress,
saw it, saw too^ how, because apostate Israel had broken her
marriage vow, I divorced her publicly ; but, instead of being
afraid, she went in turn, and played the whore, committing
adultery in her hot lust* with idols of wood and stone. In spite
of all this Judah the traitress did not return to Me wdth her
whole mind, but insincerely.3

Yahweh said to me : Apostate Israel has put herself in the
right better than Judah the traitress. Go and shout this message
towards the North : Return to Me,'^ apostate Israel, oracle of
Yahweh. I will not frown upon you, for I am merciful. Only
acknowledge that you have sinned against Yahweh your God,
and that, not listening to Me, you have played the Hght of
love under every spreading tree, oracle of Yahweh.

(e) iii. 14-18. A later generation, understanding the " return to Me,"
V. 13, not of repentant return to God, but of return from exile,
added a prophecy about this teturn.

Return, O apostate children, oracle of Yahweh, for I am
your husband, and I wiU take you one from a town here, two
from a family there, and wall bring you to Zion, and wiU set
over you rulers after My own mind who shall govern you wisely
and prudently. And when in those days, oracle of Yahweh,
you increase greatly in numbers in the land, men shall cease to
say, " the ark of the covenant of Yahweh," it shall not come into
their mind, or be remembered, or sought after or remade ; in
that time men shall give the name " throne of Yahweh " to
Jerusalem, and all nations shall gather together there for the
sake of Yahweh, and shall follow no longer their own stubborn
and evil thoughts. In those days Judah and Israel shall be

' So with Syr. ; MT has " And I saw."

* Omit with LXX : " and the land was defiled."

3 Omit with LXX : " Oracle of Yahweh."

4 " To Me," added from LXX.

reunited and shall together come out of the land of the North
to the land which I gave into the possession of your fathers.

5 • Jeremiah believed that Tahweh was to reveal Himself in
the day of the Lord, which, because the world had forgotten
the real things and the lasting values, must be a day of judgment.
In this section is a series of oracles dealing with the subject.

[a) iv. 5-8. The lion from the North, Ezekiel's Gog, is about to come.
The prophet describes the dismay and ruin which result.

Proclaim aloud in Judah and Jerusalem, send a trumpet-
blast through the land to make men hear, shout your loudest,
say : Let all gather and make their way to the walled towns.
Set up a rallying flag at Zion, bring your stuff into safety, delay
not, for mischief, grave and disastrous, is coming^ from the
North. A lion has risen from its lair ; a destroyer of nations,
advancing from his place, is on his way to make your land a
waste and turn your towns into uninhabited ruins. Therefore
put on mourning and raise a wailing cry, for the fierce anger
of Yahweh is not turned away from us.

[b) 9-12. Another picture, perhaps two, of wasted Judah.

In that day, oracle of Yahweh, the courage of king and chiefs
will die in them, the priests will be dazed and the bewildered
prophets say : * Ah, Yahweh, surely Thou hast cheated this
people and Jerusalem, promising peace ; yet a sword is piercing
to the very heart.

At this time there is appointed for this people and for
Jerusalem a blasting sirocco out of the parched desert ;3 a
wind, not fitted to fan or purify, a wind too powerful for such
effects is coming at My bidding. Now I am about to call them
to judgment.

{c) 13-17. A picture of the foe from the North.

He is coming up like driving clouds, his chariots are like
a stormwind, his horses are swifter than panthers. Woe unto
us, we are lost. Oh, Jerusalem, make clean your heart that
you may be delivered ; how long are evil plans to make their

^ Not " I bring " of MT. According to v. 8 it is not Yahweh who is
speaking.

2 So with LXX ; MT has " and I said."

3 The text is uncertain ; the above does not pretend to give more than
the general sense.

home with you ? Hark, a messenger from Dan, a bringer of
badncvvs from INhnint Ephraim ; nations have been enrolled
and summoned against Jerusalem, besiegers from a distant land
*re defying the towns of Judah, like fielcf-watchers, they ring
her round on every side, for she has rebelled against Me, oracle
of Vahweh.

(d) 18-22. A cry of regret and grief over the inevitable ruin.

These things are the outcome of your own conduct ; your
evil deeds have brouglit it about that the ruin is bitter and
mortal. Ah, my heart, my heart, I writhe in pain, my mind is
in sore trouble, I cannot hold my peace, for hark, I seem to
hear the trumpet-sound and battle-cry. Blow follows on blow,
the whole land is ruined. Suddenly they have torn down my^
tent and its hangings. How long must I see the war-signal
and hear the blaring trumpet ? My people are corrupt, they
do not know Yahweh.^ They are perverse children, with no
real understanding, wise in going wrong, foolish for every good
purpose.

{e) 23-26. Chaos come again.

I looked out on the world, it was chaos ; on the heavens,
they held no light. I looked out on the mountains, they
were reeling ; and all the hills quivered. I looked out ; no
man was to be seen, and every bird of the sky had fled. I looked
out ; the fertile earth was desert and all its towns were burned
out through the act of Yahweh, through His fierce anger.

(/) 27-31. Ruin of the world and especially of Jerusalem.
Thus speaks Yahweh : The whole world shall become a
waste. 3 The earth shall mourn and the heavens grow dark
above, for I have spoken and may not change My mind. I
have resolved and may not go back on My word. At the
rumour of cavalry and archers'^ every town takes flight ; men
creep into the woods and climb the rocks, leaving the towns
forsaken and tenantless.5

^ i.e., Jerusalem's.

^ Instead of MT " me " ; Yahweh is not the speaker.
3 The next clause must be omitted as having come from xxx. 11.
4- One might venture to read "artillery." The archers were the ancient
artillery.

•^ Four words here in MT are hopeless.

What good will it do you to put on your finest clothes and
don your jewellery and paint your face ? It is waste labour
to make yourself fine. The lovers despise you, are out for
your Hfe. I canj hear a cry like that of a woman writhing in*
her pangs at the birth of her first child. It is the shriek of
Zion, gasping, throwing up her arms : " Woe is me, my very
soul is faint before the murderous crew."

O. A number of oracles, of varying date and origin, dealing

with the sin and doom of the nation. The sins dealt with

are more of an anti-social character than those in Sections 3 and 4.

[a) V. 1-6. The condition of Jerusalem and its fate.

Run through the streets of Jerusalem, hunt among its open
spaces,^ see whether there is one man who acts justly and aims
at honesty, for whose sake I may pardon her. If they use the
name of Yahweh at all, it is to perjure themselves by swearing
to a lie. Yahweh, art not Thou intent on honesty ? Thou
hast punished them, but they are none the better, refusing to
learn from experience ; they have set their faces like a flint,
refusing to repent. Then I thought : Ah, well, these are the
humble people who are foohsh, because they have never
learned the rehgion of Yahweh or how to worship their God.
I wiU go and speak to those who are better off, because they have
learned the religion of Yahweh and how to worship their God.
They too have wholly broken all bonds, cast off all restraint.
Therefore a Hon from a thicket tears, a desert -wolf wastes them,
a panther prowls round their towns so that any one who ventures
beyond the walls becomes its prey, for their sins are many and
their lapses are constantly repeated.

(b) 7-11- Two short oracles on the corruption of Judah.

How can I pardon them, oracle of Yahweh,^ for, deserting
Me, they acknowledge gods which are no gods ? When I fed
them to the full, they became disloyal to Me and settled down
to play the whore from Me. Stallions, neighing in their
appetite for the mare ! Must I not, on this account, punish
them and on a peoplCj^like this must 1 not take vengeance,
oracle of Yahweh ?

' One or two clauses, mere accretions which weaken the force of the
original, have been removed.
2 With slight change of MT.

Go up among her vine-rows and ravage willioiit causing
uttei- destruction, tear down her branches for they no longer
belong to Yahweh, since Israel and Judah have played the
traitor to Him, oracle of Yaliweh.

They have denied Yahweh, saying : He does nothing, no
misfortune shall befall us ; nor shall we experience sword and
famine . . .^ Therefore thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth :
because they speak in this way, I am about to make My word
in your mouth a fire, and this people dry sticks ; and it shall
devour them.

O Israel, oracle of Yahweh, I am about to bring upon you
from afar an enduring and ancient nation, speaking an unknown
language so that you cannot understand what they say. Their
quiver is an open grave and all their men warriors. They shall
consume your harvest and your food, your sons and daughters,
your flocks and herds, your vines and fig trees. They shall wreck
too in war the strong towns in which you put such confidence,

(d) 18-19. A later addition applying the preceding oracle to the
Babylonian captivity.

Even in those days, oracle of Yahweh, 1 will not make a

final end of you. And when men say : Why did Yahweh our

God bring such things as these upon us, you shall say to them :

As you deserted Me and served the gods of the stranger in your

own land, you are serving strangers in a land which is not

your own.

{e) 20-29. Probably later than Jeremiah. The condition of the people
resembles that in some of the later Psalms.

Proclaim this in Jacob, announce it in Judah. Listen, O
foohsh and thoughtless people, who have eyes but will not see,
ears but wdll not Hsten. Have you no fear of Me, oracle of
Yahweh, no awe in My presence ? Yet I have set the sand as a
limit to the sea according to a constant and unfaltering order,
so that its waters foam in helpless fury, its waves roar but must
keep their bounds. But this people had the mind of a thorough
rebel ; it has carried its revolt to a full issue. They never
thought : Let us fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain and late

^ Any translation of v. 13 must be a mere guess. It seems to refer to the
" false " prophets who denied or ignored the need for any purifying judgment.

rain, each at its ordered time, and who maintains for us the
regular harvest seasons. Your sins have upset the ordered
seasons and your iniquities have ruined your prosperity. There
are found among My people bad men who set traps to catch
men as bird-catchers do to snare birds, and who make money,
so that, as a cage is full of birds, their houses are full of the
proceeds of their swindling. By such means they have become
great and prosperous,'' excelling in base plans ; they deny
justice to the orphan and exploit the poor, so they prosper.
Must I not, on this account, punish them ; and on 'a nation
such as this must I not take vengeance, oracle of Yahweh.*

(/) 3°"3i- The nation prefers leaders who make slight moral demands.

An amazing and horrible thing has befallen the country ;

the prophets prophesy lies, the priests issue decisions by such

guidance, and My people love to have it so. But what shall you

do, when this has brought its inevitable end ?

(g) vi. 1-5. Doom on Jeru lem under the figure of conquest.

Men of Benjamin, escape with all your property out of
Jerusalem, sound an alarm in Tekoa, set up an alarm-signal at
Beth-hakkerem, for misfortune, even grave ruin, is peering out
of the North . . .3 Shepherds with their flocks are coming
against her on every side. They pitch their tents and settle
down as though the pasture were their own. Make ready to
fight against her, up and let us attack at noon. Woe unto us
for the day has turned and the shadows are lengthening out.
Up and let us attack by night and wreck her palaces.
{h) vi. 6-8.

Thus speaks Yahweh : Hew down .her trees, cast up a siege
mound against Jerusalem. Woe to the false city,'^ which is
given over to oppression. As a cistern keeps its water fresh,
she keeps her sin fresh ; in her one hears continually the cry
" violence and robbery,"5 before Me perpetually are sickness
and wounds. O Jerusalem, accept instruction, lest I turn
wholly away from you and make you an uninhabited desolation.

^ Omit with LXX two additional verbs describing such men.
* Quoted from v. 9, above.

3 I can make nothing of v. 2, except that it mentions Zion.

4 Reading with LXX.

5 A cry for help like our " Stop thief."

(i) vi. 9-12. Jerusalem like a wasted vineyard.

Thus speaks Yaliweh :

Glean like a vineyard what is left of Israel, examine every
twig like one who harvests grapes. Is there a man to whom
1 might gravely speak in the hope of his listening ? Their
ears arc stopped so that they will not pay attention ; the
word of Yahweh has become to them as the nagging of a scold
in which they find no dehght. Yet I am full of My anger^
and weary of restraining it ; I must pour it out on the child
in the street and the knots of young men ; with them man
and woman, the elder and man full of years must be included.
Their houses, fields, wives, shall be given over to strangers, for
I am about to stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of
the land, oracle of Yahweh.

(j) vi. 13-15. The character of the people. The oracle is repeated
at viii. 10-12.

Humble and great are equally greedy, prophet and priest
alike are liars. These last cure the desperate state of My people
with cheap remedies, crying " Peace, peace," when there can be
no peace. Are they ashamed, when they have acted abomin-
ably ? They are not in the least ashamed, they do not
even know how to blush. Therefore in the day of My visita-
tion they too, falling with those who fall, shall collapse.
Yahweh has spoken.

(k) vi. 16-20. They have not been unwarned, and sacrifice is no
substitute for obedience.

Thus speaks Yahweh : Post yourselves on the watch by the

ways, and ask about the ancient paths as to which has been the

way of true prosperity, and walk in that, so finding rest for

yourselves ; but they said : We will not go. I raised up for

your benefit men on the outlook ; listen to the trumpet-call ;

but they said : We will not listen. Therefore, hear O heavens

and bear witness against them^ : hear O earth, I am about to

bring on this nation a disaster, the outcome of their disobedience,

because they refused to listen to My words and rejected My

law. Why then -should you bring Me incense from Sheba and

^ So LXX 5 MT has "the anger of Yahweh."

' MT is corrupt. The above translation represents an effort to bring
meaning from it, but claims to be no more.

sweet cane from a distant country ? Your burnt-offerings are
not acceptable and your sacrifices give Me no pleasure.
(/) vi. 21. A fragment, probably later.

Therefore, thus speaks Yahweh : I am placing in the way of
this people a stumbling block over which they shall stumble ;
fathers and children, neighbour and friend shall perish together.
(m) vi. 22-26. Jerusalem's doom.

Thus speaks Yahweh : A nation is coming from the North?
a mighty people is awaking from the ends of the earth. They
seize bow and spear, they are cruel and pitiless, their yell is like
the sea in storm, they ride on horses ; and like one man they
are drawn up in array against you, O Zion. We have heard a
rumour about them and our hands drop pithless, pain has seized
us like a woman's birth-pangs. Venture not into the open
country, walk not by the roads, for the enemy's sword spreads
terror everywhere. Let Jerusalem put on mourning and
sprinkle herself with ashes. Mourn for your own fate with
bitter sorrow as men mourn their well-beloved, for suddenly
will come against you^ the ravager.

(«) vi. 27-30. Jeremiah's function in the nation. '

I have set you among My people to examine and test their
conduct, as a silver refiner deals with his material.^ They are
all persistent rebels, dealers in slander, utterly corrupt. The
bellows snort, fire is heaped on, but everything is waste labour,
the slag cannot be separated out.3 Rejected silver they may be
called, for Yahweh has rejected them.

7. vii. 1-4, 8-15. Jeremiah^s Temple Address. For its
effects on him compare C. 26.
The message which came from Yahweh to Jeremiah : Stand
in the courf^ of the temple and announce there the following :
Listen to Yahweh's message, all you Judeans who enter by these
gates to worship Yahweh. Thus speaks Yahweh, God of Israel :

^ So with LXX; MX has "against us."

* I have added "deals with his material" in order to bring out the
sense.

3 The text is uncertain, having been loaded with explanatory matter.
But the general sense is clear.

* MT " gate " : " Court " is the reading at xxvi. 2.

Ri'fdrni \()ur entire conduct so tlint I may dwell with you" in
this place, Tut no confidence in lying words such as "The
tcniplc of '^'ahwch, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of
^'ahweh is here." Recognise the false and unprofitable talk
In which you are putting confidence. Will you steal and
murder, commit adultery and perjury, sacrifice to Baal and
follow strange and unknown gods, and then come and stand in
My presence in this house which is specially dedicated to Me
and say '' We are delivered in order to repeat abominable deeds
of the same kind " .? Has this house which even you acknowledge
to be specially dedicated to Me, become a den of murderers ?

1 too have noted this, oracle of Yahweh, But go to My
Sanctuary at Shiloh, which in the beginning was dedicated to
My worship, and acknowledged by Me ; mark what I did to
it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. Now,
because you have done the deeds I have described,* paying no
attention to My repeated warnings and disregarding My solemn
summons, I will do to the house which is dedicated to Me and
in which you put such confidence as I did to Shiloh. And I
will cast you out from My presence, as I cast your brother
nation, the whole race of Ephraim,

(a) vii. 5-7, An editor, who took the " place " to be the country or
city, and not the temple, added a little prophetic sermon.

But, if you reform your conduct, acting uprightly in your

relations to one another, ceasing to oppress the foreigner,

orphan and widow, ceasing to shed innocent blood in this

place, giving up the worship of strange gods which can only

bring you harm, I will permit you to live in this place, in the

country which I gave to your fathers for all time.

Probably, he also added in v. 14 to the threat against the temple
" and to the place which I gave to you and your fathers."

{b) vii. 16-20. An oracle against a special form of idolatry. If the
oracle has anything to do with Jeremiah, it must belong to a very
different period from that of the temple address.

As for you, pray not for this people, raise no plea on their

behalf and do not intercede with Me, for I wall not Hsten.

^ So, changing the vowels, but not the consonants. MT reads " that I
may cause you to dwell in this place." But the people did not live in the
temple.

2 With LXX, omit " oracle of Yahweh."

Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah
and the streets of Jerusalem ? The children are gathering
sticks, the fathers are kindling fires, and the women are kneading
dough to make cakes in honour of the queen of heaven ; they
also pour out libations to strange gods so as to annoy Ale.
Do they really annoy Me, oracle of Yahweh, do they not rather
annoy themselves to their own shame ? Therefore thus
speaks Yahweh. My fierce anger is about to be poured out
on this place, on man and beast, tree and crop, and it shall
burn unquenchably.

(c) vii. 21-23, 28. Jeremiah's judgment on sacrifice, closely connected
in subject, if not in time, with the temple address.

Thus speaks Yahweh : Add your burnt offerings to your

other sacrifices, and eat them all like ordinary fiesh, for, when

I brought your fathers out of Egypt, I said nothing to them,

and I gave them no orders about Wrnt offerings and other

sacrifices. But I gave them this order : Listen to My voice,

and I will be your God and you shall be My people and you

shall walk in the way which I command so that you may prosper.

This is the nation which never listened to the voice of Yahweh

and submitted to no restraint, faithfulness is utterly dead

and never spoken of by it.

{d) vii. 24-27. Someone added a little sermon on the sins of the
fathers, a favourite subject with the exiles who believed they were
expiating those sins.

They did not listen and turned no ready ear, they walked

after the suggestions of their own stubborn and wicked hearts,

they grew worse instead of better. From the day your fathers

came out of Egypt till now, though I sent you all My servants,

the prophets, never failing to send, they did not listen to Me,

they turned no ready ear, but stiffened their necks, behaving

worse than their fathers. You, too, may deliver all these

messages, but they will not listen to you ; you may summon

them, but they will give you no reply.

(e) vii. 29-34 ; viii. 1-3. Two oracles, later than Jeremiah, on Tophet.

Take off and cast away your crown, intone a dirge on the

bare heights, for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken a race

with which He is angry. For the children of Judah have done

wrong in My sight, oracle of Yahweh, they have set up their

idols in ilic liousc wliicli is dedicated to Me so as to defile it,
they have Iniilt tlie high places of Tophet in the valley of Hen
Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters — a thing which I
never ordered and which never came into My mind. There-
fore days are at hand, oracle of Yahweh, when it shall no longer
he called Tophet and valley of Ben Hinnom, but valley of
butchery, and Tophet shall become a cemetery for want of
room to bury. The dead bodies of this people shall become
food for the birds and beasts of prey with no one to scare them
away. And I will silence in the towns of Judah and the streets
of Jerusalem all sounds of gladness and joy, the voice of bride-
groom and bride, for the land shall be made a waste.

At that time, oracle of Yahweh, the bones of the kings and
leaders of Judah, the bones of priests, prophets and citizens of
Jerusalem shall be taken out of their graves and scattered before
the sun, moon and stars which the men in their lifetime loved
and served, obeyed, consulted and worshipped. Instead of
being collected and buried, these shall be treated like dung on
the fields. And all who are left of this wicked race in the places
to which I have scattered them shall prefer death to life. Oracle
of Yahweh Tsebaoth.

o. The incorrigible heart and its doom.

{a) viii. 4-7. The incorrigible heart.
Thus speaks Yahweh^ : As a rule, if a man falls, he gets up
again, if he wanders from the road, he finds his way back.
Why has this people* wandered, going permanently astray ?
They are obstinate in unfaithfulness, refusing to repent. I
listened, but heard no whisper of the kind ; not a man among
them repented of his wickedness, saying, What have I done ?
Everyone holds on his course, like a horse galloping into battle.
Even a stork knows its route and time for migration through the
sky, the dove and swallow keep the periods when they arrive ;
but my people do not recognise the directions of Yahweh.

[b] viii. 8, 9, 13. Worse, because misled.
How can you say, we are wise men who possess the law of
Yahweh ? Yet it is perfectly plain that the lying pen of scribes

^ With LXX omit " Say to them."
* With LXX omit " Jerusalem."

has turned this into a lie. Wise men are disappointed, full of
dismay, tricked ; what can their wisdom do for them, when
they have rejected the word of Yahweh ?^ . . . .
I will wholly destroy them, oracle of Yahweh, there are no
grapes on the vine, no figs on the fig-tree, the leaves are withered.*

Why are we sitting still ? Let us gather together and go
into the walled towns and die there, since our God has brought
us to our doom, giving us poison to drink because of our sin
against Yahweh. We hoped for peace, but no good fortune
came, for a healing time and we found dismay. The snorting
of his horses can be heard from Dan, at the noise of his neighing
st-allions the whole earth trembles ; when he arrives, he will
sweep the earth bare of its produce, the town of its inhabitants.
I am about to send among you deadly snakes, which cannot be
charmed ; and they shall bite you, oracle of Yahweh.

9. Two songs, full of pity and sorrow, over the people^ s condition

and fate,
{a) viii. 18-23. There is no relief from sorrow : my heart
grows faint within me. Hark to the wail of my people from the
land far and wide,3 " Is Yahweh no longer in Zion ; has her
King forsaken her t " " But why have they roused Me to
anger by their foreign and worthless idols .? " " Harvest is
past, summer is over, but we are unhelped." The ruin of my
people has broken my heart. I am overpowered with sorrow
and dismay. Is there no healing balm in Gilead, is there no
physician there I It must be so, or why is the wound of my
people not yet healed .? Would God my head were water and
my eyes a well of tears, so that day and night I might weep over
the dead of my people !

{b) ix. 1-2. Would God I were in the desert in some lonely
haunt of travelling folk, that, ieaving my people, I might be
quit of them, for they are all adulterers, a brood of traitors !
They bend their tongues like bows ; falsehood, not loyalty has

^ Vv. 10-12 are a repetition of vi. 13-15. When, following LXX, we omit
them here, the connection of thought is improved.
* The last clause is hopeless, and is omitted by LXX.
3 Or, perhaps, " because of oppressors."

power' in tlic land ; they advance from crime to crime and do
notjjcknowledge Yaliweh.' oracle of Yahwch.

I O. 7zvo oracles which describe the people^ s condition. Mutual

confidence, the cement of human society, has disappeared,
{a) ix. 3-5. Every man may well be on his guard against his
neighbour, no man may trust his brother, for every brother is
a perfect Jacob at supplanting and every neighbour is a slanderer.
They cheat each other, no man speaking the truth ; they train
their tongues to lie, ^are perverse and foolish.3 They heap
violence on violence, deceit on deceit, and refuse to acknowledge
Me, oracle of Yahweh.

{h) ix. 6-8. Therefore thus speaks Yahweh : I must try them
in the melting-pot, for how can I act otherwise in view of My
people's vileness }-^ Their tongue is a dart, deadly through
its treachery ; a man has peace with his neighbour in his mouth,
but in his thoughts is laying a snare for him. ^Must I not on
this account punish them, and on a nation such as this must I
not take vengeance ?5 Oracle of Yahweh.

I I . Two laments over ruined Judah.

{a) ix. 9-1 1. Weep for the hills and lament over the steppes,
since they lie waste and untravelled ; the sound of feeding sheep
is heard on them no more, bird and beast have utterly vanished
from them. I will turn Jerusalem, too, into heaps, a jackal's
lair ; the towns of Judah I will make an uninhabited waste.
Who is so wise as to understand the reason, who is so much in
the secret of Yahweh as to expound why the land is ruined,
as waste and untravelled as any desert ?

(<2) ix. 12-15. Secondary; a slightly stolid person, not recognising
the irony of v. 11, proceeded to expound the reason which seemed
so obvious to the prophet as to need no special illumination.

Yahweh said, it is due to their forsaking My law which I set

before them and to their refusal to listen to My voice. Instead

of walking according to the law, they walked after their own

I So with LXX.

* MT " me," but it is the prophet who speaks.

3 An amended and uncertain text.

^ So with LXX.

5 Also at V. 29.

stubborn nnnds and after the Baalism which they learned from
their fathers. Therefore, thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth, God
of Israel : I will feed them with wormwood and give them
poison to drink, and I will scatter them among nations which
neither they nor their fathers knew, and I will make the sword
pursue them to their utter ruin.

{h) ix. 1 6-2 1. Thus speaks Yahweh^ : Summon the mourning
women, send in haste for the skilled women. Let them raise
a dirge over us, let our own eyes stream with tears, our eyelids
gush over with water, for, hark, a wail is heard in Zion, " What
a disaster has befallen us, what a dishonour, in that we are
expelled from the land and obliged to abandon our homes ! "

Listen, O women, to the message of Yahweh, let your ears
take in the word of His mouth, teach your daughters a dirge
and your friends a funeral wail. Death climbs in at our
windows, finds entry into our palaces, cutting down the children
in the streets, the young men in the public places,* and human
carcases lie like dung on the open field, like ungathered sheaves
behind the reaper.

12. ix. 22-23. '^^^ ^^h source oj confidence jor man.

Thus speaks Yahweh : Let not a wise man boast of his
wisdom, nor a strong man of his strength, nor a rich man of
his wealth ; but let him who boasts boast of his ability to. know
Me, how I am Yahweh who founds mercy, justice j righteousness
in the world and how these things are My delight, oracle of
Yahweh.

I 3» ix. 24-25. An oracle which I translate as it stands. As,,
however^ I have no idea what it means, I do not pretend to
know whether Jeremiah wrote it. If we omit a word and a
preposition in verse 24, we get the declaration that Yahweh was
about to punish all uncircumcision. Then verse 25 would say that
the heathen were uncircumcised in flesh, Israel uncircumcised in
mind, and both were equally ignorant of the true mind of Yahweh.
But this may seem a somewhat violent method of forcing a meaning
on the text.

Days are coming, oracle of Yahweh, when I will punish all

^ Omit " be wise " with LXX.

* With LXX omit " Say thou, thus is the oracle of Yahweh."

who are circumcised in uncircumcision, F-gypt and Judah,
Edom and Ammon, Moab and the crop-haired tribes that hve
in the desert, for all the nations are uncircumcised and all Israel
is uncircumcised in mind.

I 4' ^ Tondemnation of idolatry. It seems to be made up oj

sentences written to convince the Babylonian exiles oj the

higher character oj their own religion and keep them jaithjul

Jews. Note its striking likeness to certain passages in Deutero-

Isaiah. Not by Jeremiah.

X. 1-16. Hear, O Israel, the word Yahweh has spoken to you.
Thus speaks Yahweh : Do not learn to imitate the heathen
and practise no veneration for the heavenly bodies, as the
heathen do. For the worship of the heathen is absurd : a
man hews a forest-log, the mere product of a wood-man with
an axe. He decks it out with silver and gold, and then someone
makes it firm with hammer and nails to keep it from tumbhng
down. The thing stands dumb like a scarecrow in a kitchen-
garden, needing to be carried here and there, because it cannot
move. Have no fear of such things as these, because they are
powerless for good or evil.

There is none like Thee, O Yahweh. Thou art great and
Thy name is great in power. Who will not fear Thee, King
of all worlds ?^ Fear is due to Thee, for among the heathen
sages and their pantheons there is none like Thee,

One and all they are stupid and senseless . . .* They all
congist of beaten silver brought from Tarshish and of gold
from Ophir ; they are made by joiner and goldsmith, decked
out in purple and crimson, the product of skilled men. But
Yahweh is the true God, the living God, the eternal King ;
when He is angry, the world trembles and the nations cannot
bear His wrath. This is what you must say about them :
The gods who did not make heaven and earth shall vanish from
oflF the earth and from under heaven. 3 Yahweh made the earth
by Flis power, He made creation stable by His wisdom. He

^ So with the Syriac Version ; MT has " the nations."

• The second half of the verse is hopeless.

3 The verse is not in Hebrew, but Aramaic. Probably it was meant to
suggest or even to prescribe what the Jews were to answer, when invited to
worship idols, and especially to worship the stars.

f 33

strot».liod oin Iumvcmi bv His insiglit. At the soiiiui of His
thunder tlu' w.ntMS in ho.n cmi .iro moved, I \c r.iisos mists from the
end of the e.irth. He sends ligl\tnini; tl.ishing rhroui^h the rain,
out of His tre.isure houses He sends .ibro.ui the wind. Mankind
is struck dumb and senseless, everv maker of idols is put to
sliame, for his images are proved a lie and destitute of breath.
Thev are a delusion and a fraud, wliich break down whenever
they are tested. He who is Jacob's proud possession is not like
these, for He is the creator of the universe, and Israel is His
favoured tribe. Vahweh Tsebaorh is His \amo.'

I V '^'"'' '.-'•■'''•■''' .".'f5r.;;';« fr.i^^'r.rntJ oj or.i.us of Jis^ist^r on
Jrru.y.ilrm hy j rrr'''::.:}\ J'rrses 17, iS, /•.■^r: rr, / r<;«
9nly tramsUu by Jin: . ' /-";.^r;.;.;/;.'r5.« (:birb mahr r'v rrsult so
wuertain as to be vaUiiUss. I pujrr 10 omit the vrrsr}.
T. \q-2i. Woe is me, I am ruined ; my wound is deep. Hut 1
thought, tins is my wound and I must bear it. My tent is
WTccked, all its cords are broken ; mv children are gone, so tliat
no one is left to set up mv tent again and renew its flaps.

The shepherds are fix^lish and have asked no guidance of
Vahweh, therefore thev have utterly failevl and tl\eir entire
tlock is dispersed.

Hark, a rumour comes flying, and a loud clamour from the
land oi tl\e North ; )udah's towns are to be turned into a w^iste,
a jackals* lair.

16, \. 25-25. J cry of distress fr»m the luttion ■>» /-xile^ later

1 ha\e v\>r.u' to know, O Vahweh, that his way is in no man^s
power, nor is it within his power to control his steps. Set me
right, O ^'al\weh. but with judgment, not in 'Hiy wrath, lest
Thou make me very small. Pour out Thy fury on the heathen
who have no knowledge of Thee and on the families who do
not acknowledge Thee, for they have utterly devoured Jacob
and wasted his hotne.

;/ - .il in it

etni fspenaiiy ..,r. , ^y ** r// •;." M,jHy

' \ crjc* u-16 appear again at li. 15-19, amon^ the onido on U.»byion.

A message which came from Yahweh to Jeremiah :
Listen to the words of this covenant and declare them to the
men of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem, and say to them :
Thus speaks ^'aliweh, God of Israel : Accursed be he who does
not listen to the words of this covenant. 1 enjoined it on your
fathers when 1 brought them out of Egypt, that iron furnace,
saying : Listen to My voice and exactly obey all Aly commands,
and ye shall be My people and I shall be your God, so that I
may keep the oath 1 swore to your fathers, promising to give
them a land flowing with milk and honey as you have it now.
Then I answered : Yes, Yahweh. And Yahweh said to me :
Proclaim these words in the towns of Judah and streets of
Jerusalem, and say, Listen to the words of this covenant and
obey them, for, from the time when I brought your fathers
out of Egypt down to the present day, I solemnly and per-
sistently charged them to listen to My voice. But they did
not listen or pay any attention ; instead, they all walked after
their own stubborn and wicked mind. So I brought upon
them the contents of this covenant which I commanded them
to follow and which they did not follow.

Further Yahweh spoke to me : There exists a conspiracy
among the men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem. They
have gone back to the old sins of their fathers, who refused
to listen to My words, they have followed strange gods in
serving them. Israel and Judah have repudiated the covenant
which I made with their fathers. Therefore, thus speaks
Yahweh ; I am about to bring upon them a disaster from which
they cannot escape. They may cry to Me then, but I will
not listen to them. The towns of Judah and citizens of
Jerusalem may also go and cry to the gods to whom they are
offering sacrifice, but these shall not save them in their day of
disaster. For, O Judah, you have as many gods as you have
towns, and Jerusalem has not more streets than it has altars
set up to sacrifice to Baal. As for you, you must no more
pray for this people, nor for their sake offer petition or prayer,
for I will pay no attention to them, when they cry to iVIe in
the day of their disaster.

I 0 . 7ke people must be expelled from Palestine in spite of its
sacrifices.

XI. 15, l6. What right has My beloved to Hve in My house,
so long as she cherishes vile thoughts ? Can vows and holy
flesh take away your sin, or can you be saved after that fashion ?^
Yahweh called you a spreading olive of lovely shape ; at His
thunder its leaf withered.^

(a) xl. 17. Someone added an exposition of v. 16.
It was Yahweh Tsebaoth who planted you, who also decreed
disaster against you, because of the vileness of Israel and Judah
and their deeds, provoking Me by sacrificing to Baal.

10. xi. 18-20. Jeremiah sadly recognises hozv, as soon as he
learned the true will of Tahzuehy he had occasion to learn
human opposition.

Yahweh instructed me and I came to understand ; then
Thou didst make me see their conduct. I became like an
unsuspecting lamb led out to be butchered, ignorant that what
was intended against me was, " let us hew down the tree in
its full vigour,3 let us cut him off from among the hving, so that
his name may be wholly forgotten." But Yahweh, Thou
righteous judge, who dost try the most intimate thought, let
me see Thee repay them, for I commit my cause to Thee.

(a) xi. 21-23. An editorial comment, which referred the saying to a

particular period in the prophet's life, and added its idea of the

result of committing a cause to Yahweh.

Therefore thus Yahweh speaks about the men of Anathoth

who are seeking your life, and who say that you must not

prophesy in Yahweh's name on penalty of death.

Therefore, thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth : I will punish
them ; their young men'^ shall die by the sword, their sons and
daughters perish through famine, no one shall be spared among
them, for in the year of their punishment I wiW bring disaster
on the men of Anathoth.

20. " Will the day^s journey take the whole, long day F From

morn to night, my friend.''''
xii. 1-6. Thou art ever in the right, O Yahweh, when I enter
a plea before Thee. Yet I would urge one question : Why do

'^ MT is impossible. The above is Driver's rendering, based on the LXX.
* Again the LXX must help to a rendering of the obscure Hebrew.

3 MT has " with Its bread."

4 So with LXX; MT has " the young men."

bad men prosper and scoundrels live at ease ? Thou dost
plarU' them ; and they strike root, flourish and bear fruit.
Yet, while they talk about Thee, they keep Tliec remote from
their real thoughts. But Thou knowest me thoroughly, and
hast tested how my heart is Thine. 'Pick them out like sheep
for slaughter, set them apart for the day of butchery.^ How
long is the land to mourn and every green thing in the fields
to wither ? Beast and bird are disappearing through the
wickedness of the inhabitants of the land, who say : God never
notices what we do.^

You have run vnth footmen and they have tired you out, how
then can you hold your own with horsemen ? You are taking
cover-5 in a quiet land, how then will you act when Jordan
floods its banks ^ Because even your relations and your kindred
have played you false and reviled you with open throat, have
no trust in men, when they say smooth things to you.

(a) xii. 7-13. Probably a late section, belonging to the period when
Palestine was lying derelict after the exile. A prophet declares
how none but Yahweh cares for it.

I have forsaken My land and abandoned My peculiar people ;
I have delivered over My well-beloved into the power of its
enemies. Because Mv peculiar people became like a forest-lion,
roaring fiercely against Ale, I hated it. They became a . . .
vulture, which attacked Me.* ' Come together then, all you wild
beasts, gather to the prey. Many owners have ruined My
vineyard, trampling down My portion, turning My lovely
portion into a waste desert. They have made it a waste, to
My regret it lies desolate : the whole land is ravaged, for no
one gives it a thought. On the bare heights in this wasted
land brigands roam, for Yahweh's sword devours the world
from end to end, so that there is peace for no human being.
From a sowing of wheat the harvest is thorns, men have toiled
themselves to death on what is futile, they are ashamed of the
harv^est — the harvest of the fierce anger of Yahweh.

^ Possibly this is an addition. Half of it is absent from the LXX, and it
has little or no connection with the rest of the thought.

* So with LXX.

3 With the change of a letter.

^ MT is hopeless. The above is Erbt's emendation.

(b) xii. 14-17. Another post-exilic section.

Thus speaks Yahweh against all the evil neighbours who
meddle with the inheritance which I have given to My people
Israel, I will pluck them out of their territory and I will pluck
Judah out from among them. And after that is past, I will
again have mercy on them, and restore each of them to its own
territory.

And if they are wilUng to learn the practices of My people,
to swear by the name of Yahweh, as they taught My people
to swear by Baal, they shall have a sure place among My people ;
but, if any of them refuses, I will pluck out that nation for good
and all, oracle of Yahweh.

2 I . The spoiled girdle ; contact with Babylonian ideas and
worship is threatening to corrupt the people. Probably
this is the speech of a Babylonian prophet^ since it is difficult to
believe that 'Jeremiah could cross the desert to Euphrates four
times.

xiii. i-ii. Thus said Yahweh to me : Go and buy a linen
girdle and fasten it round your loins, but do not put it into
water. So I bought a girdle as Yahweh ordered and fastened
it round my loins. Then the word of Yahweh came to me
again : Take the girdle you bought, which is now round your
loins, and go to the Euphrates and hide it there in the crack of
a rock. So I went and hid it beside the Euphrates, as Yahweh
ordered. And after several days Yahweh said to me : Go to
the Euphrates and take the girdle which I ordered you to hide
there. So I went to the Euphrates and dug and took the girdle
out of* the place where I had hidden it, and, behold, it was
ruined and useless. Then the word of Yahweh came to me :
Thus speaks Yahweh, in the same way I mean to ruin the pride
of Judah and the swollen pride of Jerusalem. This wicked
people is refusing to listen to My word, and is following its own
stubborn mind ; it has gone after foreign gods to serve and
worship them, and so is becoming as useless as this girdle.
For, as a girdle clings round a man's loins, I made Israel
and Judah cling to Me, oracle of Yahweh, that they might
be an honour and a praise and a glory to Me ; but they
did not hstcn.

2 2. An oracle which leaves on me the impression that it has
_- been badly reported. Certainly its mean in i^^ as it now
stands^ is very obscure.

xiii. 12-14. ^^y ^° ^^^^^ people' : 'I'lius speaks Yahvveh,
God of Israel : Every jar is meant to be filled with wine.
And if they say to you, " Who does not know that every jar is
meant to be filled with wine ? " say to them : Thus speaks
Yahweh : I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of
this country, the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests,
the prophets and all the citizens of Jerusalem. And you shall
be dashed against each other, fathers and sons alike, oracle of
Yahweh. I will not pity nor have mercy nor repent of destroying
them.

23* Three oracles belonging to Jeremiah^s early period.

{a) xiii. 15-17- A summons to attention.

Listen closely, be not insolently careless, for Yahweh has
spoken. Give honour to Yahweh your God, before the darkness
falls, before your feet stumble on the dim mountains, and you
long for light, while He turns it to a thicker gloom. If you will
not Usten, I must weep in secret over your pride ; your eyes
too shall pour out tears,' because Yahweh's flock is gone into
exile.

{b) xiii. 18-22. The reliance on foreign help must bring disaster.

Say to the king and queen-mother,' sit down in some
humble place, for your glorious crown is falling from your
heads. 'The towns of the Negeb are blockaded (?) vdth none
to open their gates ; Judah is swept away in a wholesale
captivity.' Look out and see the invaders from the North ;
where is the flock which was put under your charge, your
splendid flock ? What shall you say when the friends whom
you yourself have taught to bully you^ are lording it over you ?
Shall not pangs seize you, Uke those of a woman in child-birth }
And when you ponder why these things have happened to you,

' So with LXX.

^ I have added "to bully you " in order to bring out the sense.

for the number of your sins are you exposed to dishonour and
your shame laid bare to sight.

Can a negro change his skin or a panther its spotted coat ?
When they can, you too [shall be able to do good, who are
practised in doing evil. I will scatter them like chaff whirling
before the sirocco ; this is the destiny I appoint for you, oracle
of Yahweh, because you have forgotten Me and put faith in
lies. I whirl your skirts over your head, and expose you to
contempt [your adulteries and lewdness and vile whoredom]^.
I have witnessed the infamies practised by you on the hills.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem, you continue vile, and how long
can this last }

2^. Two oracles connected with a severe drought ; a description
of the distress and a -prayer.

(a) xiv. 1-6. A message of Yahweh to Jeremiah in connec-
tion with drought. Judah mourns, its towns are sorrow-
laden, men cower to the ground in distress, a wail rises
from Jerusalem. Masters send their servants for water, but,
when these reach the cisterns, they find none and return
with empty jars, covering their heads in dismayed
confusion. Lying untilled,* the ground is faint for
want of rain ; the labourers are in dismay, covering their
heads. The very hinds in the fields desert their new-born
young, because there is no grass. The wild asses stand on
the naked heights, panting for air,3 their eyes grow dim, because
every green thing has vanished.

(b) 7-9. Though our sins accuse us, act, O Yahweh, for Thine
own sake. Our failures are very many ; against Thee have we
sinned. Thou hope of Israel, its saviour in time of trouble,
why art Thou now like a passing stranger in the land who
spends a night and is gone ? Why art Thou like a man asleep,^ or
like one powerful indeed but impotent to save ? Yet, Yahweh,

' Probably a vehement addition.

* Emended text.

3 With LXX omit " like a crocodile."

' So with lA'X.

4-C

Thou dwellest among us, and it is Thy name we bear ; forsake
us not.

25* A fragment.

xiv. 10. Thus speaks Yahweh to this people : They love to
wander, setting no restraint on their feet. Yahweh has no
pleasure in them ; now He is about to remember their sins,
and punish their wicked deeds.

20. Against certain prophets who denied the coming of Tahtveh
in judgment.

(a) xiv. 1 1 -16. Yahweh said to me : You shall not pray for
this people. When they fast, I will not listen to their petition,
when they offer burnt offering and sacrifice, I will not accept
them, for I am about to destroy them by sword, famine and
pestilence. Then I said : Ah, Yahweh my Lord, there are
prophets who tell them, you will never see a sword, never have
famine, for I mean to give you in this place a settled peace.
But Yahweh answered : The prophets are prophesying lies in
My name. I never sent them, nor gave them any charge nor
spoke to them. What they prophesy is false visions, empty
superstitions and the fancies of their own minds. Therefore,
thus speaks Yahweh about the prophets who prophesy in My
name but whom I did not send, and who are saying that neither
sword nor famine shall befall this country, they themselves shall
be cut off by sword and famine ; and the people to whom
they prophesy shall be flung out in the streets of Jerusalem,
victims of famine and sword, with no one to bury either them
or their wives, their sons or daughters, and I wall pour out
disaster upon them.

{b) xiv. 17-18. A fragment of a lament over ruined Judah.

Speak to them as follows : My eyes stream with tears day
and night without ceasing, because my people is hurt to the
death wdth a mortal wound. If I go out into the open country,
lo, the dead pierced by the sword ; if I enter the city, lo, the
horrors of famine. Prophet and priest are, ahke, bowed to
the ground . . .*

^ The last clause has been emended.

27. Three oracles of late date, when Judah has already gone
into exile.

{a) xiv. ig-22. A humble confession and plea to Yahvvch.

Hast Thou utterly rejected Judah and cast off Zion ? Why-
hast Thou smitten us with an incurable wound ? We expected
peace, but in vain, we looked for a time of healing, and terror
came. We acknowledge, O Yahweh, our guilt, the crime of
our fathers, how we have sinned against Thee. For Thine
own sake do not reject us, do not discredit Thy glorious throne,
remember instead of breaking off Thy covenant with us. Can
any of the idols of the heathen bring rain or can the heavens
send down showers .? Is it not Thou, O Yahweh our God,
on whom we can rely, because Thou canst do such things as
these ?

{b) XV. 1-4. Another voice from the exile which seeks a reason for the
national calamities.

Yahweh said to me : Though Moses or Samuel should

stand before Me, I could not regard this people with favour ;

drive them from My presence and let them go. And when

they say to you : Whither are we to go } say to them : Thus

speaks Yahweh ; Those who are appointed to death, shall go

to death, those appointed to the sword, to the sword, those

appointed to famine, to famine, those appointed to captivity,

to captivity. I mean to allot to them four fates, the sword

to kill, dogs to tear, birds and beasts to devour and destrov,

and I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the world

because of what Manasseh ben Hezekiah, king of Judah, did

in Jerusalem.

Who has pity upon you, O Jerusalem, who will comfort you,
or who turns aside to ask how you fare ? You rejected Me,
oracle of Yahweh, continually rebelling. So I lifted My hand
against you to destroy ; My pity was worn out. I winnowed
them out among the towns of the land, I bereaved them of
their children. I destroyed My people ^because of the vileness
of their ways.' Their widows* are more numerous than sea-

' Emended text after LXX.
2 With LXX.

sand. I led against tlicm tlic destroyer in full day,^ I brouglit
down upon them terror and dismay. The prolific mother is
struck down, she sighs out her life, her sun has set in clear day,
she is put to shame and consternation, all who are left to her

1 will deliver over to the sword before their enemies, oracle
of Yahweh.

2 o . Two outcries from Jeremiah, as he ponders over his vocation^

with the divine answer.

(d) XV. lo, II. A fragment, unhappily with most uncertain text.
I cannot pretend that the version of v. 1 1 offered is more than an
attempt.

Alas, my mother, that you ever bore me to be at odds wdth,
and in opposition to, the whole world. I have neither borrowed
nor lent money, yet everyone curses me. Yahweh replied :
Be sure that I strengthen you for good ; be sure that I wall
yet bring the enemy a suppliant in the day of trial and sorrow.

V. 12 I can neither translate nor understand.

vv. 13-14 recur in xvii. 3, 4, where they are much more in place.

{b) XV. 15-21. Alone against the world.

^O Yahweh, remember me and give me some heed, avenge my
cause on those who persecute me ; delay not Thine anger,
recognise that I am bearing insult and ^reproach from men
who despise Thy words. 3 As for me, Thy word is my joy and
my heart's delight, for I am wholly dedicated to Thee, O
Yahweh. I never sat in the company of mockers nor found
any pleasure there ; under Thine awful power I sat lonely for
Thou didst fill me with indignation. Why then is my grief
unceasing and my wound incurable ? Art Thou becoming to
me a stream that runs dry, a spring that fails ?

Thus, then, spoke Yahweh : If you surrender to Me and I
restore you, you shall be My servant : if you make clear the
diflFerence between good and evil, you shall be like My mouth.
Then it will be for others to turn to you, not for you to turn
to them. Among this people I will make you a mighty wall

^ Omitting three Hebrew words, which defy construction.

* With LXX, omit " Thou knowest" from the beginning of the verje.

3 Following LXX.

of bronze ; they may fight against you, but they shall never
have the mastery, for I am on your side to deliver you, oracle
of Yahweh. And I will deliver you out of the power of bad
men, and free you from the strength of oppressors.

29* In his vocation, Jeremiah must remain unmarried and
separate from the common life of men. Marriage was a
hlessi7ig from God in Israel, and Judaism is the only great faith
which has never favoured the moral suicide that bred the monk
and nun.

xvi. 1-9. The word of Yahweh came to me : You must remain
unmarried and childless in this place. For thus speaks Yahweh
about the children born here, about the mothers who bear
them and the fathers who beget them in this land. They shall
die a cruel death, remaining unmourned and unburied ; they
shall lie like dung on the open fields, ravaged by sword and
famine ; their carcases shall become food for the birds and
beasts of prey.

Thus speaks Yahweh : You must not enter a house of
mourning ; it is not for you to mourn and wail over this people,
for I have withdrawn My peace from them.^ Great and humble
shall die alike in this land and be unburied, unwept, unhonoured,
unmourned. No one shall break the mourners' bread over
them, to bring comfort for the dead ; no one shall reach out
the cup of consolation for father or mother. You must not
enter a house of feasting to take part with other men in eating
and drinking. For thus speaks Yahweh God of Israel : In your
sight and in your lifetime I am about to bring to an end in this
place the sound of joy and gladness, the voice of bridegroom
and bride.

30. The priests explain to the exiles why the exile has befallen
them.

xyi. 10-21. When you expound all these matters to this people,
and they say to you ; Why did Yahweh denounce all this
terrific disaster against us, and what is our transgression and
what our sin, which we have committed against Yahweh our
God, you must say to them : It is because your fathers forsook

^ MT has a few superfluous words, omitted by LXX.

Me, oracle of Yahweli, in following, serving and worshipping
strange gods, and forsook Mc, in failing to keep My law. And
as for you, you have behaved worse than your fathers, and
every man among you is following his own stubborn and wicked
mind, refusing to listen to Me. So I wall hurl you out of this
land into a land which neither you nor your fathers knew and
there you shall serve continually strange gods which shall show*
you no grace . . .^ I am sending for several fishers, oracle of
Yahweh, who shall catch them, and afterwards for several
hunters, who shall hunt them from every mountain and hill
and even from the rock-caves. For I keep watch over their
conduct, it cannot be hidden from Me, nor can their iniquity
remain hidden from My sight ; and I will repay* their iniquity
and sin because they desecrated My land with their dead and
vile gods and filled My inheritance with their abominations.

[Yahweh, my strength, my defence, my refuge in every day
of distress, from the remotest parts of the world nations shall
come to Thee and say : Our fathers received by tradition
nothing but lies, empty and worthless superstition. Can a
man make God ? Such things are not God.l3

Therefore at this time I will make them acknowledge My
mighty power ; they shall learn that My name is Yahweh.

31. If by Jeremiahy this must be an early^ oracle^ directed
against the popular worship ; it is omitted by the LXX.

xvii. 1-4. The sin of Judah is chiselled with an iron point,
engraved wdth a diamond on their heart's core ; it appears on
the horns of their altars, '^the stone pillars, the asheras, the
spreading trees, the heights of the plain.^ I will hand over
to pillage your property, even all your treasures,* because of
the sin which is committed throughout your territory. You
shall lose your hold on the land I gave you, and I wall make you
slaves to your enemies in an unknown land, for you have roused
the blaze of My anger, and it shall never be put out.

^ Vv. 14, 15 appear again at xxiii. 7, 8, where they seem more in place.

a With LXX.

3 Two verses, which have probably been inserted here by some pious
reader, but which have nothing to do with the context.

♦ Emended with help of the Syriac ; but an obscure text.

32. A short fsalm of the same character and probably of the

same period as the first psalm in the F Salter.
xvii. 5-8. Thus speaks Yahweh : Cursed, be he who puts his
trust in man, who takes mere flesh as his support, and who
turns his thoughts away from Yahweh. He is like scrub in the
steppes ; if good comes, it does not see it, living, as it does,
in a waste wilderness, a barren and solitary land. Blessed be
he who puts his trust in Yahweh, relying absolutely on Him.
He is like a tree planted beside water, sending out its roots to
the stream, which needs fear no heat, the leaves of which remain
ever fresh. In a year of drought it remains untroubled, never
ceasing to bear fruit.

3 3 • Three short, late sayings.

{a) and {V). Two gnomic sentences, like the collection found in
Proverbs or Ecclesiastes.

{a) xvii. 9-10. The mind of man is more secretive than all

else and is set on evil ; who can fathom it ? I, Yahweh, test

the mind and try the heart, appointing to every man according

to his conduct and according to the outcome of his work.

{b) xvii. II. A partridge hatches out eggs which it has not

itself laid^ ; a man amasses gain by base means, only to lose it

in the middle of his life, and in the end stands a fool confessed.

{c) xvii. 12, 13. Probably the pious, glad utterance of many a pilgrim
to the restored Jerusalem.

Ah, glorious throne, high-pitched, venerable, our holy

sanctuary ! Yahweh, Thou hope of Israel, all who forsake

Thee shall be disappointed, all *who rebel against Thee

in the land shall be brought to shame,^ because they have

forsaken Yahweh, the well of living water.

34* ^ prayer for patience and for divine vindication, which

may he of any period.
xvii. 14-18. Heal me, O Yahweh, so that I may be made
whole, save me, so that I may indeed be saved, for Thou art
my glory. There are some who say to me — where is Yahweh's
word ? Let it arrive. Yet I have not urged ^hee to hasten
the disaster,* and Thou knowest well that I have not longed

' With the result that the young forsake their false mother.
* An emended text.

for the evil day. What 1 did say is clearly known to Thee.
Be not Thou the author of my ruin, Thou, my refuge in every
evil day. Let my persecutors be put to shame instead of me,
let them be in dismay instead of me, bring upon them the evil
day, their utter ruin.

2 ^' A piece of legislation, belonging to the period when the
religious community at Jerusalem was reconstituted after
the exile ; cf Neh. xiii. 15-22.

xvii. 19-27. Thus Yahweh said to me : Go and stand at the
gate of the children of your people,' by which the kings of
Judah enter and go out, and at all the gates of Jerusalem, and
say to them : Listen to Yahweh 's word, you kings of Judah,
men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem who enter by these
gates. Thus speaks Yahweh, for the sake of your lives avoid
carrying wares on the Sabbath and bringing them through
Jerusalem's gates. Bring no wares out of your houses and do
no work on the Sabbath. You must keep the Sabbath holy,
as I commanded your fathers. They, however, did not listen
or pay any attention, indeed they obstinately refused to listen
or to take warning. But if you listen, oracle of Yahweh, and
bring no wares through the gates of this city on the Sabbath,
and if you keep the Sabbath holy, by doing no work in it, there
vidll enter through the gates of this city kings* occupying
David's throne, riding on chariots and horses, and along wdth
them their officers, the men of Judah and the citizens of
Jerusalem ; and this city shall be inhabited for ever. And out
of the towns of Judah and the environs of Jerusalem, out of
the land of Benjamin and the maritime plain, out of the hill-
country and the Negeb, men shall come bringing burnt-offering
and peace-offering, meal-offering and incense, bringing too,
thank-offering to the temple. But if you do not listen to Me,
as to keeping the Sabbath holy and refraining from carrying
wares through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath, I will
kindle an unquenchable fire in the city gates which shall consume
Jerusalem's palaces.

' So the LXX, meaning perhaps " the gate of Benjamin," cf. xxxvii. 13.
* Omit princes ; they did not sit on David's throne.

7^0. Jeremiah at the potter'' s workshop. No special shape,
such as the Kingdom, is essential to the nation as Tahweh^s
instrument.

xviii. 1-6. The message which came from Yahweh to
Jeremiah. Rise and go down to the potter's workshop, and there
I will reveal a message to you. So I went down to the potter's
workshop and found him at work with his wheel. Whenever
the article he was making went wrong, as clay is apt to do in a
potter's hand, he would remake it in a different shape, such as
he thought suitable. Thereupon the message of Yahweh came
to me : Am I not able to act towards you, O Israel,^ like this
potter ? You are in My hands, as clay is in the hands of the
potter.

{a) xviii. 7-12. Comment, and not very happy comment, on the
preceding. It makes Yahweh's change of purpose depend on the
change of mind in the article He is fashioning. Now the one
point at which the parable fails is that clay cannot change its mind.

At one time I may issue a decree against a nation or kingdom

to tear up, dash down and destroy. But, if that nation against

which I have decreed repent of its wickedness, I will repent of

the calamity which I have resolved to bring upon it. At

another time I may issue a decree against a nation or kingdom

to build up and to plant. But, if it should do evil before Me

by not listening to My voice, I will repent of the benefit I

planned to confer on it. Say, therefore, to the men of Judah

and citizens of Jerusalem : Thus speaks Yahweh, I am planning

calamity for you and forming a design against you. Let every

man repent of his wicked conduct and set right his ways and

deeds. But they will say : It is all useless, for we mean to

follow our own plans and act according to our own stubborn

mind.

37* ^^ oracle of disaster.

xviii. 13-17. Thus speaks Yahweh : Inquire among the nations
whether anyone has heard of such a deed as the abominable
thing Israel has done. Does the snow disappear from the crest
of Lebanon, or do the waters fail from the Mediterranean ?*

^ With LXX omit " oracle of Yahweh."

* All students agree as to the sense of the verse, but they also vary as to
the text. The above translation is based on Cornill.

Yet My people have forgotten Me and sacrifice to idojii, hence
they liave stumbled in their ways,' walking in an ill-made path,
making their land a waste and an object of perpetual scorn,
so that every one who passes that way is horrified and shakes
his head. Like a sirocco I will scatter them before the enemy,
and turn My back instead of My face to them in the day of
their disaster.

30. A prayer by Jeremiah^ when troubled by the opposition
of certain enemies. Probably added to. Note how verses
21, 22a break the connection of thought.

xviii. 18-23, They said : Come, let us lay a plan against
Jeremiah, for the priest is not without a law nor the wise man
without counsel, nor the prophet without a divine^ word ;
come then, let us get the better of him by the tongue and give3
close attention to all he says. Give me Thy close attention, O
Yahweh, listen to the words of my opponents. Is good to be
repaid with evil, that they have dug a pit for my life ^ Remem-
ber how I presented myself before Thee to plead in their favour
and to turn back Thine anger from them. Therefore deliver
over their children to famine and commit them to the power
of the sword, let their wives become childless and widows, their
men being slaughtered, their young men slain in war. Let a
wail go up from their homes, when Thou suddenly bringest
brigands against them. They dug a pit to catch me, they laid
hidden snares for my feet. But Thou, O Yahweh, knowest
all their deadly plan against me ; pardon not their iniquity,
nor blot their sin out of Thy sight ; make them stumble and
counteract them in the day of Thine anger.

^9* Jeremiah's symbolic act in breaking a jar. The passage
is greatly overladen. Probably the original was as simple
and as brief as the incident with the potter, and verses 10-12 may
represent this original nucleus.

xix. 1-15. Thus speaks Yahweh : Go and buy an earthenware
jar and take with you some of the leading laymen and priests.

' Emended text.

* I have added " divine."

3 With LXX omit " not."

Then go out into the valley of Ben Hinnom at the pottery
gate and utter the message which I will reveal to you. Say :
Listen to the word of Yahweh, you kings of Judah and citizens
of Jerusalem : Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth, God of Israel,
I am about to bring disaster on this place, a disaster which will
make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle, because they
have deserted Me and desecrated this place by sacrificing in it
to strange gods unknown to them and their fathers, and because
the kings of Judah^ have filled this place with the blood of
^ innocent persons, and have built high places to Baal for burning
their children in sacrifice, a thing which I never ordered, nor
mentioned, which never entered My mind. Therefore days
are coming, oracle of Yahweh, when this place shall no longer
be called Tophet or valley of Ben Hinnom, but valley of butchery.
I will wreck the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place
and will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies
through the power of those who seek their life, and I will
make their carcases food for the birds and beasts of prey. I
will make this city in its desolateness an object of scotn so that
every casual passer-by shall whistle with amazement at its ruin,
and I will make the men eat the flesh of their children ; men
shall eat each other through the horror of the close siege with
which their enemies seeking their Hfe shall shut them up.

Then break the jar in the sight of the men who accompany
you, and say to them, thus speaks Yahweh : I mean to smash
this people and this city as a man breaks an earthenware jar
which cannot be pieced together again.* For I mean to act
thus toward this place and toward its inhabitants, and to make
this city hke Tophet,3 oracle of Yahweh. And the houses of
Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah, on the roofs of
which men sacrificed to the host of heaven and poured libation
to strange gods, shall, like Tophet, be unclean.

So Jeremiah came from Tophet to which Yahweh sent him
to prophesy, and stood in the court of the temple and said to
all the people : Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth God of Israel :
I mean to bring on this city with its dependent towns all the

I So with LXX.
^ Omit last clause with LXX.
. 3 Compare 2 Kings xxiii. 10.

disaster which I announced against it, because men obstinately
refused to listen to My words.

40. Pashhur arrests Jeremiah and receives the prophet's
denunciation.

XX. 1-6. Now Pashhur ben Immer the priest, who was chief
overseer in the temple, heard Jeremiah when he was uttering
tliis prophecy. So he arrested Jeremiah the prophet, and put
him in the stocks at the upper Benjamin gate, beside the temple.
When on the following day Pashhur freed him from the stocks,
Jeremiah said to him : Yahweh has changed your name from
Pashhur into Magor-missabib [terror on every side]. ^ For thus
speaks Yahweh : I will hand over to terror you and your
friends ; they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, while
you must look on ; all Judah, too, I will deliver into the power
of the king of Babylon and he shall take them into captivity
in Babylon and slaughter them. And I will hand over every
valuable thing in this city, and every precious thing, as well
as the treasures of the kings of Judah into the power of their
enemies, so that they, spoiling at their will, seize and bring
them to Babylon. As for you and all your kindred, you shall
go into captivity, and, coming to Babylon, shall die and be
buried there — both you and all your friends to whom you
caused lies to be prophesied.

4 I • Two personal utterances. In the first Jeremiah^ in his
loneliness^ comforts himself in God. In the second he utters
a cry of most hitter distress. Though they are placed together in
our text, it is unnecessary to suppose that they were uttered at the
same time. They reproduce different spiritual moods of the
prophet.

(a) XX. 7-13. Thou, O Yahweh, hast led me where Thou
wilt, and I let myself be led ; Thou wast too strong for me, and
hast had Thy way. So I have become a constant laughing-stock,
the derision of all. Whenever I prophesy, I have reason to
cry " violence and wrong,"^ for Yahweh's word has brought me
persistent insult and outrage. But if I say : I wdU give it all
up and never again speak in His name, the message becomes like

^ Compare vi. 7.

a fire, blazing and scorching within me. I am weary of enduring
this, so weary that I can bear no more. For I hear the whisper
of the crowd, " He and his terror on every side ! Let us denounce
him"; the whisper of those who were my friends, " Perhaps he
may make a false step, then we shall get the better of him and
have our revenge." But Yahweh gives me a hero's vigour ;
therefore my persecutors shall fail to work their will. They
shall be bitterlv ashamed over their failure, which to them is a
constant disgrace, never to be forgotten.^

{b) XX. 14-18. Cursed be the day on which I was born ; may
no blessing rest on the day when my mother bore me ! Cursed
be he who brought the news to my father, " a son is born to
you," congratulating him ! May the fate of that man be the
fate of the towns which Yahweh pitilessly overthrew. May he
hear a cry at dawn, a battle-shout at noon-day. Because men
did not kill me in my mother's womb, and make my mother
my grave, making my mother go with her unborn child to the
grave.* Why did I ever come from the womb, only to see
weariness and toil, and spend my days in shame ?

42. The reply of Jeremiah to a message of king Zedekiah^
who consulted the -prophet as to the fate of "Jerusalem in
the war with Babylon. The section is related to c. 38, as c. 7 is
to c. 26. The present passage gives JeremiaWs message in larger
form ; the later passage shows the relation of the message to the
prophet's life and fate.

xxi. I -10. The message from Yahweh to Jeremiah when king
Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur ben Melchiah and Zephaniah ben
Maaseiah the priest to say : Consult Yahweh for us, for
Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, is at war with us ; and learn
whether Yahweh will renew His great deeds on our behalf,
so that the enemy may withdraw.

Jeremiah said to them : This is the reply you must make to
Zedekiah. Thus speaks Yahweh, God of Israel : I will make
useless the weapons you are using against the king of Babylon

' V. 12 is repeated from xi. 20, where it is more appropriate. V. 13 is an
intruded verse of a Psalm, " Sing to Yahweh, Hallelujah, because He has
saved the life of the poor out of the power of bad men."

* MT has been slightly emended.

and the Chaldeans who arc besieging you, and I will bring these
meru-inside this city. I myself will fight against you with
outstretched hand and strong arm, in fury, anger and fierce
rage ; and 1 will strike down the inhabitants of this city, man
and beast, through a terrible pestilence they shall die. After-
wards, oracle of Yahweh, 1 will hand over Zedekiah, king of
Judah, with his servants and all in this city who survive the
pestilence, sword and famine, into the power of their enemies
who seek their life and they shall strike them down unsparingly,
giving no quarter ; nor will I show them any pity.^

Say also to this people, thus speaks Yahweh : I am setting
before you the way of life and the way of death. All who
remain in this city shall die by the sword, famine, or pestilence ;
but all who go out and surrender to the Chaldeans who are
besieging you, shall at least succeed in saving their hves. For
I have resolved evil and not good against this city. Oracle of
Yahweh. It shall be handed over into the power of the king
of Babylon, and burned down.

4 3* ^'^ oracle addressed to the court. It should he read along
with chapter 22, e.g.^ after xxii. 6.

xxi. II, 12. To the courtiers of Judah.

Listen to Yahweh's message, you who belong to David's
house. Thus speaks Yahweh :

Show yourselves diHgent and impartial judges, deliver the
wronged from the power of the oppressor. Otherwise, on
account of your vile deeds, My anger will blaze up like fire,
and burn unquenchably.

44* -^ denunciation of some unknown town, clearly not
Jerusalem ; of quite uncertain origin.

xxi. 13-14. I am against you, dweller in the ravine, rock on
the table-land, who boast, " Who can ever reach us,* or penetrate
into our haunts ? " oracle of Yahweh. I will punish you
according to the outcome of your deeds, oracle of Yahweh,
and will kindle a fire in your forest which shall devour everything
round it.

•^ Following LXX.
* So with Syr.

45" -^ series of oracles which, with one exception, are concerned
with the kings oj 'JeremiaWs period and their court.

[a) xxii. 1-5. Warning to the King and Court.

Thus speaks Yahweh :

Go down to the palace and deliver there this message.
Listen to Yahweh's word, thou king of Judah, occupant of
David's throne, thou and thy servants, and thy people who
enter at these gates. Thus speaks Yahweh ; Do strict and
impartial justice, deliver the wronged from the power of the
oppressor, do not maltreat or annoy the foreigner, fatherless
or widow, do not shed innocent blood in this place. For, if
you so act, there will continue to enter through the palace
gates kings occupying David's throne, riding on chariots and
horses, as well as their servants and people. If, however, you
do not listen to this message, I swear by myself, oracle of Yahweh,
that this palace shall become a ruin.

(/>) xxii. 6, 7.

Thus speaks Yahweh against the court of Judah : You were
to Me a Gilead, a very Mount Lebanon. But I swear to make
you a desert, an uninhabited city. I am preparing against you
men equipped for destruction, who shall fell for burning your
finest cedars.

(A) xxii. 8, 9. A later prosaic commentary.

Many peoples, when they pass this city, shall say to one
another : Why did Yahweh treat in such a fashion this great
city ? They shall have for answer : because they forsook the
covenant of Yahweh their God and worshipped and served
strange gods.

Thus speaks Yahweh about Shallum ben Josiah, who succeeded
his father Josiah : Weep not nor mourn for him who is dead ;
weep bitterly for him who is going away, for he shall never
return to see his native land. Once he has left this place, he
shall never return to it, but shall die in the place to which he
has been exiled, and shall never see this country again. ^

' The verses have been re-arranged.

((f) xxii. 13-17. An oracle on Jelioahaz.

Woe to him who builds his palace on injustice and its rooms
on unrighteousness, who makes his fellow-man toil for him
and does not pay him for his work, who thinks : I will build
myself a spacious palace with fine rooms and wide windows,
wainscoted with cedar and painted with scarlet.^ Are you
really a king, because you worry over cedar ?* Did not your
father eat and drink, act justly and uprightly ,3 show justice to
the humble and the poor f Then it went well with him ; so
to live was to know Me, oracle of Yahweh.

(e) xxii. 18, 19. An oracle on Jehoiakim.

Thus speaks Yahweh about Jehoiakim ben Josiah, king of
Judah : No one shall lament over him as men mourn over their
near kin, no one shall lament over him as men lament over
their lords. He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, dragged
along and flung down outside the gates of Jerusalem.

(/) xxii. 20-23. An oracle against some unknown nation or city,
apparently belonging to the district East of Jordan. It is out of
place here.

CHmb into Lebanon and cry aloud, into Bashan and make
your voice heard ; wail from Abarim, for all your allies are
ruined. I spoke to you in your prosperity, you said : " I will
not listen " ; it has been your habit from your childhood not
to listen to Me. The wind drives at its wiU your leaders, and
your allies go into exile ; then you have reason to be ashamed
and disappointed over your friends.'^ You, who live at ease in
Lebanon and make your nest among the cedars, what groaning
you shall know when pangs Hke those of a woman in childbed
befall you.

(g) xxii. 24-27. An oracle on the fate of Jehoiachin.

By my life, oracle of Yahweh, though Coniah ben Jehoiakim,
king of Judah, were a signet-ring on My right hand, I should tear

^ Some of the words here are uncertain, but the general sense is clear.

* Or, " are you really proved a king, because you rival other people in
cedar ? "

3 With LXX omit " then it was well with him."

^ With LXX.

you off. I will deliver you into the power of those who seek
your life, before whom he is afraid, even into the power of
Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon and the Chaldeans, and I
will fling you and the mother who bore you into an unknown
land, and there you shall die, and they shall never return to the
land on returning to which they are setting their hearts.

(h) xxii. 28-30. Two fragments on the same king.

Is this man Coniah an article contemptible and flung aside,
something in which no one takes any pleasure ? Why are he
and his family expelled and flung out into an unknown land ?

Earth, earth, earth, listen to the message of Yahweh.

Thus speaks Yahweh : Pronounce this man childless and
ineffective all his life-time, for no one of his race shall ever
succeed to the authority of David nor continue to reign over
Judah.

(i) xxiii. 1-2. An oracle against the leaders of the people.

Ah 1 the shepherds who ruin and scatter the flock of My
pasture, oracle of Yahweh.

Therefore, thus speaks Yahweh, God of Israel, about the
shepherds of my people : You have scattered My flock and led
them astray, you have taken no care of them. I will take care
of you according to your mischievous deeds. Oracle of Yahweh.

(_;') xxiii, 3, 4. A post-exilic addition.

And I will gather what is left of My flock out of all the
countries to which I have scattered them, and I will bring them
back to their fold, and they shall increase abundantly, and I
will appoint over them shepherds to feed them, and they shall
be fearless, untroubled and unharassed. Oracle of Yahweh.

40. Two oracles of restoration, one containing a promise of
Messiah. Opinion is greatly divided as to whether these
belong to Jeremiah. It is an interesting fact that both oracles
appear elsewhere, {a) recurring at xxxiii, 15, 16, and (b) at xvi.
14, 15. They stand isolated here between the oracles on the
rulers and those on the prophets of Judah.

(a) xxiii. 5, 6. Days are coming, oracle of Yahweh, when 1
will raise up for David a righteous shoot, and a king shall reign

witli good success, maintaining justice and riglit in tlie country.
In hk days Judah sliall be saved, and Israel live in security;
and this shall he his name — Yahweh is our righteousness.

(b) xxiii. 7, 8. Days arc coming, oracle of Yahweh, when men
shall give up taking oath by Yahweh who brought the children
of Israel out of Egypt. Instead they shall swear by Yahweh
who brought all Israel out of the North country and out of all
the lands to which I scattered them, and who settled them in
their own land.

^y . A series of oracles on the prophets^ which show how
seriously Jeremiah thought on the perennial question of
inspiration.

(a) xxiii. 9-12. Israel's spiritual leaders are to be punished with
judicial blindness because of their wrong-doing.

On the subject of the prophets. On account of Yahweh and
His holy words, my mind is confused. I tremble in every limb,
I have become like a drunk man, mastered by wine. For the
country is full of [profane men^j^[for, being cursed the land
mourns, the open meadows are parched],* whose behaviour
is vile and who are strong for evil. Prophet and priest are
alike impious, even in the temple^ I have found their villainy,
oracle of Yahweh. Therefore their road shall be like a
tortuous path among dark shadows, along which they shall be
thrust to their fall, when I bring upon them a disaster, even
the year of their visitation. Oracle of Yahweh.

ib) xxiii. 13-15. Prophets of evil life can only harden men in evil.

Among the prophets of Samaria I found madness ; they
prophesied in the name of Baal and misled My people Israel.
Among the prophets of Jerusalem also I have found a horrible
thing, apostasy and hypocrisy combined ; they support bad
men, so that no man feels the need to repent of his sin. They
are all to Me no better than Sodom, and the citizens of Jerusalem
are no better than Gomorrah. Because from Jerusalem's

^ Literally "adulterers."

* This sentence is probably an addition ; it hopelessly breaks the
connection.

3 i.e., " house of Yahweh " instead of " my house." The prophet is
speaking.

prophets a taint has spread to the whole country, thus
speaks Yahweh : I will feed them with wormwood and make
them drink poison.

(t) xxiii. 16-22. True prophecy deals first with the conscience of men.

Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth : Do not listen to the messages
of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They befool
you, uttering a vision of their own mind, but nothing from the
mouth of Yahweh. They tell men who despise Yahweh's
word, " you shall^be all right," and to men who follow their
own stubborn minds they say : " no harm shall come to you."
But any one who has stood in Yahweh's council must listen
with awe ; who has attended to and heard His word other-
wise ? See, the stormwind of Yahweh is abroad, the tempest
rises and whirls, it bursts on the head of sinful men. The fury
of Yahweh never grows calm till its work is done in fulfilling
His purposes. In the consummation of all things you will
find this true.^

I never sent the prophets, but they ran ;] I never spoke to
them, but they prophesied. If they had stood in My council,
and heard My words, they would have made My people repent
of their evil conduct and vile deeds.

(d) xxiii. 23, 24. The all-seeing eye.

Am I only a God of a little vision, and not a God with width
of sight ? Is a man able to hide himself so that I cannot see
him .? Do not I fill heaven and earth ? Oracle of Yahweh.

(e) xxiii. 25-29. Lower and higher methods of revelation.

I have heard the talk of the prophets who utter lies in My
name, saying, " I have dreamed a dream." With their dreams
which men tell each other, how long will it be in the mind of
the prophets who utter lies and their own false imaginations,
till they make My people forget My name as their fathers
forgot My name for that of Baal ? Let the prophet who has
had a dream relate it, and let him who has My word declare
it sincerely ; but why mix chaff with wheat ? Oracle of Yahweh.

' Most commentators regard vv. 18-20 as secondary material. Verses
19-20 reappear at xxx. 23, 24, but in a singularly isolated position. 1 cannot
claim for the above rendering that it is certain.

Is not My word like fire, oracle of Yahweli, or like a hammer
smashing a rock ?

(/") xxiii. 30-32. Short oracles against certain types of prophets.

I am against the prophets who steal My messages from one
another, oracle of Yahweh, I am against the prophets who copy
My language, and are constantly saying " thus speaks." Oracle
of Yahweh.

I am against the prophets who deal in false dreams, oracle
of Yahweh, and who, relating them, mislead My people by
their lies and nonsense. I never gave them authority or
command, and they are of no use to this people.

(g) xxiii. 33. An utterance of Jeremiah which has had a curious fate*
The Hebrew word for burden has the same double sense as our
word. It means " load," but it is also used, somewhat like our
" burden " of a song, for an oracle from Yahweh. Jeremiah used
the double sense of the word for a punning rebuke to his fellow-men.
WTien anyone comes inquiring for the burden, or oracle of Yahweh,
reply that you are the burden or load on Yahweh. The verses
which follow are a series of efforts by somewhat stolid commentators
to explain his meaning.

When anyone, layman, prophet or priest, asks you : " What
is the burden of Yahweh ? " say to them : *' You are the burden,^
but I mean to throw you off." Oracle of Yahweh.

(i) xxiii. 34, 35.
If the prophet, priest or layman talks of " the burden of
Yahweh," I will punish that man and his household. This is the
expression you must use in public and in private : *' What has
Yahweh answered .? " or " What has Yahweh said ? "

(2) xxiii. 36, 37.

Never again recall the expression, " burden of Yahweh,"
for how can His word be a burden to any man ?* This is
how you must address a prophet : *' How did Yahweh answer
you .? " or " What has Yahweh said ? "

(3) xxiii. 38-40.

But, if you say " burden of Yahweh," thus speaks Yahweh :
Because you have used the phrase '' burden of Yahweh," though

' With LXX.

* Omit with LXX the second half of verse 36 ; it is unintelligible in the
connection.

I expressly forbade you, I will take you up like a burden and
cast out of My sight you and the city which I gave to you and
your fathers. And I will lay upon you an enduring reproach
and an insult which shall never be forgotten.

40. Jeremiah compares the exiles to good figs, the people of
Jerusalem to had figs. The oracle has been somewhat
overlaid with later material.

xxiv. After Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had led away as
captives to Babylon Jechoniah ben Jehoiakim, king of Judah,
and the leading men of Judah with the artisans and smiths
from Jerusalem, Yahweh showed me two baskets of figs set out
in front of the temple. One basket held very good figs like
those of the first crop ; the other held very bad figs, so bad as
to be uneatable. Then Yahweh said to me : What is it you
see, Jeremiah ? And I said : Figs, the good figs excellent,
the bad so bad as to be uneatable. Then the word of Yahweh
came to me : Thus speaks Yahweh, God of Israel : Like these
good figs, I approve exiled Judah, whom I sent away from this
place to Chaldea ; and I will show them favour and restore them
to this country, and build them up instead of ruining them. I
will plant Instead of tearing them up, and I will give them a
mind to know Me, how I am Yahweh, and they shall be My
people and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with
undivided mind. But, as one deals with figs so bad as to be
uneatable, so, thus speaks Yahweh, will I treat Zedekiah,
king of Judah, and his officers and the men of Judah who are
left in this country and those who live In Egypt. I will make
them an object of disgust to all the kingdoms of the world,
a reproach and proverb, taunt and curse in all the places to
which I mean to scatter them. I will send among them sword,
famine and pestilence till they are destroyed from the country
which I gave to them and to their fathers.

49* ^^ apocalyptic vision of the end. This was a subject
which fascinated the later Judaism. On the details and
accompaniments of this judgment they spent much time and thought..
Hence this picture has been greatly elaborated. I have ventured
to mark with square brackets the passages which seem unquestion-
ably late^ hut it is difficult to decide what was the original,

XXV. 1-29. The message which came to Jeremiah about the
whole nation of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim hen
Josiah king of Judah, or the first year of Nebuchadrezzar
king of Babylon [which Jeremiah the prophet uttered about
the whole nation of Judah and all the citizens of Jerusalem,
saying : From the thirteenth year of Josiah ben Amon king
of Judah until now, during twenty-three years the word of
Yahweh has been coming to me and I uttered it patiently,
but you did not listen. Yahweh had already patiently sent
all His servants the prophets, but you did not listen or pay
any attention. His message was : Let every man repent of
his evil conduct and bad deeds, and live in the land which
Yahweh gave to you and your fathers for ever and ever. And
do not follow strange gods to serve and worship them and do
not irritate Me by your acts to do you harm. But you did not
listen to Me, oracle of Yahweh, instead you did irritate Me by
your acts to do you harm. Therefore thus speaks Yahweh
Tsebaoth : because you did not listen to Me.]

Behold, I am sending and taking all the families of the North
[oracle of Yahweh, and to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon,
my servant]^ and I will bring them against this country and
against its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations,
and I will devote them to ruin and make them an object of
horror and derision and an eternal desolation. And I vsdll
bring to an end among them the voice of joy and gladness,
the song of the bridegroom and bride, the sound of millstones
and the light of a lamp ; and all the earth shall lie desolate
[and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years].*

[And when the seventy years have run their course, I will
punish for their sin the king of Babylon and that nation,
oracle of Yahweh, and Chaldea, and I will make it an enduring
waste. And I will bring upon this country all My messages
against it, even everything which is written in this book of
Jeremiah's prophecies against all the nations. Because many
nations enslaved them, I will pay these back in full for their
deeds and conduct.]

^ The bracketed words are absent from LXX, and are patently in hopeless
grammar.

* The curious variation of LXX makes it clear that this also is an addition.

Thus spoke Yahweh God of Israel to me : Take this cup of
wine from My hand and make all the nations to which I send
you drink it. They shall drink and stagger and reel before the
sword which I am sending among them.

[So I took the cup out of Yahweh's hand and made all the
nations to which He sent me drink, even Jerusalem and the
towns of Judah, its kings and leading men, to turn them into
a desolation, and object of horror, derision and execration, as
they are now, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, with his servants, his
officers and all his people, and all the Ereb,^ and all the kings
of Uz and of Philistia, Ascalon and Gaza, Ekron and what is
left of Ashdod, Edom, Moab and Ammon, all the kings of
Tyre and of Sidon, and the kings of the Mediterranean coast,
Dedan, Tema, Buz and the crop-haired tribes, all the kings
of the Arabs who live in the desert, all the kings of Zimri, of
Elam and of Media, all the kings of the North, both distant
and near, and all the Kingdoms of the earth which are on
the face of the ground ; and after them the king of Babylon
shall drink.]

And say to them : Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth God of
Israel : Drink even to drunken nausea and fall never to rise
again on account of the sword which I am sending among you.
And when they refuse to take the cup from your hand, say to
them : Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth : Ye shall drink, for
in this city which is specially dedicated to Me I am beginning
to work hurt, and are you to be held innocent and immune ?
You shall not be held innocent and immune, for I am summoning
a sword against all the inhabitants of the world. Oracle of
Yahweh Tsebaoth.

^O. Several Jragments of apocalypse have been added to the
longer one.

XXV. 30-38. Prophesy to them all these words and say : Yahweh
roars from on high and thunders from His holy abode ; He roars
against His fold, utters a vintage-shout, like one who treads
the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. Havoc
has reached from end to end of the world, for Yahweh asserts
His right over the nations. He is vindicating His claim among

' Apparently some part of the population of Egypt.

mankind ; He lias liandcd over sinners to the sword. Oracle
of 3^'aliweh.

Thus speaks Yahweh : Ruin spreads from nation to nation,
a vast storm-cloud rises from the ends of the earth.

In that day Yahweh's victims shall cover the earth from one
end to the other, lying unmourned, ungathered, unburied,
dung on the earth's face.

Wail and cry, O shepherds ; lie prostrate in the dust, you
lords of the flocks, for the days are ripe for your slaughter
and you shall fall like choice lambs^ ; there is no refuge left
for the shepherds, no security for the lords of the flocks. Hark,
the cry of the shepherds, the wail of the lords of the flock,
because Yahweh is ruining their pasture, and their quiet meadows
are laid desolate.^ He has forsaken his lair like a lion, because
their land has become a desert through the wasting sword.3

5 I • How Jeremiah fared at the hand of priests and populace
because of his temple address. The address itself is given
in larger detail at Chapter 7. The clumsiness of verses 'i^-d^felt
even in a translation^ shows that the account has been added to at
this point.

xxvi. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim ben Josiah
king of Judah came this message from Yahweh. Thus speaks
Yahweh : Stand in the court of the temple and say to all the
Judeans who enter to worship there all the words which I
command you to say to them, keeping back nothing. Perhaps
they may listen and repent of their bad conduct, and I may
repent of the disaster which on that account I have it in mind
to inflict upon them. Say to them, thus speaks Yahweh : Unless
you listen to Me, to obey My law which I set before you, to
Hsten to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I
patiently sent to you, and to whom you did not listen, I will
make this temple Hke the one at Shiloh, and will make this
city an object of execration to all the nations of the world.

Now the priests and the prophets and all the people heard
Jeremiah saying these things in the temple. So, when he had

^ So with LXX.

^ The last clause in v. 37 is an otiose repetition from v. 38.

3 The last clause is a gloss to explain " the wasting sword."

finished speaking all the words which Yahweh ordered, the
priests, prophets and people^ seized him, crying : You must
die. Why have you prophesied by Yahweh's authority that this
temple shall become like the one at Shiloh and this city an
uninhabited desert ? And all the people thronged round
Jeremiah in the temple. And the magistrates of Judah, hearing
what had happened, came up from the palace to the temple
and took their seats before the new gate of the temple. Then
the priests and prophets said to the magistrates and to all the
people : This man deserves to die, for he has prophesied against
this city as you have clearly heard. But Jeremiah said to the
magistrates and people : Yahweh sent me to prophesy against
this temple and this city the things which you have heard.
Reform then all your conduct and listen to the warning of
Yahweh your God that He may repent of the disaster He has
uttered against you. As for me, I am in your power, do to me
what seems to you just and right. Only recognise that, if you
kill me, you bring innocent blood on yourselves and on this
city and its inhabitants, for Yahweh unquestionably sent me
to deliver these messages in your hearing.

Then the magistrates and people said to the priests and
prophets : This man does not deserve death, for what he has
said to us has been by the authority of Yahweh our God. Some
of the country Sheikhs too stood forward and said to the
popular assembly : In the time of Hezekiah king of Judah
there was a prophet Alicah the Morasthite, and he said to all
Judah : Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth : Zion shall become a
field for ploughing and Jerusalem a heap of ruins, and the
temple-hill a wooded height.^ Did king Hezekiah and all
Judah kill him ; did they not rather fear Yahweh and implore
His pity .? Thereupon Yahweh repented of the calamity He
had denounced against them ; but we are bringing a great
crime on ourselves.

There was another man prophesying by Yahweh's authority,
whose name was Urijah ben Shemaiah of Kirjath Jearim. He
prophesied against this city and this country in the same terms

' Perhaps the " people " should be omitted here. Contrast their attitude
later in rescuing Jeremiah, and compare v. ii especially.

* Compare Mic. 3 : 12.

as Jeremiah. And, when kinjj Jehoiakini^ and his officers
heafd what he said, they planned to kill him, but when Urijah
heard he fled in fear to Egvpt. Then king Jehoiakim sent
Elnathan ben Akbor and some others with him to Egypt.
They brought Urijah out of Egypt to king Jehoiakim, who had
him executed with the sword and his corpse flung into the
burying ground for nameless men. However, Ahikam ben
Shaphan protected Jeremiah and prevented him from being
handed over to the populace for death.

52. Chapters 27 and 28 are greatly debated by students of
'Jeremiah. Not only is chapter 27 much overlaid with
secondary matter, but the text of the LXX differs widely from that
of AIT. Hence some students reject the chapter altogether. Per-
sonally, I regard such a coficlusion as too sceptical. The chapters
seem related as Chapters 7 and 26 are ; the one giving pure
oracle, the other an historical setting. As for chapter 27, probably
the original consisted of verses 2-4 or 2-6 and 12b, while in the
latter part the LXX offers the original text. I have ventured
to bracket the sections omitted by the LXX, and suggest that the
original, thus restored, deserves attention. Cf. Introduction, p. 6.

xxvii. In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah^ ben Josiah,
king of Judah, the following message came from Yahweh to
Jeremiah. Thus spoke Yahweh to me : Make for yourself
thongs and a yoke and lay them on your neck, and send a message^
to the kings of Edom, Aloab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon by the
envoys who have come to Jerusalem for Zedekiah king of Judah,
bidding them say thus to their masters. Thus speaks Yahweh
Tsebaoth, God of Israel : Give this message to your masters.
I made the world and man and beast upon it by My great
power and outstretched arm, and I give it to him to whom it
seems right. And now I have given all these countries into
the power of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, My servant,
even the wild beasts I have delivered over to serve him.

[And all nations shall serve him, his son and his grandson,
till the period fixed for his country arrives when many nations
and powerful kings enslave him in turn.] And the nation and

^ With LXX omit " and his mighty men."

^ So, instead of " Jehoiakim," cf. v. 3.

3 So with LXX ; MT makes Jeremiah send a yoke to e; ch of these kings.

kingdom [which will not serve Nebuchadrezzar, king of
Babylon] which refuses to submit its neck to the yoke of the
king of Babylon, I will punish with sword, famine and
pestilence, oracle of Yahweh, till they are overpowered by him.
As for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your
dreamers, your soothsayers, your augurs, who are telling you
that you shall not serve the king of Babylon, for they prophesy
lies to you, with the result that I shall banish you from your
country and scatter you till you are quite undone. But the
nation which submits to the rule of the king of Babylon and
serves him, I will give security in its country, oracle of Yahweh,
to till the land in quietness.

I spoke to Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the same terms :
Submit to the yoke of the king of Babylon, serve him and his
people, and you shall live. [Why should you and your people
die by sword, famine and pestilence according to the fate
denounced by Yahweh against the nation which refuses to serve
the king of Babylon ?] Do not listen to your prophets who
tell you not to serve the king of Babylon, for they are prophesy-
ing lies. I never sent them, oracle of Yahweh, and, by prophesy-
ing lies in My name, they are only bringing it about that I
must scatter you, and so you and your prophets shall perish.
I spoke also to the priests and all the people. Thus speaks
Yahweh : Do not listen to your prophets when they tell you that
the temple-vessels shall be brought back very soon from Babylon,
for they are prophesying a lie. [Do not listen to them, serve
the king of Babylon and you shall live. Why should this city
become a desolation .?] If they do prophesy and there should
be a message of Yahweh with them, let them plead with
Yahweh [that the rest of the vessels in the temple and palace
and in Jerusalem may not be taken away to Babylon]. For thus
speaks Yahweh about the [pillars and sea and pedestal and the]
other vessels, [remaining in this city] which Nebuchadrezzar,
king of Babylon, did not take when he carried into exile from
Jerusalem Jeconiah [ben Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to Babylon
along with the artisans of Judah and Jerusalem. P'or thus
speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth, God of Israel, about the rest of the
vessels belonging to the temple and palace] they shall be taken
to Babylon [and remain there till I visit you] oracle of Yahweh
[and then I will bring them up and restore them to this place].

^2' Jert-miah and Hananiah.

xxriii. In ilic same year at the beginning of the reign of
Zedekiah, king of Judah — it was the fourth year in the fiftli
month —Hananiah ben Azur, the prophet who came from
Gibeon, said to me in the temple in the presence of the priests
and all the people, thus speaks Yahwch Tsebaoth, God of
Israel : I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon and
within two years I will restore to this place all the temple-
vessels which Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, took away to
Babylon, I will also restore to this place Jeconiah ben
Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the Judean exiles to Babylon,
oracle of Yahweh, for I will break the yoke of the king of
Babylon. But Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the
prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who
were standing in the temple : Amen, may Yahweh do this,
may He confirm your prophecy by restoring hither from
Babylon the temple-vessels and the exiles. Yet listen to this
message which I bring to you and the whole people. The
earlier prophets who preceded you and me prophesied against
many countries and great kingdoms about war, disaster and
pestilence ; but, as for the prophet who foretells peace, when
his message comes true, it will be recognised that he has really
been sent by Yahweh. Then Hananiah took the yoke off
Jeremiah's neck and broke it, saying before all the people :
Thus speaks Yahweh : Within two years I will break in the
same way the yoke of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, from
the necks of all the nations. But the prophet Jeremiah left
the place.

After Hananiah had broken the yoke off Jeremiah's neck, a
message of Yahweh came to Jeremiah. Go and tell Hananiah :
Thus speaks Yahweh : You have broken a wooden yoke, but
I ^will make instead of it an iron yoke. For thus speaks Yahweh
Tsebaoth, God of Israel : I have laid an iron yoke on the necks
of all^ nations, enslaving them to Nebuchadrezzar, king of
Babylon, and they shall serve him, even the wild beasts I have
given him. Jeremiah also said to Hananiah : Listen,
Hananiah. Yahweh never sent you, and you have made this

^ So with LXX; MT ".you must make."
2 With LXX omit " these."

people trust in lies. Therefore thus speaks Yahweh : I am
dismissing you off the face of the land. Within a year you
shall die, ^because you have taught rebellion against Yahweh.^
So Hananiah died in the seventh month of that year.

^4* JerewiaVs letter to the exiles in Babylonia.

Evidently there was considerable unrest among the exiles in
Babylonia. Prophets were stirring up hopes of speedy return and
so bringing about difficulty between the Jews and their rulers •
We may be quite sure that the Babylonian government did not tak^
action against the prophets on the ground of their private morals,
but because their teaching was politically dangerous. Jeremiah's
letter was meant to damp down this fanatical outbreak by his
teaching that return from exile was in no way necessary to a devout
practice of the national faith. The exiles could, in his view, be
good Jews in Babylonia.

The letter has been retouched by the later school of Judaism,
which believed that a return to Jerusalem and the temple was
necessary to the thorough revival of the national faith. It is not
easy, however, to be sure as to what is original.

xxix. The following are the terms of the letter which the
prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the elders^ of the
exiled community, to the priests, prophets and all the people
whom Nebuchadrezzar carried captive from Jerusalem to
Babylon, after the surrender of king Jeconiah and the queen-
mother, the eunuchs and officers, artisans and smiths of Jeru-
salem, by Elasah ben Shaphan and Gemariah ben Hilkiah who
were sent by Zedekiah, king of Judah, to Nebuchadrezzar,
king of Babylon, at Babylon.

Thus speaks Yahweh, God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I
caused to be exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon : Build and
occupy houses ; plant gardens and eat their produce ; marry
wives and beget children ; take wives to your sons and husbands to
your daughters and let them, too, bear children ; multiply there
and decrease not. Work for the good of the country3 to which I
Tiave brought you as exiles ; pray to Yahweh for it, since on its
well-being depends your own. For thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth,
God of Israel : Do not let yourselves be misled by the prophets
and soothsayers among you, and pay no attention to their

^ Omitted by LXX, perhaps rightly.

^ Probably so read with LXX instead of MT " the rest of the elders."

3 So with LXX instead of MT " the city."

dreams, for they are uttering false prophecies in My name ;
I nevfr sent them, oracle of Yaliweli.

Tlius speaks Yahwcli : 'When seventy years are fulfilled for
Babylon, I will visit you and make good My promise to restore
you to this place. ^ I keep in mind the plans I form about you,
oracle of Yahweh, plans of peace and not of disaster, to give
you a future for which you can hope. When you cry to Me,
I will answer }'Ou^ ; when you pray to Me, I will listen ;
when you seek Me, you shall find Me, when you seek Me whole-
heartedly. [You shall find Me, oracle of Yahweh, and I will
turn your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and
countries to which I have scattered you, oracle of Yahweh, and
I will restore you to the place from which I exiled you.p

Because you have said : Yahweh has raised up prophets for
us in Babylon.

[Thus speaks Yahweh about the king who has succeeded
David and about all the inhabitants of this city, your brethren
who have not gone into exile with you.

Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth : I mean to send against them
the sword, famine and pestilence, and to treat them like bad,
uneatable figs, and to pursue them with the sword, famine and
pestilence, and to make them an object of horror to all the
kingdoms of the world, an object of execration and wonder,
scoffing and reviling among all the nations to which I have
scattered them, because they did not listen to My words,
oracle of Yahweh, which I patiently sent them by My servants
the prophets. But they did not listen, oracle of Yahweh.
As for you, exiles, listen to Yahweh's message which I have
sent from Jerusalem to Babylon. ]+

Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth, God of Israel, about Ahab
ben Kolaiah and Zedekiah ben Maaseiah, who prophesy lies

^ Several students count this a later addition, since Jeremiah's chief desire
was to damp down a political agitation which was being fomented in the
name of religion.

^ So with Targum instead of " and go."

3 Evidently later, since it is addressed, not to the Babylonian exiles, but
to the whole exiled Judaism.

4 These verses are absent from LXX, patently break the connection between
V. 15 and V. 21, and, by the phrase " all the nations to which I have scattered
them," betray internally their late origin.

to you in My name : I will deliver them into the power of
Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and he will execute them in
your sight. And all the exiles from Judah shall use their names
as a curse ; Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and Ahab whom
the king of Babylon roasted to death, for they behaved
infamously in Israel, debauching their neighbours' wives and
issuing false prophecies in My name, but without My authority.
But I did not fail to mark it, oracle of Yahweh.

^Shemaiah the Nehelamite sent a letter to Zephaniah ben
Maaseiah the priest as follows : Yahweh appointed you priest
in succession to Jehoiada the priest, that there might be officers
in the temple to restrain and put in irons anyone who plays
the part of a prophet. Why then have you not restrained
Jeremiah of Anathoth from playing the prophet among you ?
Here has he sent us in Babylon a letter to say " There is delay,
build and occupy houses, plant gardens and eat their produce."
And Zephaniah read the letter to Jeremiah. Thereupon a
message of Yahweh came to Jeremiah : Send to the exiles to
say, thus speaks Yahweh about Shemaiah the Nehelamite :
Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you without My com-
mission, making you trust in lies, thus speaks Yahweh : I will
punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants ; none
of his race shall continue among this people, or witness the good
I mean to do to My people, oracle of Yahweh, for he has
taught rebellion against Yahweh. *

55' Chapters 30-31 constitute a distinct section^ which ^ or

■part of which, once formed a separate collection, before

being incorporated into our book of Jeremiah. They have a

common character, so that they might be termed a book of consolation

for Israel. They are of very varied source and date.

{a) XXX. 1-4. A general heading to the book of consolation.

The message from Yahweh which came to Jeremiah. Thus
speaks Yahweh, God of Israel : Write all the messages which
I have addressed to you in a book, for days are coming, oracle

^ There are three variant texts of this passage in existence ; the MT, the
Syriac, the LXX. I have rendered above w^hat seems, from the examination
of the three, to come nearest to the original. One thing seems clear, viz.,
that we are dealing with a private letter from Shemaiah.

of Yahweh, when I will turn the fortunes of My people Israel
and -judah, speaks Yahweh, and will bring them back to the
country which I gave to their fathers that they might possess
it. The following arc the messages which Yahweh uttered
about Israel and Judah.

{b) XXX. 5-n. The heathen are to be destroyed, Israel to be punished.
Evidently written when the entire nation had gone into exile.

Thus speaks Yahweh : We have heard a cry of terror, dismay
and no peace is ours.^ Inquire whether a man may bear a
child ; why then do I see every man with his hands on his loins
like a woman in child-birth, and every face ghastly with pallor ?
It is a day without its equal for greatness and a time of anguish
for Jacob ; but he shall be delivered from it. It is the day,
oracle of Yahweh Tsebaoth, on which I will break^ the yoke
from their neck and burst their bonds, nor shall foreigners
enslave them any more.^ Instead they shall serve Yahweh
their God, and David their king whom I will set over them.
Fear not, Jacob My servant, oracle of Yahweh, have no dread,
O Israel, for I will save you from a distant land, and your race
from the country of their exile ; and Jacob shall return and
rest secure with no one to make him afraid, for I am with you,
oracle of Yahweh, to save you. I will make a final end of all
the nations among which I scattered you, but I will make no
final end of you, though I correct you with justice and cannot
count you wholly innocent.

Thus speaks Yahweh : Your wound was incurable, your hurt
beyond healing. There was no medicine for your sore, you
possessed no healing balm at all. All your friends forgot you,
they would have nothing to do with you. For I struck you
down with an enemy's blow, with such correction as a stranger
uses, because of the greatness of your iniquity and because
your sins were abundant. Why do you cry out because of your
wound .? Your disease is incurable ; I have brought these
things on you because of the greatness of your iniquity and
because your sins were abundant. Therefore all who devour

^ I have added "is ours."
^ Following LXX in the pronouns.

you shall be devoured, and all who torment you shall go into
exile in their turn, those who despoil you shall be themselves
despoiled and all who rob you I will expose to be robbed.
I will bring relief to your hurt and healing to your wound,
because you have been called " the rejected," Zion, for whose
state no man cares. Oracle of Yahweh.

(d) XXX. 18-22 ; xxxi. I. Yahweh will intervene for a people which
has no longer courage to approach Him.

Thus speaks Yahweh : I will restore Jacob's tents and have
mercy on its homes; a town shall be rebuilt on its " tell," and
a palace renewed on its old site. From them shall rise songs
of praise and sounds of laughter ; I will increase instead of
diminishing them, will honour instead of degrading them.
Their children shall be as once they were, their community
stand strong before Me ; and I will punish all their oppressors.
Their leader shall be native-born, their chief one of their own
sons ; and I will bring them into close fellowship with Me,
for who is there whose heart has given him courage to approach
Me .? Oracle of Yahweh. And they shall be My people and
I will be their God.^

At that time, oracle of Yahweh, I will be the God of all the
tribes of Israel and they shall be My people.

(e) xxxi. 2-6. A happy future for Northern Israel.

The nation which survived the sword has found grace in
its desert-exile, Israel ^went to meet its rest.^ To it^ Yahweh
revealed Himself in a distant land, saying, I have loved you
with a love of long date, and have retained toward you My
loving-kindness. I will again settle Israel as a virgin who shall
take her timbrel and go out in merry dance. Again you shall
plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria, and the planters shall
keep the vintage-feast, for a day will come when the vintagers
shall cry : Up and let us away to Zion to Yahweh our God.
(/) xxxi. 7-14. An oracle of the period of Deutero-Isaiah.

Thus speaks Yahweh : Exult over Jacob, rejoice over the
chief of the nations, proclaim with singing this good news :

^ Vv. 23, 24. reappear at xxiil. 19, 20. V. 22 absent from the LXX, is
probably secondary.
^ The text is uncertain.
3 With LXX instead of MT " to me."

" Vahweli has saved His people,^ ihc remnant of Israel." T am
bringing them out of tlie North country, and gathering them
from the ends of the earlli, blind and lame, pregnant woman and
woman in childbirth — none is left out ; a great congregation
they shall return thither. With weeping shall they come and
with prayers ; 1 will lead them by streams of water on a sure
road where they do not stumble, for I am a father to Israel,
and Kphraim is My first-born son. Hear the word of Yahweh,
O nations, announce it among the coastlands afar, declare how
He who once scattered Israel is gathering them and will now
keep them as a shepherd does his fiock. For Yahweh has
ransomed Jacob and will redeem them from a power which is
stronger than their own. They shall come and rejoice on Zion's
height and stream out over the good land Yahweh gives them,
its corn, wine and oil, its sheep and cattle ; and their soul
shall be like a watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more.
Then shall the young girls dance with a light heart, the young
men and the old shall be merry^ ; I will change their grief into
gladness, I will comfort them and give them joy after their
sorrows. I will richly satisfy the soul of the priests and My
people shall be made content with the good I provide. Oracle
of Yahweh.

(g) xxxi. 15-17. On the exile of Benjamin. Mother Rachel, lamenting
the exile of her sons, is assured that exile is not death, but is
remedial.

Thus speaks Yahweh : Hark, in Ramah is heard lamentation
and bitter weeping ; Rachel, weeping over her children, refuses
to be comforted because they are not.

Thus speaks Yahweh : Cease from weeping and dry your
tears, for your weary labour shall find itself rewarded, your
children shall return from the enemy's land ; there is hope in
the end of your day, your children shall return to their own
land. Oracle of Yahweh.

(h) xxxi. 18-20. Yahweh's help is sure in spite of Israel's sense of
moral impotence.

1 heard Ephraim making moan : " Thou didst correct me,
and like an untamed colt I accepted correction ; restore me

^ So with LXX, instead of " save Thy people."

2 With LXX, instead of " together."

that I may be really restored, for Thou art Yahweh, my God.
Now that I grow grey,^ I repent me ; now that I ha-\'e learned
experience, I regret my folly and am heartily ashamed, bearing
the disgrace my early days have brought." " Ephraim is^ my
dear son, my charming child. Whenever I must pronounce
against him, I cannot but recall how he is this. Therefore
My afTections are stirred in his favour and I will surely have
mercy on him." Oracle of Yahweh.

(?) xxxi. 21, 22. Oracle of return from exile ; later than Jeremiah.
Set up signals, place sign-posts [?] for yourself, turn your
mind toward the way along which you have already come,
and return to your towns, O Israel. How long do you mean
to hesitate, O apostate daughter, since Yahweh has brought
about a new thing in the land — a woman shall woo a man .?

(_;) xxxi. 23-25. The future blessedness of Judah ; of uncertain date
and origin.

Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth, God of Israel : When I turn
their fortune, men in Judah and in its towns shall yet use this
expression : " Yahweh bless thee, thou abode of righteousness,
thou holy hill. 3May He bless also the inhabitants of Judah's
towns and all its land, farmer and shepherd alike,3 when I shall
have refreshed the weary and contented the sad."

(i) xxxi. 26. Some reader added a note of longing that such a thing
might be.

Here I awoke and looked, and my sleep charmed me.

(k) xxxi. 27, 28. The new day, possibly meant originally as a
general conclusion.

Days are coming, oracle of Yahweh, when I will sow man

and beast broadcast in Israel and Judah ; and, as I have been

watchful over them to tear up and dash down, to ruin, destroy

and harm, I will be equally watchful to build up and plant.

Oracle of Yahweh.

(/) XXXI. 29, 30. Against discouragement and despair.
In those days men shall cease to say, the fathers ate sour
grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every

^ With a slight emendation.

^ With LXX, which has no Interrogation.

3 Following LXX.

man shall die through his own sin ; if any man eats sour grapes
Ills own teeth shall be set on edge.

(w) xxxi. .>i-^4- ' 'i^' "<^^v covenant.
Days arc coming, oracle of Yahweh, when I will maV.e with
Israel and Judah a new covenant, unlike the covenant I made
with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them
out of Egypt. They broke that covenant of Mine, and so I
rejected them,^ oracle of Yahweh. But this is the covenant
which I will make with Israel in the final time, oracle of Yahweh.
I will set My law within them and write it on their mind and
will be to them a God and they shall be a people to Me. And
no man shall any more instruct friend or brother, bidding him
learn to know Yahweh, for every one of them, great and small
alike, shall know Me, for I will forgive their iniquity and no
longer remember their sin. Oracle of Yahweh.

(«) xxxi. 35-37. Two late oracles in the style of the second Isaiah.

Thus speaks Yahweh, who appoints the sun as a light by day,
the moon and stars as a light by night, who rouses the sea,
making its waves roar. His name is Yahweh Tsebaoth. If
this order of nature can be changed in My presence, the race
of Israel may cease from remaining for ever as a nation in My
presence. Oracle of Yahweh.

Thus speaks Yahweh : If the heavens above may be measured,
or the foundations of the earth beneath may be laid bare, I
too may reject the race of Israel because of what they have
done. Oracle of Yahweh.

(0) xxxi. 38-40. An oracle as to the restoration of Jerusalem ; very
late, of the type of the second Zechariah.

Days are coming, oracle of Yahweh, when Yahweh's city
shall be rebuilt from Hananeel's tower to the corner gate, and
a measuring line shall be stretched straight out to the hill Gareb
and then turn to Goah ; and all the valley of corpses and
altar-ashes and all the fields as far as the ravine of Kidron
to the corner of the horsegate on the East shall be con-
secrated to Yahweh. They shall never again be wasted and
ravaged.

I Following LXX.

^ 6 . ^krough the purchase of a field hi Anathoth during the
zvar with Chaldea, J eremiah foretells the future of Judah.
He has had it in charge to declare that the state is doomed and the
court must go into exile. But the future of religion viay he secure
through the humble folk zvho remain in the land, buying and selling
and living their ordinary lives in the fear of Tahzceh. The
account has been greatly overlaid zcith secondary matter, which
can, however, he removed with tolerable ease.

xxxii. [a] 1-5. -•\n histoiical introduction.

The message which came from Yahweh to Jeremiah in the
tenth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, which was the eighteenth
year of Nebuchadrezzar. At that time the army of the king
of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem and Jeremiah the prophet
was confined in the guarded court of the palace, where Zedekiah,
king of Judah, had caused him to be confined, on the ground
that he had prophesied by the authority of Yahweh to this
effect : I am about to dehver over this city into the power of
the king of Babylon, and he will capture it, and Zedekiah,
king of Judah, shall not escape from the power of the
Chalde?ns, but shall be delivered into the power of the
king of Babylon, and shall meet him face to face and
speak to him mouth to mouth, and shall be taken to Babylon
and remain there till I visit him, oracle of Yahweh, for you
are fighting a hopeless fight against the Chaldeans. So
Jeremiah said.

{b) 6-16. The incident as to Hanameel.

A message from Yahweh came to me in these terms :
Hanameel ben Shallum, your uncle, is coming to you to say :
"Buy my field in Anathoth, for you hold the first right of
purchase as next of kin." Accordingly Hanameel my cousin
did come to see me^ in the guarded court, and did say : " Buy
my field in Anathoth, for you have the right of purchase as
next of kin." Then I recognised that there was a message from
Yahweh involved. So I bought the field from Hanameel my
cousin, weighing out the purchase-money, seventeen shekels of
silver. I also wrote out a deed, sealed it and had it witnessed,
and duly weighed the money in scales. I further took the deed

^ Omit with LXX " according to the word of Vahweh."

of purchase, containing the full stipulations,* the outer copy
andlhe inner, and 1 handed it over to Raruch ben Neriah ben
Maaseiah in the presence of Hanameel my cousin, of the
witnesses who had signed and of all the Jews who happened to
be in the guarded court. In their presence I gave instruction
to Baruch as follows :

Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth, God of Israel : Take this
double deed, the outer and inner, ^nd put it in an earthenware
vessel so that it may last a long time. For thus speaks Yahweh
Tsebaoth, God of Israel : Houses, fields and vineyards shall
continue to be bought in this country.

And, after I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch ben
Neriah, I prayed to Yahweh.

(tr) 17-23. A later expansion of the prayer.

Ah, Yahweh my Lord, Thou hast made heaven and earth
by Thy great power and out-stretched arm ; nothing is too
great for Thee. Thou, the great and sovereign God, whose
name is Yahweh Tsebaoth, showest mercy to thousands and
dost repay the sin of the fathers into the bosom of their children
after them. Great in counsel, mighty in act ! Thine eyes are
quick to note the ways of all mankind, to give to every man
according to his conduct and the outcome of his deeds. Thou
didst perform signal deeds in Egypt and dost continue them to
this day in Israel and among mankind, and so Thou hast made
for Thyself a fame as is seen to-day. Thou didst lead Thy
people Israel out of Egypt by signal deeds, by great power and
an outstretched arm, spreading terror. Thou didst give them
this land, flowing with milk and honey, which Thou hadst
sworn to give to their fathers ; and they, entering, took posses-
sion, but did not listen to Thy voice nor obey Thy law, nor
act according to Thy orders ; and so Thou hast brought upon
them all this disaster.

{d) 24-27. Jeremiah's prayer.

Ah, Yahweh, my Lord,^ siege works are close to the city
for its capture, and through sword, famine and pestilence the

^ The exact meaning is uncertain. Probably the words are technical
phrases as to cash transactions ; and the above represents the general sense.

^ Which was made the heading of the expansion at v. 17.

city Is as good as given into the power of the Chaldeans who
attack it. What Thou hast announced is being fulBUed, and
Thou seest it clearly. Yet Thou hast said : Buy a field with
money and take witnesses, when the city is as good as delivered
into the power of the Chaldeans. Then a message of Yahweh
came to me^ : I am Yahweh, God of all living, is anything too
wonderful for Me ,?

((?) 28-41. A long, somewhat irrelevant expansion.

Therefore thus speaks Yahweh : I am about to deliver this
city into the power of the Chaldeans and of Nebuchadrezzar,
king of Babylon, and he shall capture it, and the Chaldeans
who are attacking this city shall enter and set it on fire, burning
it and the houses, on the roofs of which sacrifices were offered
to Baal and libations poured out to strange gods to My provo-
cation. For Israel and Judah have been doing nothing but
evil in My presence since their earliest years, Israel has done
nothing but provoke Me by its conduct, oracle of Yahweh.
Since the time when it was built this city has existed to rouse
My anger and rage till I should finally blot it out of My sight
because of the wickedness of Israel and Judah, who, kings,
courtiers, priests, prophets, countrymen and townspeople
alike have provoked Me. They turned their backs on Me,
instead of their faces toward Me ; though I. taught them
diligently, no man gave heed to learn the lesson. They set
up their idols in the temple which is My pecuHar property,
defihng it. They built high places of Baal in the valley of
Ben Hinnom, to sacrifice their children to Moloch ; to commit
such an abomination and make Judah guilty of such a crime
was a matter which I never ordered and which never came into
My mind.

Now, therefore, thus speaks Yahweh, God of Israel, about
this city of which you are saying that it is delivered into the
power of the king of Babylon by sword, famine and pestilence.
I will gather them out of all the countries to which in My hot
and fierce anger I scattered them, and, bringing them back to
this place, I will settle them there in security and they shall
be My people and I will be their God. And I will unite them

I With LXX instead of " to Jeremiah."

outwardly and inwardly in the fear of Me for their own profit
and tlrat of their children after them, and I will make with them
an enduring covenant according to which I will never cease
to do tliem good and I will impress the fear of Me in their
minds so that they never again shall depart from Me. I will
rejoice to do them good and settle them securely in this country
with My entire good-will.

(/) 42-44. Vahweh's answer to Jeremiah's prayer.

Thus speaks Yahweh : As I have brought on this people all
this grave disaster, so I will bring upon them all the good I am
uttering in their favour. Fields shall be bought in this country
about which you are saying that it is a waste without man or
beast, delivered into the power of the Chaldeans. Fields
shall be bought for money, deeds shall be written, sealed and
witnessed in the Benjamin territory, the environs of Jerusalem
and the towns of Judah, of the hill-country, of the low country
and of the Negeb, for I will turn their fortune. Oracle of
Yahweh.

57* -^ collection oj late -prophecies as to restoration. They all
centre round Jerusalem and three oj them are specially
concerned with the Davidic dynasty and the sacrificial worship.
Probably the collection was formed in Jerusalem.

{a) xxxiii. 1-9. A promise of restoration and a happy future to
Jerusalem.

Again a message from Yahweh came to Jeremiah when he
was still shut up in the guarded court. Thus speaks Yahweh,
who made the world^ and fashioned it so as to render it secure,
His name is Yahweh. Call upon Me and in reply I wdll
announce to you great and difficult matters which are unknown
to you. For thus speaks Yahweh, God of Israel, about the
houses of this city and the palaces which are torn down . . .^
to fill them with the carcases of men whom I slew in My fierce
anger, and on account of whose wickedness I hid My face from
this city. I will heal its wound and cure it, and will reveal to

I With LXX.

^ The text here is hopeless.

it treasures of peace and security ; and I will turn the fortune
of Judah and Israel, and build them up as in the past. I will
also make them clean from all their sin against Me, and forgive
all their transgressions which they have committed against Me.
Jerusalem shall become My delight and My glorious crown
before all the nations of the world who learn of the blessing
I bring to it, and who shall tremble with awe over the blessed
security I procure to it.

(^) xxxiil. 10-13. Two promises of happiness and security ; they may
spring from the community left in desolate Judah after the exile.

Thus speaks Yahweh ; In this place which you are calling
a waste without man or beast, even in Judah's towns and
Jerusalem's streets which are lying waste without human
inhabitant and without beast, there shall yet be heard the sound
of joy and gladness, the voice of bridegroom and bride, the
chant of those who say: "Praise ye Yahweh Tsebaoth, for He
is good, for His mercy endures for ever," and who bring a
thankoffering to the temple, for I will restore the land to its
old condition : Yahweh has spoken.

Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth : In this place now a desert,
without man or beast, and in its towns there shall yet be folds
for shepherds in charge of flocks ; in the towns of the hill-
country and of the low country and of the Negeb, in Benjamin,
in the environs of Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah the flocks
shall be beyond counting ; Yahweh has spoken.

Days are coming, oracle of Yahweh, when I will fulfil the
gracious message which I uttered about Israel and Judah. In
those days and at that time I will cause to spring from David a
shoot of righteousness who shall maintain religion and right in
the country. In those days Judah shall be saved and Jerusalem
shall rest in security, bearing the name " Yahweh is our
righteousness." For thus speaks Yahweh : David shall never
be without a descendant on the throne of Israel, and the
Levitical priests shall never be witJiout someone to serve Me,
continually bringing burnt-offering, burning meal-offering,
and offering sacrifice.

(</) xxxiii. 19-22. Another prophecy as to the house of Davul and
— ■ the priesthood.

A message came from Yahweh to Jeremiah. Thus speaks
Yahvveh : If My covenant as to day and night can be annulled
so that day and night no longer return in their due order, then
may be annulled My covenant with David My servant so that
he no longer should have a son ruling on his throne, as also My
covenant with the Levitical priests who serve Me. I will
increase the descendants of David My servant, and the Levites
who serve Me, till they are as numberless as the starry host or
the sea-sand.

(e) xxxiii. 23-26. A variant prophecy of the same type, but confined
to the nation and the Davidic house.

A message came from Yahweh to Jeremiah : Have you not
remarked how this people has said : " Yahweh has rejected the
two families which He chose " ? So these men are rejecting
My people as being in their estimation no longer a nation.
Thus speaks Yahweh : If I did not appoint day and night nor
set the bounds of heaven and earth, I will reject the race of
Jacob and David My servant by not taking from his descendants
rulers over the race of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But I will*
turn their fortune and will have mercy on them.

5 o . Jeremiah urges surrender on Zedekiah.

xxxiv. 1-7. The message which came from Yahweh to Jeremiah
when Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, with his army and
all the kingdoms of the world under his authority and all the
nations, was attacking Jerusalem and its towns. Thus speaks
Yahweh, God of Israel : Go and say to Zedekiah, king of
Judah, thus speaks Yahweh : I will deliver this city into the
power of the king of Babylon and he shall burn it. Nor shall
you escape from his power, but you shall be seized and delivered
over to him, and, after seeing him face to face and speaking
to him mouth to mouth, you shall be brought to Babylon.

Yet listen to the message of Yahweh : O Zedekiah, king
of Judah, thus speaks Yahweh about you : You need not die
by the sword. You may die in peace ; and, as men burned
spices in honour of your fathers, the kings who preceded you,
so they may burn in honour of you, and may mourn for you,

crying, " Alas for his Majesty," for I have pronounced sentence.
Oracle of Yahweh.

So Jeremiah the prophet spoke these things to Zedekiah,
king of Judah in Jerusalem. Now the army of the king of
Babylon was attacking Jerusalem, Lachish and Azekali, for these
were the only fortified towns left untaken in Judah.

^ 9 . Cf. the Introduction page 7.

xxxiv. 8-22. The message which came from Yahweh to
Jeremiah, after king Zedekiah made a solemn agreement with
the people of Jerusalem to proclaim a general liberation of
slaves, to the effect that every one should free his male and
female slaves, if these were of Hebrew birth, and thus no Jew
should hold his brother Jew in slavery. The leaders and the
whole people, after solemnly agreeing to free their slaves and
thus put an end to slavery, gave effect to it by setting them free.
But they changed their minds afterwards, and took back the
men and women they had freed, forcing them to become slaves
again. Thereupon a message from Yahweh came to Jeremiah :
Thus speaks Yahweh, God of Israel : When I brought your
fathers out of Egypt, that land of slavery, I made a covenant
with them in these terms : at the end of seven years you must
discharge any fellow Hebrew who may have sold himself to
you ; after his service of six years, you must discharge him.
But your fathers did not listen to Me, nor pay any attention at
all. You, however, have acted better and done an upright
thing in My sight by proclaiming a general release and making
a solemn agreement in My presence in the temple which is
My peculiar property. But after that you changed your
minds and dishonoured My name by re-enslaving the men and
women whom you had set free and by forcing them again to
become slaves.

Therefore, thus speaks Yahweh : You have not listened to
Me in the general release you have proclaimed. I proclaim
to you a general release to new masters,^ sword, famine and
pestilence, oracle of Yahweh. And I will make you an object
of horror to all the kingdoms of the world. And, as for the

^ I have added "new masters" in order to bring out the sense.

men who break My covenant by not maintaining the terms of
the solemn agreement which they made in My presence, the
leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests and all
the people of the land, who passed between the pieces of the
calf^ I will deliver them into the power of their enemies
who seek their life, and their carcases shall be food for the birds
and beasts of prey. Zedekiah, too, the king of Judah, and his
courtiers, I will deliver into the power of their enemies who seek
their life, even the army of the king of Babylon, which has
retired from the attack. I am giving order, oracle of Yahweh,
and I will bring these back against this city, and they shall
attack and capture and burn it down, and I v^dll make the
towns of Judah an uninhabited waste.

60. The Rechabites were a Jewish sect which rejected all the
settled, agricultural and village life oj Palestine in favour
of the nomadic existence. From their faithfulness to their
narrower ideal 'Jeremiah 'points the moral to the faithlessness
of Israel.

XXXV. The message which came from Yahweh to Jeremiah
during the reign of Jehoiakim ben Josiah.

Go to the Rechabites and bid them come to the temple
into one of the side-rooms and offer them wine. So I took
Jaazaniah ben Jeremiah ben Habaziniah, his brothers and sons,
and all the Rechabites, and brought them into the temple
into a side-room belonging to the sons^ of Hanan ben Igdaliah,
a man of God, which is close to the side-room of the chiefs
and above the side-room of Maaseiah ben Shallum, threshold-
keeper. I also set before the Rechabites a jar of wine with
cups and bade them drink. But they answered : We never
drink wine, for Jonadab ben Rechab, our founder, forbade us
and our children ever to drink wine or build houses or plant
crops or own vineyards, ordering us to live in tents all our lives

^ " The calf which they cut in pieces and then passed between the pieces."
Evidently a marginal note, giving the ritual which was followed in such
agreements. It came into the wrong place in the Hebrew text.

^ Something is wrong here. We ought to have instead of " sons of
Hanan," a single proper name, since the person referred to is called a " Alan
of God."

in order to live long on the earth in which we are mere passing
guests. So we have obej^ed the command of Jonadab ben
Rechab, our founder, in all his orders. As a result, we, our
wives and our children never drink wine,- nor do we build houses
to live in, nor own vineyards, arable land or crop. We have
always lived in tents, carrying out the orders of Jonadab our
founder. But, when Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon,
invaded the country, we decided that we must go to Jerusalem
in order to avoid the army of the Chaldeans and that of Aram ;
hence we came to live in Jerusalem,

Then a message from Yahweh came to Jeremiah : Thus
speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth, God of Israel ; Go and say to the men
of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem, will you not take a reproof
as to how you should listen to My words ? Oracle of Yahweh.
The commands of Jonadab ben Rechab, forbidding his followers
to drink wine, have been observed, and in deference to the
orders of their founder the men have continually refused to
drink wine. But I gave you patient instruction, and you did
not listen. I was diligent in sending you My servants the
prophets, with the command that every man should repent of
his evil conduct and reform and refrain from following other
gods to serve them, and so should they live in the land which
I gave to them and their fathers. But you paid no attention
and refused to listen to Me. Now, since the followers of
Jonadab ben Rechab have maintained the rule of their founder,
while this people has refused to listen to Me, thus speaks
Yahweh, God of Tsebaoth, God of Israel : I will bring on Judah
and on all the citizens of Jerusalem all the disaster of which I
warned them, for I warned them, but they did not listen ; I
summoned them, but they did not respond. Also Jeremiah
said to the Rechabites : Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth, God of
Israel : Because you have listened to the command of Jonadab
your founder and have carefully carried out all his instructions,
while the world lasts, Jonadab ben Rechab shall not be without
a man to serve Me.

O I . J ehoiakim burns J eremiah^ s roll.

xxxvi. In the fourth year of Jchoiakim ben Josiah, king of
Judah, the following message from Yahweh came to Jeremiah ;

Take a scroll and write on it all the messages which I have
uttered to you about Israel, Judaii and all the nations from the
time when I began to speak to you in the life-time of Josiah
down to the present day. Perhaps Judah may listen to the
utter disaster which I have it in mind to bring upon them, and
may repent of their evil conduct, so that I may forgive their
sin and transgression. So Jeremiah summoned Baruch ben
Neriah, and Baruch wrote in a scroll at Jeremiah's dictation
all Yahweh's messages to him. Then Jeremiah gave Baruch
directions : I am prevented from going into the temple ; but
you shall go and, out of the scroll which you have written at
my dictation, you shall read Yahweh's messages on a fast-day
in the temple in the presence of the people as well as of all
Judah who come up from their towns. Perhaps their prayer
may thus become acceptable to Yahweh, and they may repent
of their evil conduct, for the indignant anger of Yahweh, with
which He threatens this people, has become fierce. So Baruch
obeyed the orders of Jeremiah the prophet by reading Yahweh's
messages out of the book in the temple.

In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim ben Josiah,
king of Judah, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people
who came from the Judean towns proclaimed a fast before
Yahweh. And Baruch, in the hearing of all the people, read
out of the book Jeremiah's messages in the side-room of Gemariah
ben Shaphan, the Secretary, in the upper court at the new
temple gate. When Micaiah ben Gemariah ben Shaphan
heard the messages of Yahweh out of the book, he went down-
to the palace into the Secretary's room, where a meeting v/as
being held of the officials, Elishama the Secretary, Delaiah ben
Shemaiah, Elnathan ben Akbor, Gemariah ben Shaphan and
Zedekiah ben Hananiah, in fact, all the officials. To them
Micaiah reported what he had heard, when Baruch read from
the book in the hearing of the people. Thereupon the officials
sent to Baruch Jehudi ben Nethaniah ben Shelemiah ben Cushi
to say : " Bring here the scroll which you have been reading
aloud in public " ; and Baruch brought it to them. And they
said : " Read it aloud again^ to us." So Baruch read it aloud
to them. When they heard the messages, they turned in

^ So with LXX instead of " sit down."

surprise to each other, and said^ : " We must report all this to
the king." Then they questioned Baruch : " Tell us how you
came to write these things. Was it at his dictation ? " And
Baruch answered : " It was. He went on dictating these
matters and I faithfully^ wrote in the scroll." The officials
said to Baruch : " Go and hide like Jeremiah, and let no one
know where you both are." Then they went to the king in
his own apartment, leaving the scroll behind in the room of
Elishama the Secretary, and reported the whole circumstances
to the king.

The king sent Jehudi the Secretary to bring the scroll, and
he, bringing it out of the room of Elishama the Secretary, read
it aloud to the king and to the officials who were standing
beside him. Now the king was sitting in his winter-room — it
happened to be the ninth month — with a brazier burning in
front of him. When Jehudi had read three or four pages, the
king slashed them with a penknife and tossed them into the
fire in the brazier, until the entire scroll was finished. The king
and his servants, on hearing the messages, had no fear and did
not tear their garments. Indeed, though Elnathan, Delaiah
and Gem ariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he did not
listen to them, but gave order that Jerahmeel of the blood
royal, Seraiah ben Azriel and Shelemiah ben Abdeel should
arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. However,
Yahweh hid them.

After the king had burned the scroll containing the messages
"written by Baruch at Jeremiah's dictation, a message from
Yahweh came to Jeremiah. Take another scroll, and write on
it everything contained in the first scroll which Jehoiakim, king
of Judah burned. Then say to king Jehoiakim, thus speaks
Yahweh : You have burned this scroll, saying : Why did you
write in it that the king of Babylon should come and ruin
this country, destroying out of it man and beast .? Therefore
thus speaks Yahweh against Jehoiakim, king of Judah : He
shall not have a descendant occupying the throne of David,
and his carcase shaU be exposed to the heat by day and the frost

' With LXX omit " to Baruch." The officials were talking the matter
over among themselves.

2 With a slight emendation of the MT.

by night. I will punish him and his race and his servants for
their iniquitv, bringing on them and on the citizens of Jerusalem
and the men of Judali tlic entire disaster whicli I denounced
against them witliout rousing their attention. So Baruch^
took another scroll and wrote on it l(^ Jeremiah's dictation all
the contents of the book which Jehoiakim, king of Judah, had
burned ; there were also added many passages of a similar
character.

0 2. Jeremiah declares that the retreat oj the Chaldean besiegers
at the approach of an Egyptian army will afford a mere
temporary relief ; cf. chapter xxxiv.

xxxvii. i-io. Zedekiah ben Josiah came to the throne
instead of Coniah ben Jehoiakim ; Nebuchadrezzar, king of
Babylon, appointed him king over the country of Judah.
He and his courtiers and the people of the country paid no
attention to Yahweh's messages delivered through Jeremiah
the prophet.

King Zedekiah, however, sent Jehukal ben Shelemiah and
Zephaniah ben Maaseiah the priest to Jeremiah the prophet,
with the request, Pray for us to Yahweh our God. Now Jeremiah
was going and coming freely among the people ; he was not
yet put in prison. Pharaoh's army had advanced from Egypt,
and, when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard
about this, they raised the siege of Jerusalem.

A message of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet : Thus
speaks Yahweh, God of Israel : Take this message to the king
of Judah, who sent you to consult Me. Pharaoh's army which
advanced to help you has retreated to Egypt, and the Chaldeans
shall resume their attack on this city, and, after capturing it,
shall burn it. Thus speaks Yahweh : Do not cheat yourselves
by the persuasion that the Chaldeans will leave you entirely,
for they shall not. Even if you had defeated the entire Chaldean
army which is in the field against you, and there were left
merely wounded men, scattered in their tents, they should rise
and burn down this city.

^ With LXX instead of " Jeremiah," etc.

6 '^. The prophet is arrested and thrown into prison on a charge
of desertion to the enemy.

xxxvii. 1 1 -2 1. When the Chaldean army raised the siege of
Jerusalem at the approach of Pharaoh's army, Jeremiah left the
city to go into Benjamin in order to . . .^ thence among his
kindred. When he reached the Benjamin gate, a guard posted
there, whose name was Irijah ben Shelemiah ben Hananiah,
arrested Jeremiah the prophet, saying : " You are deserting
to the Chaldeans." Jeremiah replied : " It is false, I am not
deserting to the Chaldeans " ; but Irijah refused to listen,
and, having arrested him, brought him to the officials. The
officials in high indignation had Jeremiah beaten, and put him
into the house of Jonathan the Secretary, which had been
made into a prison. So Jeremiah was confined in an under-
ground cell, where he remained for a considerable time.

King Zedekiah sent and had him brought secretly into the
palace, where he questioned him as to whether he had any
message from Yahweh. Jeremiah replied ; " I have ; you shall
be delivered into the power of the king of Babylon." He
also said to the king : " What wrong have I done to you or
your courtiers or this people that you have put me in prison ?
And where have you put your prophets who prophesied that
the king of Babylon should never attack you and this country ?
Now, your majesty, listen and consider my petition favourably.
Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the Secretary,
or I shall die there." So king Zedekiah gave orders that
Jeremiah should be confined in the guarded court and be
supplied with a daily loaf from the bakers' bazaar till the bread
supply of the city was exhausted. Accordingly Jeremiah
remained in the guarded court.

6 4' Jeremiah, at the instigation of some of the courtiers, is
flung into a cistern, but is rescued by Ebed-melech.

xxxviii. i-28a. Shephatiah ben Mattan, Gedaliah ben Pashhur,
Jukal ben Shelemiah and Pashhur ben Malchiah heard the
terms in which Jeremiah was in the habit of addressing the
people ; such as. Thus speaks Yahweh : The man who remains

^ The word is a conundrum. •

in this city shall die by sword, famine or pestilence, hut he who
surrenders to the Chaldeans shall at least survive and have his
life as his share of booty ; or again : Thus speaks Yahweh :
This city shall be delivered into the power of the army of the
king of Babylon and captured. So they said to the king :
This person should be killed, for he is damping down the courage
of the garrison left in the city, — indeed of the whole population,
by talking to them in this way. This fellow is not seeking the
good of this people, but its ruin. King Zedekiah replied : " He
is in vour power," for the king was wholly unable to resist
them.^ Accordingly they took Jeremiah and flung him into
a cistern [belonging to Malchiah of the blood royal^] in the
guarded court, letting him down by ropes ; the cistern was dry
except for mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

Now Ebed-melech the Cushite,^ a eunuch, heard that Jeremiah
was put into the cistern — he was on duty at the palace.
Since the king was acting as judge at the Benjamin gate, Ebed-
melech went out of the palace and said to the king : Your
majesty, these men have acted abominably toward the prophet
Jeremiah by throwing him into a cistern, and he will die on the
spot from famine, for there is no bread left in the city. Then
the king gave orders to Ebed-raelech : Take with you from here
three3 men and draw him up out of the cistern before he dies.
So Ebed-melech took the men and went into the palace to a
wardrobe,'^ and, taking out of it worn and old clothes, he lowered
them by ropes into the cistern where Jeremiah was. Ebed-
melech bade Jeremiah put the old and worn clothes between his
armpits and the ropes, which Jeremiah did. Whereupon they
drew him up by the ropes clear of the cistern, and Jeremiah
remained in the guarded court.

King Zedekiah sent and summoned the prophet Jeremiah to
his presence at the entry of the bodyguard^ in the temple,

^ So with LXX ; MT reading " you " makes the sentence part of Zedekiah's
reply.

^ Perhaps the phrase bracketed at v. 6 should be transferred to v. 7, and it
was Ebed-melech, not the cistern, who belonged to Malchiah.

3 So with LXX instead of the unnecessarily large number of thirty in MT.

■* Emended text.

5 The most likely interpretation of an uncertain phrase cf. 2 Sam. xxiii. 8.

and the king said : I have a question to put to you ; conceal
nothing from me. Jeremiah repHed : When I answer, will you
not kill me ? Whenever I give you advice, you never listen to
me. So king Zedekiah swore an oath secretly to Jeremiah :
By the life of Yahweh who made us living men, I will not have
you killed, nor hand you over into the power of these men.^
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah : Thus speaks Yahweh, God
of Tsebaoth, God of Israel : If you surrender to the officers of
the king of Babylon, your life shall be safe, this city shall not
be burned, and not you alone, but your household shall save
your lives. But if you do not surrender, this city will be
delivered into the power of the Chaldeans and burned, and
you yourself shall not escape them. King Zedekiah replied :
I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans,
lest they2 deliver me into their^ power and they insult me. But
Jeremiah said : They shall not deliver you. Listen to Yahweh's
voice in the matter about which I am speaking, so shall you be
safe and save your life. If, however, you refuse to surrender,
this is what Yahweh has revealed to me. I saw in a vision
all the women left in the royal harem being led before the officers
of the king of Babylon, and they were repeating : " Thy
intimate friends have deceived and overcome thee, have plunged
thy feet in the mire and forsaken thee." All your wives and
sons shall be surrendered to the Chaldeans and you yourself
shall not escape their power ; you shall be seized by the power
of the king of Babylon and this city shall be burned. 3

Then said Zedekiah to Jeremiah : Let no one know anything
about this matter, if you wish to escape death. Should the
officials learn that I have talked to you, and should they come
and bid you tell them without concealment both what you
said to me and what I said to you, with a promise that thus
you shall escape death, you must answer them : I was presenting
a petition to the king not to put me back into Jonathan's house

^ Omit with LXX the following phrase.

^ Perhaps " they " means the Chaldeans and " their " the Jews. As,
however, I cannot feel sure, I have preferred clumsy English to dogmatic
translation.

3 The probable sense of this obscure passage is that v. 22 is a dirge over
the Kingdom, which is addressed as " thou." Then v. 23 is a prose attempt,
and not a very happy one, to explain the poem.

to die there. The officials did come and question Jeremiah,
and he told them what the king had bid him say ; so they
let him alone, for the interview had not been overheard. And
Jeremiah lived in the guarded court until Jerusalem was
captured.

6 5 . All account of what befell Jeremiah immediately after
the capture of Jerusalem. It is prefaced in the MT, but
not in LXX, by a statement abridged from chapter Hi. 4-10.

xxxviii. 28^-xxxix. 14. When Jerusalem was captured [in the
tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign over Judah,
Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, advanced with all his army
against Jerusalem and besieged it ; on the ninth day of the
fourth month of the eleventh year of his reign a breach was
made in the walls] the officers of the king of Babylon entered
and took up their post at the middle gate, viz., Nebo Shazban
the Rabsaris, Nergal Sarezer the Rabmag,^ and the other officers
of the king of Babylon.

Now, when Zedekiah, king of Judah, and the garrison saw
them, they escaped and left the city during the night by the
royal garden through the gate between the two walls, making
in the direction of the Arabah. But the Chaldean army
pursued and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and
having seized him, they brought him to Nebuchadrezzar, king
of Babylon, at Riblah in the land of Hamath, who pronounced
sentence on him. The king of Babylon had Zedekiah's sons
executed at Riblah in their father's presence ; he also executed
the nobles of Judah. He further blinded Zedekiah, and caused
him to be put in brazen chains in order to be brought to
Babylon. The Chaldeans also burned the palace and the
houses^ of the people, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, led away into exile
in Babylon the common people left in the city, those who had

^ There has been some confusion in the Hebrew text in connection with
these foreign names. Probably we have to do with only two high officials
named again in v. 13. Their titles " rabsaris " and " rabmag " I have thought
it wiser to leave untranslated.

^ MT reads " the house." Perhaps the original was " the house of
Yahweh," i.e., the temple. Certainly " the houses of the people " is a
curious expression.

9«

deserted to him and the rest of the people who were left.^
He left behind, however, in Judah some of the humble people
who had no property, and at that time allotted to them vineyards
and fields.

Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, issued the following
orders about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, captain of the
bodyguard : Pay particular attention to him that he come to
no harm ; treat him as he himself shall desire. So Nebuzaradan,
captain of the bodyguard, Nebo Shazban Rabsaris, Nergal
Sarezer Rabmag and all the leading officers of the king of
Babylon sent and took Jeremiah out of the guarded court and
handed him over to Gedaliah ben Ahikam ben Shaphan to be
removed to his house ; and he lived among the people.

66. Jeremiads prophecy about Ebed-nielech. As it was
uttered before the capture of the city, it is patently out of

place here and is really a supplement to chapter xxxviii. above.

xxxix. 15-18. When Jeremiah was confined in the guarded
court, a message of Yahweh came to him : Go and say to Ebed-
melech the Cushite : thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth, God of
Israel : I am about to fulfil My sentence against this city, not
for good, but for evil, and it will be fulfilled at this time in
your sight. But I will deliver you in that day, oracle of Yahweh,
and you shall not be delivered into the power of the men of
whom you are afraid, for I will cause you to escape and you
shall not fall by the sword, but shall have your life as your share
in the booty, because you have put your trust in Me. Oracle
of Yahweh.

67. Chapters xl.-xliv. seem to form a little collection which
relate the fortunes of the community in Judah after the

departure of the exiles to Babylon. The collector was interested
in the fate of Jeremiah ; but the person of the prophet falls rather
into the background compared with the fate of the community .
When the section was added to our book it was fitted with a heading
which is not very appropriate to the cont^its.

^ I have translated literally, but it is evident that there is something wrong-
Either the last clause is a mere mistaken repetition, or the second " people
who are left " refers to the country people as contrasted with the city
population, or there is a deeper confusion in the text.

(a) xl. I. The title.
TTie message which came from Yaliwch to Jeremiah after
Ncbuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, dismissed him from
Ramali, when lie was found in cliains among the exiles of Jeru-
salem and Judah who were on their way to Babylon.

(/») xl. 2-6. Another account of Jeremiah being committed to the
care of Gedaliah. It is parallel to xxxix. 11-14, from which it is
separated by the intruded oracle about Ehed-inelcch. It has also,
in certain respects, a more authentic note than the parallel.

The captain of the bodyguard laid hold of Jeremiah and
said : Yahweh your God pronounced the doom we have
witnessed on this place, and Yahweh has brought about the
thing He uttered because you sinned against Him and did not
listen to His voice. ^ So now I set you free from your chains.
If you wish to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will take
special care of you ; if, however, you prefer not to come with
me, refrain. See, the whole country is open to you, go wherever
you wish to go. . . .^ Go back to Gedaliah ben Ahikam ben
Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the
towns of Judah, and live with him among the people, or go
wherever you may prefer. And the captain of the bodyguard
supplied him with rations and dismissed him. So Jeremiah
came to Gedaliah at Mizpah and lived with him among the
people who were left in the country.

(f) xl. 7-12. Gedaliah attempts to restore Girder as representative
of Babylon.

Now, when the captaijis of the bands roving in the fields,
they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had
appointed Gedaliah ben Ahikam governor of the country,
committing to his charge men, women and children belonging
to the poorer people who had not been taken away as exiles
to Babylon, Ishmael ben Nethaniah, Johanan^ ben Kareah,
Seraiah ben Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite
and Jezaniah son of the Maachathite, with their men came to

^ With LXX omit the last clause.

^ The first clause of v. 5 is hopelessly corrupt. Possibly the original
contained a refusal to allow Jeremiah to settle in Jerusalem.

3 With LXX omit " and Jonathan."

Gedaliah at Mizpah. And Gedaliah, pledging himself by an
oath, said to them and their men : Have no fear of the Chaldean
officials/ settle in the country and be loyal to the king of
Babylon, and everything will go w^ell. As for me, I am settled
in A4izpah, responsible to the Chaldeans who may come to us,
but, as for you, gather in your harvest of wine, fruit and oil,
store it, and live in the towns you may choose to occupy.
Thereupon the Jews also who were in Moab and among the
Ammonites, in Edom and in all the surrounding countries,
when they learned that the king of Babylon had left a remnant
in Judah and had appointed as governor over them Gedaliah
ben Ahikam ben Shaphan, returned also from all the places to
which they had been scattered and came to Gedaliah at Mizpah
and gathered a good harvest of wine and fruit.

(d) xl. 13-xli. 18. Ishmael assassinates Gedaliah.

Johanan ben Kareah and all the captains of the field-bands
came to Gedaliah at Mizpah and said to him : Are you not
aware that Baalis, king of Ammon, has sent Ishmael ben
Nethaniah to murder you ,? But Gedaliah did not believe
them. Johanan ben Kareah also spoke privately to Gedaliah
at Mizpah, saying : Let me go and murder Ishmael without;
letting it be known. Why should he murder you } That
would result in Judah, which has come together round you,
being scattered, and in the ruin of the remnant of Judah. But
Gedaliah said to Johanan : You must not do this. What you
say about Ishmael is untrue.

In the seventh month Ishmael ben Nethaniah ben Elishama
of the blood-royal,^ accompanied by ten men, came to Gedaliah
at Mizpah, and they shared a common meal. But Ishmael with
his ten companions rose and murdered Gedaliah, whom the king
of Babylon had appointed governor over the country as well as
all the Jews who were with him at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans
who happened to be there. Ishmael murdered all the fighting
men. Next day, while the murder of Gedaliah was still unknown,
there arrived eighty men from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria,
with their beards shaved, their clothes rent and cuttings in

1 So with LXX.

2 With LXX omit " and the royal officers."

tlicir flesh, carrying olfcring and incense for llic temple. And
IshnTiiel went out to meet them,^ weeping as he went/ and, wlien
he met tliem, he said : Come to GedaHali. But, when they
were well within the town, Ishmael butchered them and flung
them into a cistern. ^ However, ten men who liappened to be
with the rest said to Ishmael : Do not kill us, for we have in the
fields hidden stores of wlieat and barley, oil and honey. So he
held his hand and did not kill them with their friends. The
cistern into which Ishmael flung the carcases of the men he
murdered was a large one^ which king Asa made on account of
Haasha, king of Israel ; Ishmael filled it with the dead. And
Ishmael carried off as prisoners all the survivors in Mizpah, and
the royal princesses, whom'^ Nebuzaradan, captain of the body-
guard, had committed to the care of Gedaliah, and rising early,
Ishmael started to cross to the Ammonites.

Now when Johanan ben Kareah, and the captains of bands
heard of all the crime committed by Ishmael, they led out their
men to fight against him and overtook him at the great pool at
Gibeon. And the people with Ishmael were greatly relieved
when they saw Johanan and the captains of bands with him ;
so the people whom Ishmael had taken prisoners from Mizpah
went over to Johanan. But Ishmael escaped with eight men
from Johanan, and made his way to the Ammonites, while
Johanan and the captains of bands gathered the survivors,
rescued from Ishmael after his murder of Gedaliah, men^
women and children and eunuchs whom he brought back from
Gibeon. And they went and halted at Geruth Chimham, near
Bethlehem, intending to proceed to Egypt, through fear of the
Chaldeans, for they were terrified because Ishmael had murdered
Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor
of the country.

^ The sentence may also mean, especially with LXX reading, " as he
came weeping along the way."

^ With the LXX omit the last clause.

3 So with LXX instead of " by the hand of GedaHah."

'^ With LXX omit a clause which merely repeats the preceding.

5 Omit " fighting men," a mistaken gloss. Ishmael killed the fighting men.
The whole sentence is clumsily overladen.

(r) xlil. The people in their dismay and confusion consult Jeremiah.

The captains of bands, Johanan ben Kareah and ^Azariah ben
Maaseiah/ and all the people, great and small alike, approached
Jeremiah the prophet and said : Receive this our petition
favourably — prav to Yahweh your God on behalf of these
survivors, for we are left few instead of many as you can see ;
and let Yahweh your God show us the way we should go and
the thing we should do. And Jeremiah the prophet answered :
Very good, I will pray to Yahweh your God as you ask, and
whatever answer Yahweh gives I will let you know without
concealing anything. They on their side said to Jeremiah :
May Yahweh bear true and unerring witness against us, if
we do not act precisely in agreement with the decision Yahweh
your God sends. Whether it be good or bad, we will obey the
direction of Yahweh our God to whom we are sending you in
order that we may prosper through our obedience.

After ten days a message of Yahweh came to Jeremiah. So
he summoned Johanan ben Kareah and the captains of bands
with him and the entire people great and small, and said to
them : Thus speaks Yahweh, God of Israel, to whom you sent
me to present your request : If you remain in this country, I
will build you up instead of ruining you, will plant you instead
of tearing you up, for I have repented of the harm I have done
to you. Dismiss all your fear of the king of Babylon, and have
no fear at all, oracle of Yahweh, for I am with you to save and
deliver you out of his power. I will show kindness to you by
making him compassionate enough to allow you to settle^ in the
country. If, however, you resolve not to remain in this country,
and so fail to listen to Yahweh your God, saying instead :
" No, we will go to Egypt where we shall see no more war, nor
hear a trumpet-blast, nor suffer for want of food, and we will
settle there," then listen to Yahweh's message, you survivors of
Judah. Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth God of Israel : If you
make up your minds to go to Egypt and actually go to live there,
the sword of which you are afraid shall overtake you in Egypt,
and the famine which you dread shall pursue you into Egypt, and
you shall die there. All the men who make up their minds

I So with LXX.

^ So with Syriac, instead ol " restore."

to go and live in Kgypl sliall die by sword, famine and pestilence ;
not one of them shall survive or escape the disaster which I will
bring upon them. For thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth, God of
Israel : As My hot anger was poured out on the citizens of
Jerusalem, so shall it be poured out on you when you go to
Egypt, and you shall become an object of execration and
reproach, a desolation and a scandal, and you shall never again
see this place. ^This is Yahweh's message^ to you, you survivors
of Judah : Do not go to Egypt ; recognise that I have solemnly
warned you. But you have wronged your own souls in sending
the message^ : Pray for us to Yahweh our God, and precisely
wliat Yahweh our God orders you must announce, and we will
do it. I have given you to-day the message, and you have not
listened to Yahweh your God, nor to His message by me.
Now you must know that you shall die by sword, famine and
pestilence in the place where you prefer to go and live.

(/) xliii. 1-7. The people elect to go to Egypt.

When Jeremiah had finished his report to the people of all
the preceding message which Yahweh their God had sent him
to deliver to them, Azariah ben Maaseiah,^ Johanan ben Kareah
and all the headstrong party who opposed Jeremiah, said :
You are lying ; Yahweh our God never sent you to forbid us
to go and live in Egypt ; but Baruch ben Neriah is misleading
you about us in order to hand us over into the power of the
Chaldeans, who may kill us or take us captive to Babylon. So
Johanan ben Kareah and the captains of bands and the entire
people did not listen to Yahweh's order to remain in Judah.
Instead Johanan and the captains collected the survivors of
Judah who had returned to live in Judah from the nations to
which they had been scattered, men, women and children, the
princesses and all whom Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard,
had settled with Gedaliah and Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch
ben Neriah ; and they went into Egypt, for they did not Hsten
to Yahweh ; and they reached Tahpanhes (Daphne).

^ So with Targum.

^ So probably with LXX instead of " sending me to Yahweh to say."
But there is some confusion in this passage.

3 So with LXX.

(g) xliii. 8-13. Jeremiah predicts the conquest of Egypt by
Nebuchadrezzar.

A message of Yahweh came to Jeremiah in Daphne as
follows : Take great stones and hide them ... in the oblong area/
in front of Pharaoh's palace at Daphne in the presence of the
Jews ; and say to them : Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth, God of
Israel : I am sending for My servant, Nebuchadrezzar, king of
Babylon, and he^ will erect his throne over these stones which
you^ have hidden, and will spread his pavilion over them.
He will come and conquer Egypt ; what is doomed to death,
death shall take ; what is doomed to captivity shall go into
captivity ; what is doomed to the sword, the sword shall have.
He^ shall set the Egyptian temples on fire, burning and robbing ;
he shall deal with Egypt as a shepherd deals with his coat,
picking the lice out of it ; and he shall depart in peace.

He shall break in pieces the obeHsks in the Egyptian Beth
Shemesh and burn down the Egyptian templcs.3

{h) xliv. Jeremiah warns the Egyptian Jews against practising a mixed
religion, which combined the worship of Yahweh with the worship
of a queen of heaven. He says that such a cult means departure
from Yahweh and that the only result must be that Jewry in
Egypt will melt away into heathenism. The oracle has been
overlaid with secondary material. The editor seems to have
understood Jeremiah to mean that, if the Jews in Egypt practised
such a debased cult, Yahweh would punish them by blotting out
the colony through some great calamity.

The m^essage which came to Jeremiah for all the Jews living
in Egypt, living, that is, in A^igdol and in Daphne and in Noph
[Memphis] and in the Pathrbs country :

Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth, God of Israel : You have seen
for yourselves all the disaster which I have brought on Jerusalem
and the towns of Judah — how they lie to-day an uninhabited
waste because of the wickedness men committed in provoking
Me by going and sacrificing to strange gods which were unknown
to them and their fathers.^ I sent to them patiently My servants

^ MT offers two words, one of which is unknown, while the other, trans-
lated above, is very uncertain in sense.

^ So with LXX instead of " 1 will erect," " I have hidden " and " I shall
set."

3 Verse 13 is an addition. Note how it comes limping after Nebuchad-
rezzar's victorious departure.

4 So with LXX 5 MT has " your fathers."

ihc pro]->hcts, bidding tlicni refrain from this abominable
conckicl wliich 1 liatc; but tlicy neitlicr listened nor paid atten-
tion so as to repent of tlieir wrong-doing and cease to sacrifice
to strange gods. So Mv hot anger was poured out and raged
among the towns of Judah and streets of Jerusalem, making
them waste and desolate as they are to-day.

Now, thus speaks Yahweli, God of Tsebaoth, God of Israel :
Why are you bringing great mischief on yourselves, so that man
and woman, child and suckling, should be cut off from Jewry,
and no survivor be left to you, by provoking Me through your
conduct in sacrificing to strange gods in Egypt where you have
come to live, with the result that you will destroy yourselves and
become an object of execration and contempt, among all the
nations of the world ? Have you forgotten the wicked deeds
which your fathers, the kings of Judah and your leaders per-
formed in Judah and the streets of Jerusalem ?^ They were
never contrite, nor had they any fear ; they did not obey My
law and statutes which I set before their fathers. ^ Therefore,
thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth, God of Israel : I have resolved
on your ruin to destroy all Jewry. I will lay hold on the sur-
vivors of Judah who decided to come and live in Egypt, and they
shall come to an end in Egypt ; they shall fall by sword and
famine, shall come to an end both small and great, shall die
bv sword and famine and shall become an object of cursing
and horror, execration and contempt. I will punish those who
live in Egypt, as I punished Jerusalem, by sword, famine and
pestilence. Among those left of Judah who have come to
live in Egypt there shall not be a single survivor or refugee who
shall escape to return to the country of Judah to which they
may desire to return and live there ; none shall return except
casual refugees.

Then all the men who knew that their wives were sacrificing
to strange gods, and all the women who were standing by,
answered Jeremiah with a loud outcry3 : No one here is listening

^ MT has a very confused text. I have followed LXX and Syr. in the
above translation.

* So with LXX ; MT has " before you and your fathers."

3 So probably instead of " a great congregation." With Driver omit
the last clause of the verse.

to the message which you have delivered to us in the name of
Yahweh, but we mean to carry out the definite decision we
have made to sacrifice and offer hbations to the queen of heaven,
as we and our fathers, our kings and our chiefs did in the towns
of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had enough
to eat and things went well with us, and we never saw calamity ;
but, since the time we gave up sacrificing and pouring libations
to the queen of heaven, we have been in want of everything
and have been wasted by sword and famine. ^The women
further added^ : When we sacrificed and poured libations to
the queen of heaven, did we make the cakes stamped with her
image or pour the libations without the authority of our
husbands ?

Thereupon Jeremiah addressed all the people, men and
women, even the whole people who had given him this answer.
Did Yahweh not remember nor pay close attention to the
sacrifices which you and your fathers, your kings and chiefs and
the people of the land offered in the towns of Judah and the
streets of Jerusalem, till He could no longer bear your evil
deeds and the abominations you were committing ? And so
your country was made a desolate waste and an object of
execration without inhabitant as it is to-day. Because you
offered sacrifice and sinned against Yahweh, not listening to His
voice, nor obeying His law, His statutes and His testimonies,
this present disaster has befallen you.

Jeremiah said to the whole people and to the women : Listen
to the message of Yahweh, all you Jews in Egypt. Thus speaks
Yahweh Tsebaoth, God of Israel : You women^ are declaring
by your words and making it sure by your deeds that you will
fulfil the vows you have made to sacrifice and pour libations to
the queen of heaven ; you shall certainly make good your words
and fulfil your vows. Listen, therefore, to the message of
Yahweh, all you Jews who live in Egypt. I have sworn by My
great name, speaks Yahweh, My name shall no more be uttered
by any Jew in the entire land of Egypt — to say, " By the life
of Yahweh." I am intent upon them for hurt and not for
blessing, and the Jews in Egypt shall be consumed to the last

^ Supplied from LXX Luc.

* So with LXX instead of " you and your wives."

loo

man by sword and famine. The small company of tiiose wiio
escape-the sword shall return from Egypt to the land of Judah,
and all the Jewish refugees who came to Egypt to live there
shall recognise whose word stands sure, Mine or theirs. And
this is the sign to you, oracle of Yahweh, that I am punishing
you here in order that you may learn how sure are My messages
for your hurt. Thus speaks Yahweh : I will deliver Pharaoh
Hophra, king of Egypt, into the power of his enemies who seek
his life, as I delivered Zedekiah, king of Judah, into the power of
Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.

O o . 'JeremiaVs oracle to Baruch.

xlv. The message delivered by Jeremiah the prophet to
Baruch ben Neriah, when he wrote these messages in a book at
Jeremiah's dictation in the fourth year of Jehoiakim ben Josiah,
king of Judah.

Thus speaks Yahweh, God of Israel, to you Baruch : You
have said : Alas for me, since Yahweh has added trouble to my
first sorrow, I am weary of my lament, and I have found no rest .
Behold,^ it is I who built up, who also ruin ; what I planted I
also tear up.* You are seeking great things for yourself, seek
them not. Behold, I am about to bring disaster on all mankind,
oracle of Yahweh, and wherever you go, I will give you your
life as your only share in the spoil.

O^. Chapters xlvi.-li. constitute a separate collection of oracle Sy

which deal with the fate or the temper of the nations, which

influenced the fate or the temper of Judah at this period. LXX

places the collection in the middle of chapter xxv. It is

difficult to determine the exact date to which these utterances are

to he referred. Some students deny the hook en bloc to Jeremiah.

The whole collection was provided with a heading.

xlvi. I. The message of Yahweh to Jeremiah the prophet about

the nations.

Thereafter the oracles were arranged under the separate peoples
which were dealt with.

■^ Probably omit the heading of the verse, " thus shall you say, thus speaks
Yahweh." Baruch is being directly addressed.

* The last clause is untranslatable as it stands, and is absent from the LXX.
If it were legitimate to add a word, it might be rendered " as for you, all the
world is before you."

lOI

xlvi. 2. On Egypt.

{a) xlvi. 2-6. The oracle about Egypt was then given an interesting
and historically valuable heading. This oracle may naturally
represent the tremendous impression produced on Jeremiah by
the battle at Carcheniish, where the two great powers after the
collapse of Assyria met to decide the empire of the world.

About the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, on the
Euphrates at Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar, king of
Babylon, defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim ben Josiah,
king of Judah.

Make ready shield and buckler, march out to battle. Harness
the horses, mount you cavalry men. Helmet on heads, take
your posts. Polish the spearheads, put on the breast-plates.
Why^ are these terrified, turned in retreat ? Their heroes are
beaten down, they flee without rallying. Terror is on every
side, oracle of Yahweh. The swiftest may not flee, nor the
bravest escape ; northward by Euphrates' banks they stumble
and fall.

[b) xlvi. 7-12. Yahweh has judged the insolent temper of Egypt.

Who is this advancing like the Nile, whose waters are tossing
like torrents ? Egypt advances like the Nile, his waters are
tossing like torrents. He thought : Advancing I will cover the
world, I will swallow up its inhabitants.^ Rear, ye horses,
let the chariots dash furiously and let the heroes march. Cush
and Put3 with their shields, the Lydians with bent bow. But
this day is a day of Yahweh Tsebaoth, a day of vengeance for
revenge on His opponents. His sword^ shall devour till it is
satisfied, and drink its fill of their blood. For Yahweh Tsebaoth
has a sacrifice in the North country beside Euphrates. Up
into Gilead and fetch balm, my lady Egypt ; in vain you multiply
remedies, for you there is no healing. The nations have heard
your cry, your wail fills the world, for hero has clashed with
hero and both have collapsed together.

After these more satisfactory oracles follows a number of fragments,
which have been provided with another heading.

1 With LXX omit " I have seen."

2 With LXX omit " a city and."

3 Probably Ethiopians and Lybians.

4 So with LXX.

xlvi. 13. TIic message delivered by Valivveli to Jeremiah llic
pr(i^>4Tet as lo the coming of Nehucliadrezzar, king of Babylon,
to conquer Egypt.

One or two may h;ivc been uttered by Jeremiah, but they seem to
reflect the attitude of the Jewish colony in Egypt and more
probably have come from it.

I
(r) xlvi. 14, It;. Announce in iMigdol, proclaim in Memphis,

say : To your feet, and make ready, for the sword is devouring

on every side. Why has Apis run away .? Your bullock-god

could not make a stand, because Yahweh overturned it.

(cf) xlvi. 16, 17. The foreigners among you^ stumble and fall ;
then they say to each other : Up and let us get back to our own
people and our native land from the destroying sword. Give
a new name to Pharaoh of Egypt — the boaster who is never
up to time.

(e) xlvi. 18, 19. By My life, oracle of the King whose name is
Yahweh Tsebaoth, like Tabor towering'^ among the mountains,
like Carmel by the sea he comes. Prepare baggage for your
exile, lady Egypt who sit so quietly, for Memphis shall become
a waste, burned out, uninhabited.

(/) xlvi. 20. Egypt is a fair heifer, a gadfly from the North
has reached her.

(g) xlvi. 21-24. ^^^ hired troops are like calves fattened for
the butcher ; they too have turned and fled without resistance,
because the day of their doom, the time of their punishment,
has arrived. The noise of her is like that of a falling forest,'^
lor men arrive in force and advance against her like wood-
cutters, axe in hand. Hew down her forest, oracle of Yahweh,
because it is impenetrable, but her foes are more abundant

^ With LXX omit some turgid clauses.

^ The correction is based on the LXX. But the text through the little
oracle has suffered severely in transmission. I cannot pretend that the
translation, especially that offered of verse 17, represents more than a possible
rendering.

3 I have added " towering " to bring out the sense.

^ Something is wrong here, for MT " serpent " gives no sense in itself
and does not suit the context. I have borrowed a suggestion which does
both.

103

than any locust swarm, are indeed beyond numbering.
Lady Egypt is put to shame, dehvercd as she is into the power
of the Northern nation.

{h) xlvi. 25. Speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth, God of Israel : I am
about to punish Amon in No [Thebes], Pharaoh also and all
who rely on him.^

(/.) xlvi. 26. I will deliver them into the power of those who
seek their life, into the power of Nebuchadrezzar, king of
Babylon and his servants ; afterwards Egypt^ shall be settled
as of old, oracle of Yahweh.

xlvi. 27, 28. Have been already translated at xxx. 10, 11.

70. An oracle on the Philistines, which has also been provided
with a heading.

xjvii. The message of Yahweh to Jeremiah the prophet about
the Philistines before Pharaoh conquered Gaza.

Thus speaks Yahweh : Waters are advancing from the North
and shall become a sweeping torrent. They shall submerge the
world and all that is in it, towns and those who inhabit them ;
mankind shall wail and those who inhabit the world shall
shriek. At the noise of the clattering hoofs of his chargers, at
the rush of his chariots, at the turmoil of his wheels fathers do
not turn back for their children, for their strength has grown
limp in the day which is at hand to make all the Philistines a
prey, to cut off every ally left from Tyre and Sidon, for Yahweh
is laying waste what survives of the Island Caphtor."^ Gaza
shaves its head, Ascalon is made desolate, how long must you,
the last of the Anakim,-* make cuttings in your flesh ?

Ahj^sword of Yahweh, how long will it be before you come
to^quiet ? Return to your sheath, be at rest, stir no more.
How can it come to quiet, when Yahweh has given it orders ?
He has set as its end Ascalon and the sea-coast.

^ Text uncertain. The above translation is based on LXX.
^ I have added " Egypt."

3 IVom which, according to Amos, the Philistines came. To make the
incaning clear, some one added to M T, " i.e., the Philistines."

4 So with LXX, cf. Josh. xi. 12.

104

7 I . xk'iii. A collection of orachw on Moab, which seems to
-■have existed at one time in an independent form.^ for it is
provided with a formal heading and close. Several of the oracles
appear again in a similar collection which has been inserted in our
Book of Isaiah at chapters xv.-xvi. One is borrowed from
Balaani's oracles against Moab in Numbers, a second appears in
Isaiah with no reference to Moab, while two reappear in chapter
xlix. of our book, but are there referred to Edom. In these circum-
stances it is exceptionally difficult to decide which, if any, were
uttered by Jeremiah.

It may be added that the text is generally very bad, that local
allusions which we do not understand abound, and that several of
the oracles are mere fragments.

On Moab.

{a) xlviii. \-\. This has only a general likeness to Isa. xv.

Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth, God of Israel : Woe to Nebo
for it is ravaged, Kiriathaim after its capture is covered with
shame, Ar Moab^ is covered with shame and dismay.

The glory of Moab has ceased, evil schemes have been planned
against it. " Come and let us blot it out of being as a people."^
Madmen must collapse, the sword is drawn against it. Hark !
from Horonaim rises the cry : " Havoc and utter ruin." Moab
is broken, its cry can be heard as far as Zoar.3 Men climb the
pass to Luhith in tears, at the descent of Horonaim a wail over
their ruin can be heard.

(Z») xlviii. 6-9. It is Moab's insolent temper which makes her judgment
so sure and so severe.

Flee, rescue your lives, become hke a shrub in the open
desert. Because you trusted in yourselves and your wealth,
you too shall be captured ; Chemosh with its priests and chiefs
shall go into exile. The destroyer shall enter every town, nor
shall Ar Moab escape ; the valley shall be wasted, the plateau
be ruined ; its towns shall become an uninhabited wilderness.'^

^ Or read " the bulwark," i.e., Nebo and Kiriathaim are regarded as
the bulwark of Moab.

* Uncertain text. The above claims no more than to make sense.

3 So with LXX.

+ Some one added in the margin a quotation from an unknown song or
prophecy, " as Yahweh said : Give wings to Moab, for she would fain fly
away."

105

Cursed be the man who does Yahweh's work slackly ; cursed

be he who withholds his sword from blood.

((/) xlviii. 11-13. Moab's self-reliance and long-continued good
fortune.

Moab has been at ease through all its history, resting quietly
on its lees, never poured from jar to jar.^ Hence its flavour has
endured unaltered, its scent has never known change. There-
fore days are coming, oracle of Yahweh, when I will send those
who shall pour it into new casks [.?],emptying its old jars, destroy-
ing its wine-skins. Then Moab shall be disappointed with
Chemosh, as Israel was disappointed with Bethel in which it
put its trust.

■ (e) xlviii. 14, 15. Moab is ruined in its proud self-confidence.

How can you say. Heroes are we all and men apt for war ?
The destroyer of Moab and of its towns has advanced ; the
flower of its young men are brought down to slaughter, oracle
of the King, whose name is Yahweh Tsebaoth.

(/) xlviii. 16-25. Significant here is the sympathy felt with Moab in
its fate.
Calamity draws near for Moab, its catastrophe comes hasting
on. Let all its neighbours lament its fate, and all who recognise
its fame say, how is the strong staff, the glorious sceptre broken !
Come down from your state and sit on the ground,^ you who
inhabit Dibon, for he who despoils Moab is advancing against
you and has oroken down your bulwarks. Post yourselves
on the highway and peer down the road, you who inhabit Aroer,
question any fugitive or runaway, ask what has happened. Moab
is covered with disgrace because of its ruin ; wail and lament,
make it known in Arnon that Moab is despoiled. Judgment
has reached the plateau, Holon and Jahaza, Mephaath and Dibon,
Nebo and Beth Diblathaim, Kiriathaim and Bethgamul,
Bethmeon and Kerioth, Bozrah and all the towns of A4oab
far and near. The horn of Moab is humbled, its arm is broken.
Oracle of Yahweh.

^ Some one added, in order to explain the metaphor taken from the
treatment of wine, i.e., " it never went into exile."

* MT is hopeless : but the above can only claim to be a suggestion.

106

(ij) xlviii. 26, 27.
Make him drunk/ for lie magnified himself against Vahwcli ;
lie clapped his hands in mockery,^ but will himself be
laughed to scorn. Was Israel an object for your mockery,
or had he been caught by you among thieves that, so often
as you talked about him, you wagged your head in scorn ?

(h) xlviii. 28.
Forsake the towns, live among the rocks, you
inhabitants of Moab, become Hke a dove which makes its
nest . . .3

(f) xlviii. 29-31. This appears in Isaiah xvi. 6, 7 in a slightly different
form.

We have heard of the pride of haughty Moab, his insolence,
his pride, his arrogance, his lordly mind. I know, oracle of
Yahweh, his furious temper, his empty talk, his empty deeds.
Therefore I must wail over Moab, and lament over it all, I
groan over the fate of the men of Kirheres,

(j) xlviii. 32, 33. See again Isaiah xvi. 9, 10.

Along with Jazer I weep over you, O vine of Sibmah. Your
branches once stretched over the sea, reaching as far as Jazer ;
now the spoiler has descended on your crop and vintage. Joy
and gladness shall be no more in the fruitful fields and land of
Moab ; I will cause wine to fail in the wine-vats ; no one shall
tread the grapes any more."*

(k) xlviii. 34. This appears in more intelligible form in Isa. xv. 4-6.
Only one clause here seems to give sense — " for even the waters of
Nimrim shall become wastes."

(/) xlviii. 35, 36. V'erse 36 is found also at Isa. xvi. 11, to which has
been added a sentence from Isa. xv. 7.

I will bring to an end in IMoab, oracle of Yahweh, all
worshippers and every one who sacrifices to its idols. There-
fore my mind wails like a flute over Moab, my mind wails like
a flute over the men of Kirheres. Therefore the abundance
he has made has come to nothing.

^ With the cup of the divine anger.

2 So with LXX.

3 Hopeless text.

^ The last clause is probably a correction made in the margin.

107

(m) xlviii. 37, 38. Appears in slightly different form at Isa. xv. z, 3-

Every head is shaved, every beard is cut close, cuttings are
made in men's hands, sackcloth is laid on their loins. On all
the roofs of Moab and in the open spaces of its towns is universal
mourning, for I have broken Moab as one breaks a useless dish,
oracle of Yahweh.

(k) xlviii. 39.

How Moab is ruined — take up your lament — how it is
defeated and shamed. Moab becomes an object of mixed
scorn and awe to all its neighbours.

(0) xlviii. 40, 41. Verses 40, 41^, are omitted by LXX and reappear
xlix. 22, where they are ascribed to Edom.

Thus speaks Yahweh : like an eagle shall he swoop and spread
out his wings over Moab. The towns are captured, the
fortresses surprised ; because of trouble the courage of Moab's
heroes in that day becomes like the courage of a woman.

(/)) xlviii. 42.

Moab will be so ruined as to cease to be a nation for it
magnified itself against Yahweh.

(q) xlviii. 43. 44. This oracle, here applied to Moab, appears in
• Isa. xxiv. 17, but is there applied to the inhabitants of the whole

world.

Terror, a ditch and a snare threaten you, O inhabitant of
Moab, oracle of Yahweh. The man who runs to escape the
terror tumbles into the ditch ; when he climbs out of the
ditch, he is caught in the snare, for I am bringing on Moab
the year of its punishment. Oracle of Yahweh.

(r) xlviii. 45, 46. This oracle, omitted by LXX, is made up of Numb.
xxi. 28 ; xxiv. 17^, two oracles uttered by Balaam against Moab.
Perhaps it has been added by some one who wished to say that the
first doom pronounced against Moab, delayed though it has been,
shall yet be proved true.

Refugees halt powerless beside Heshbon, but out of Heshbon
fire leaps and a flame from Sihon's palace, it has devoured the
brows of Moab and the scalp of this arrogant people. Woe to
you, Moab ; the people of Chemosh is undone, your sons have
been carried away captives and your daughters led away
prisoners.

108

(i) xlviii. 47.

YeT in the consummation of all things, oracle of ^'ahwcll, 1
will turn the fortune of Moab. Thus far the doom of Moab.

72. This oracle on Amnion may have originally consisted of
verses l, 4-6. Into it were intruded quotations from Amos,
especially Amos i. i^, and an enigmatic verse ?io. 3. The last is
difficult in text, so that the translation offered must be recognised as
merely tentative. But it is further difficult in substance, for one
does not see what Heshbon, a Moabite town, has to do with
Amnion.

xlix. 1-6. On the Ammonites.

Thus speaks Yahweh : Has Israel no sons, no heir of its
own f Why then does Milkom^ possess Gad, and Milkom's
people Hve in its towns ? Therefore, days are coming, oracle
of Yahweh, when I will raise the battle-cry against Ammon's
capital city, and it shall become a heap of ruins, and its dependent
towns shall be burned down, and Israel shall possess those who
now possess it, speaks Yahweh. Wail, O Heshbon, you are
ruined ; cry aloud, daughter-towns of Rabbath, put on sack-
cloth and mourn, making cuttings in your flesh, for Milkom with
his priests and chiefs goes away into captivity.

Why do you boast of your valleys,* you who dwell in security,^
bragging thus of your wealth ; " Who can ever rival me ? "
I will bring terror to your door, oracle of Yahweh Tsebaoth,
from all your neighbours, and you shall be scattered, every man
going his own way with none to gather you in your flight.

Afterwards, however, I will turn the fortuneof the Ammonites.
Oracle of Yahweh.

/^3* xlix. 7-22. In this oracle on Edom there may be an
original nucleus, consisting of verses 7-10, The rest seems
to co?isist of broken, scattered material which appears elsewhere,
in some places, as in Obadiah, applied to Edom, in other places
applied to Moab, to Babylon, and even to Jerusalem.

^ So with LXX, Milkom was the national god.
* So with Syr.
^ Emended text.

X09

(rt) xlix. 7-10.

On Edom.

Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth : There is^ no longer wisdom
in Teman, wise men are wholly at a loss, their wisdom has
failed them. Escape into hiding, find a secure dwelling,
inhabitants of Dedan, for I have brought upon Esau his
calamity, even the time of his punishment. If grape-gatherers
descend upon you, they will leave no gleanings ; if night-thieves,
they waste all they can.^ For I am ransacking Esau thoroughly,
laying bare his retreats, so that nothing shall remain hidden.
His race as well as his friends and neighbours are ruined, there is
none to help.

(b) xlix. II. A remark, the connection and purpose of which in this
place are a problem.

I will keep your orphans alive and let your widows rely on
me [or Me].

Thus speaks Yahweh : Those who were not destined
to drink the cup are drinking it, and shall you be freed
from the necessity ? You shall not be exempted, but shall
drink, for I have taken an oath by Myself, oracle of Yahweh,
that Bozrah shall become a waste, an object of contempt, a
desert, an object of execration, and all her daughter-towns
shall become perpetual ruins.

(d) xlix. 14-16. Another form of the oracle with which the book
of Obadiah opens. I have used the form in which it appears in
Obadiah to help out the text.

Tidings have reached me from Yahweh, how He has sent a
herald among the nations with the summons : " Gather and
march in battle-array against it." I make you small among
the peoples and despised among mankind. Your boastful
mind has led you astray, living, as you do, in the rock-clefts,
holding the hill-crest. Yet, though you nest in high security
like an eagle, thence I will bring you down. Oracle of Yahweh.

* With LXX. omit the mark of interrogation.
2 Also in Obad. v. 5.

1 10

(() xlix. 17. Practically rcproiluccs xix. 8. W'liat is said tluTc of
Jerusalem is said here of Edom.

Kdom shall become a waste, every casual passer-by sliall
whistle with amazement at seeing its ruins.

(/) xlix. 18. Applied in 1. 40 to Babylon.

Its State shall be like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighbouring towns, speaks Yahweh, no man shall
live there, no human being shall inhabit it.

(g) xlix. 19-21. Applied in 1. +4-46 to Babylon.

Like a lion he is climbing out of the valley of Jordan against
the enduring sheepfold, for suddenly I will expel them thence
and appoint whomsoever I choose, for who is like Me or who
can equal Me, or what shepherd can defend his flock against
Me ?^ Listen, therefore, to Yahweh's plans for Edom and
His thoughts as to the inhabitants of Teman ; their shepherds
shall drag them away and their fold shall be startled at their
fate. The world trembles at hearing of their collapse, its
sound^ can be heard, a cry like that at the Red Sea.

(h) xlix. 22. .Applied in xlviii. 40 to Moab.

74' ^^'^ original oracle on Damascus, verses 23-25, was probably
connected zcith the conquest of Damascus by Nebuchadrezzar
in 605.

{a) xlix. 23-25.

On Damascus.

Hamath and Arpad are covered with shame, because they
have heard bad news ; ^they are in disquiet like the troubled
and restless sea. 3 Damascus, weakened, has turned to escape,
terror has seized her, trouble and anguish master her, as they
do a woman in childbirth. Woe unto her,'^ the glorious city is
forsaken, the delightful town.

^ This is the best I can make of an obscure passage.
^ Perhaps " the echo."

3 Accepting Driver's suggested emendations.
^ With slight emendation.

(b) xlix. 26. Applied in 1. 30 to Babylon.

Therefore her young men fall in her open spaces, and all her
fighting men are silenced in that day. Oracle of Yahweh
Tsebaoth.

I will light a fire in the wall of Damascus, which shall devour
the palaces of Benhadad.

7 5 • Oracles against some Eastern peoples, with whom we have
no evidence that Jeremiah ever came into connection.

(a) xlix. 28-30.

On Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor which Nebuchadrezzar,
king of Babylon, conquered.

Thus speaks Yahweh : Up, attack Kedar and despoil the
people of the East. Let them collect their tents and flocks,
let them rescue their tent-coverings, their baggage and their
camels, let them cry aloud " terror on every side." Escape into
hiding, find a secure dwelling, inhabitants of Hazor, oracle of
Yahweh, for Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, has a plan for
you and a thought as to you.

{b) xlix. 31, 32.

Up, attack a nation which lives in security and dwells
in quiet, oracle of Yahweh, which has neither doors nor
bars, so lonely is its abode. Their camels shall be a spoil,
their abundant flocks a prey, and I V\'ill scatter to every wind
the crop-haired people, and from every direction I will bring
ruin on them. Oracle of Yahweh.

Hazor shall become a haunt of jackals, a perpetual waste ; no
man shall live there, nor shall any human being inhabit it.

70. Jn oracle on Elam, a people to the East of Babylon, with
which it is difficult to suppose that 'Jeremiah could ever
have had any relation.

xlix. 34-39. The message of Yahweh to Jeremiah the prophet
as to Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of
Judah.

Thus speaks Yahweh Tscbaotli : 1 will break Elam's bow, its
mainstay, and I will bring against Elam four winds from the
four quarters of heaven, and I will scatter them to those four
winds ; there shall not be a nation to which waifs from Elam
shall not come. And I will make them tremble before their
enemies who seek their life, and will bring upon them disaster,
even My fierce anger, oracle of Yahweh, and I will send the
sword in pursuit till they are annihilated. And I will set up
My throne in Elam, destroying out of it king and chiefs.
Oracle of Yahweh.

But in tlie consummation of all things I will turn the fortune
of Elam. Oracle of Yahweh.

77' '^ ^'^''^i ■^-'■^^J of oracles on Babylon.

The phrase in the heading which refers the whole to Jeremiah
as its author is absent from LXX.

[a] I. 1-5. The news of Babylon's fall will result in Israel being set
free for Yahweh's service. I take this to be a product of the exile.

The message Yahweh uttered about Babylon, the land of
the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet.

^Proclaim among the nations, make it known without con-
cealment, declare : Babylon is captured, Bel is put to shame,
Merodach is ruined.^ For a nation has advanced against it
from the North, which shall make its land a waste in which
neither man nor beast can live. Escape then and go. In those
days and at that time, oracle of Yahweh, Israel and Judah,
reunited, shall go with tears to seek Yahweh their God. Turning
Toward Zion, they shall inquire the way, saying : Come, let
us join ourselves to Yahweh ; the eternal covenant must not
be forgotten.

[b) 1. 6-10. Israel, through being forewarned, shall be the first to
escape from ruined Babylon. Also an oracle from the exile.

My people became lost sheep, whose shepherds misled them :
they wandered over the hills,^ up hill and down dale, forgetting
their fold. Everyone who fell in with them devoured them as

^ I have followed LXX in omitting a number of turgid and explanatory
phrases.

^ So perhaps with LXX and Syr.

»»3

he pleased ; their enemies said ; We shall never be brought
to book for so doing, since they have sinned against Yahweh,
the fold of justice, the hope of their fathers.

Escape now out of Babylon, flee from Chaldea, be like the
bell-wethers which head a flock. For I am rousing and leading
against Babylon out of the North-land a horde of powerful
nations who shall besiege and capture it. They are like a keen
sure arrow which does not miss.^ Chaldea shall be handed over
to be spoiled till all who despoil it are satiated. Oracle of
Yahweh.

(f) i. 11-13. Addressed to the Babylonians.

You who waste Israel, My peculiar property, may joyfully
exult, may gambol like calves at grass, may neigh like stallions ;
but the mother who bore you is brought to utter shame. Behold
the end of a nation — desert, dry wilderness ! It shall no longer
be inhabited because of Yahweh's anger, the whole of it shall
be desolation.

(d) 1. 14-16. A shout of exultant revenge from the men under
Babylon's heel.

You archers, attack Babylon on every side, shoot at her
without sparing your arrows, for she has sinned against Yahweh.
Raise the battle-cry on every side ; her power is weakening, her
turrets crumbling, her walls collapsing. Because "this is the
vengeance of Yahweh, take full revenge on her ; as she has done,
do to her. Cut off from Babylon sower and harvester alike.
Before the wasting sword let every man turn back to his own
people and flee to his own land.

{e) 1. 17-20. The restoration of Israel and Judah from Babylon.

Israel is a stray sheep hunted by lions. First the king of
Assyria tore it, then this Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon,
broke its bones. Therefore, thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth,
God of Israel : I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,
as I punished the king of Assyria, and I will restore Israel to
its pasture and it shall feed on Carmcl and Bashan, it shall feed
its fill on Mount Ephraim and Gilcad. In those days and at
that time, oracle of Yahweli, men may hunt for the iniquity of

Following LXX.

Israel and discover none, or for the sin of judah and fail to find
it, for I will forgive the men I spare.

(/) 1. z\-2.-]. A spocinu-n of the temper which is bred in the »ubject
nations by a power like that of Babylon. The more indepciulcnt
in spirit they are, the more sure is the result.

Advance against the land of Merathaim and against the
inhabitants of Pekod, slay and exterminate, fulfil all My
command to you,^ oracle of Yahweh. Hark, war is abroad in
the land and vast ruin. How thoroughly is the hammer of the
whole world broken into fragments ; what an object of wonder
Babylon has become among the nations ! 1 set a snare for you,
O Babylon, and you are taken, surprised, seized. You did not
dream that it was with Yahweh you had to deal. Yahweh has
opened His arsenal and brought out the weapons of His anger,
for He has work in hand in Chaldea. Come against her from
every quarter, open her stores, pile up the contents like sheaves,
exterminate her so that nothing may survive. Slay all her
warriors, bring them out to the slaughter ; woe unto them, for
the day of their punishment has arrived.

'yg) 1. 28. Zion always survives Babylon.

Hark to the fugitives who escape from Babylonia, to declare
in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God, liow He avenges
His temple.

(/j) 1. 29-32. Probably four fragments, connected by the tag of
" insolence." Verse 30 is already translated at xHjj. 26, where it
is referred to Damascus.

Summon against mighty Babylon all the archers, besiege her
on every side, let none escape. Repay her after her own deeds,
do to her as she has done, for she has been insolent against
Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel.

I am against you in your insolence, oracle of Yahweh
Tsebaoth, for your day, the time of your punishment has
arrived.

The insolent one shall stumble and fall with none to lift
him up, and I will set his towns in an all-devouring blaze.

^ LXX makes " the sword " to be addressed in this oracle, perhaps
correctly.

(0 ^- 33? 34- Israel and Judah represent an enslaved world.

Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth : Israel and Judah are both
oppressed, those who enslave them have laid firm hold on them,
refusing to let them go. But He who vindicates them is strong :
His name is Yahweh Tsebaoth, who will make good their cause.

To give peace to the world, He must give dispeace to the
Babylonians.

(i) '• 35"4°- -^ curse invoked on Babylon.

A sword against Chaldea, oracle of Yahweh, against the
inhabitants of Babylon, its chiefs and its sages ! A sword against
its soothsayers and they shall become fools. A sword against
its warriors and they shall be in terror. A sword against its
horses and cavalry, against its vast population,^ and they shall
become women. A sword against its treasures, and they shall
be made a prey. A sword^ against its waters and they shall dry
up. For it is a land of idols where men delight in images.
Therefore wild cats shall haunt with jackals, and ostriches [?]
shall dwell there ; it shall never again be inhabited, nor shall
it be occupied for ever and ever.

1. 41-43 is practically the same as vi. 22-24.
1. 44-46. Applied in xlix. 19-21 to Edom.

(k) li. 1-6.

Thus speaks Yahweh : I am rousing against Babylon
and the inhabitants of Chaldea a destroyer, and I will send
against Babylon winnowers who shall empty the country
because they were against her^ on every side in her evil day.
Let the archer bend his bow and put on his breast-plate ; let
no mercy be shown to her young men, exterminate her entire
army ; let them fall dead in Chaldea and mortally wounded in
its streets, for their land is full of crime against the Holy One
of Israel ; but Israel and Judah are not destitute of a protector,
even their God Yahweh Tsebaoth. Escape, let every man save

^ With a slight emendation.

^ So with Syr.

3 MT may mean by " her " Jerusalem. Perhaps, however, we should
read with LXX " woe unto her, i.e., Babylon, on every side in the evil day.',

116

himself out of IJabylon, do not perish in her guilt, for this is
Yahweh's day of vengeance, He is repaying her her due.

(/) li. 7-10. Probably an oracle from Babylon.

Babvlon was a cup of golden wine in Yahweh's hand, making
all the world drunk ; the nations drank her wine till they reeled
in frenzy. In a moment Babylon is fallen into ruin, wail over
her. Bring medicine, if by any chance her hurt may be healed.
We have done our best for Babylon, but she is incurable ; leave
her and go, every man to his own land, for her doom towers
to heaven and touches the very clouds. Yahweh has made
good our cause ; come therefore, and let us relate in Zion the
work of Yahweh our God.

(w) li. 11-14. It is Yahweh and no mere human victor, who is
destroying Babylon. The oracle shows the thoughts stirred in
Jewry by the rise of Cyrus.

^Polish the arrows, fill the quivers.^ Yahweh has roused the
king of the Medes, for His mind is set on destroying Babylon ;
this is Yahweh's vengeance, the vengeance He takes for His
Temple. Against Babylon's walls raise a standard, make strong
the guard, appoint sentinels, prepare ambushes, for the plan
Yahweh formed He is now carrying into effect against the
inhabitants of Babylon. You who dwell beside many waters,
mistress of wealth, your end has come, the web of your destiny
is finished. Yahweh Tsebaoth has sworn by Himself . . ?
they will raise a shout against you.

li. 15-19. This section has already appeared, x. 12-16, where it
is more in place.

(«) U. 20-24. Probably addressed to Cyrus and showing, like (w), th
thoughts roused by Cyrus' victories.
The conqueror is an instrument in Yahweh's hand.

You are My hammer and weapon of war, by you I will smash
nations and destroy kingdoms, by you I will smash horse and
rider, by you I wall smash chariot and charioteer, by you I
will smash man and woman, old and young, young man and
maiden, by you I will smash shepherd and flock, the farmer and

^ The general sense of the sentence is clearly as I have rendered it. The
details are difficult and uncertain.
^ I give up this sentence as hopeless.

his team, by you I will smash satraps and viceroys. And so I
will repay to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all
the harm they have done in your sight to Zion. Oracle of
Yah well.

(o) li. 25, 26. If this was meant for Babylon, it was uttered by someone
who did not know the flat alluvial plain of Euphrates. Probably
it was originally directed against a place like Edom.

J. am against you, mount of destruction, destroyer of the
world, oracle of Yahweh, and I will stretch out My hand against
you, rolling you down from your rocks and turning you into a
burned-out heap, out of which no man can dig a corner-stone
or a stone for a foundation since you shall be ruinous heaps tor
ever. Oracle of Yahweh.

(/)) li. 27-32. The capture of Babylon.

Raise a standard in the world, blow a trumpet among the
nations, enlist peoples for war against her, summon kingdoms —
Ararat, Minni, Ashkenaz, marshal a host [.?], bring cavalry in
swarms like locusts. Enlist peoples for war against her, the
king of Media, his satraps and governors and all the country
under his control. The world trembles in dismay because
now is being realised the purpose of Yahweh to turn Babylonia
into an uninhabited waste. Babylon's fighting men have given
up the struggle, they sit still inside the forts, their strength is
exhausted, they have become women. Courier posts after
courier, messenger after messenger, to inform the king of
Babylon that his city is overrun on every side, its houses are on
fire, its gates burst through, the fords are surprised, . . .^ are
burned, the men of war are in utter dismay.

(y) li- 33-
Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth, God of Israel : Lady
Babylon is like a threshing-flioor stamped hard for the harvest
work ; yet a little, and the harvester will arrive.

(r) li. 34-37. The complaint of Zion and its issue.

Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, has devoured and consumed
us, has left us like an empty jar, has swallowed us like a dragon,

' Something is wrong here. M T reads " pools," but, as you can't burn
poo!i, mother word is needed.

118

filling_his belly, has torn us from all our case. O Zion, cry,
^'' havoc and ruin"' against Babylon; O Jerusalem, cry, "My
blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldca." Therefore thus speaks
Vahvveh : I am undertaking your cause and I will take revenge
for vou ; 1 will dry up her sea and make dry her life-springs.
Babylon shall become a heap of stones, a haunt of jackals, an
object of wonder and contempt, empty of people.

(s) li. 38-40. An end is set to the greed of Babylon.

They all used to roar like lions, growling like lions' whelps.
I will poison* their banquets, and make them drunk so as to
stupefy^ them ; and they shall sleep the eternal sleep which has
no waking. Oracle of Yahweh.

I will bring them down, like Iambs, rams or he-goats to
the slaughter.'^

(t) li. 41 "44^. Judgment on Babylon and on its god Bel.

How Babylon is captured, the glory of the world surprised !
What an object of wonder it has become among the nations !
The sea has swept over Babylon and buried it in the rush of its
waves. Its towns have become a waste, a dry and barren land,
where no man can live, nor does any human being pass through.
I will punish Bel in Babylon, wrenching his prey out of his jaws,
and nations shall no more stream to him.

(//) li. 44^-48. This oracle, omitted by LXX, seems very late, using
Babylon practically as a symbol for heathenism. It may, however,
be a few fragments.

The walls of Babylon are fallen. Leave her then, my people,
let every man save his life from the fierce anger of Yahweh.
Let not your courage grow faint, and have no fear before the
rumours flying through the world. Every year will have its
rumour of " havoc " in the world; and of tyrant set against
tyrant.

' An emended text to make sense.

2 With Syr.

3 With LXX.

^ Probably secondary, limping lamely after the more vivid original.

119

Therefore days are coming when I shall punish the idols of
Babylon and all its land shall be put to shame and its dead
shall fall in heaps within it.

Heaven and earth and all that is in them shall exult over
Babylon because out of the North a destroyer is coming
against it. Oracle of Yahweh.

{v) li. 49-51. A summons to Israel in Babylon and its reply.
Babylon is about to fall, ye slain of Israel ; yea, Babylon
is about to fall, ye slain of the world.^ Ye who have escaped
the sword, haste, make no delay, far-off though you are, remember
Yahweh and recall Jerusalem to your memory. " We are ashamed
because we have heard of an outrage ; shame has covered our
faces, because strangers have entered the holy places of the
temple."

{zv) li. 52-53, 54-57. Two threats against Babylon.

Therefore days are coming, oracle of Yahweh, when I will
punish her idols, and in all her land the mortally wounded shall
moan. When Babylon towers to heaven and makes strong and
high her defence, spoilers sent by Me shall come against her.
Oracle of Yahweh.

Hark, a cry from Babylon, a vast crash from Chaldea, because
Yahweh is despoiling Babylon and putting an end to its loud
hum. *He roars against it like mighty waters and utters His
voice with threatening.^ A destroyer advances against Babylon,
its fighting men are prisoners, their bow is broken, for Yahweh
is a God of recompense who does not fail to repay. So I will
make drunk its chiefs, its wise men, its governors, viceroys and
fighting men, and they shall sleep the eternal sleep which has
no waking. Oracle of the King, whose name is Yahweh
Tsebaoth.

[x) li. 58. " Vanity of vanities."

Thus speaks Yahweh Tsebaoth : The broad wall of Babylon
is broken down and its lofty gates are being burned ; so nations
toil for nothing and peoples weary themselves to feed the
flames.

^ I hesitate over this translation and prefer to mark it as dubious.
^ An emended text.

120

(v) li. ';<)-64- A lato addition after the oracles on Babylon had hccn
— * collected.

The message witli which Jeremiah ihc prophet charged
Seraiah ben Ncriah ben Maaseiali wlicn he went with' Zedekiah,
king of Judah, to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign,
now Seraiah was quarter-master.

Jeremiah wrote in a book the doom which was to befal
Babylon, viz., all the preceding messages against Babylon, and
he charged Seraiah : When you reach Babylon, be sure to read
all these messages and say : Yahweh, Thou hast pronounced
against this place that it is to be cut off so that neither man nor
beast can live in it any more, since it is to become a perpetual
waste. Then, when you have finished reading this book, you
must fasten a stone to it and fling it into the Euphrates, saying,
so shall Babylon sink and never rise again, because of the doom
which I am bringing upon it.^

70. Hi. The chapter has 7iothing directly to do with Jeremiah
and is extracted with certain modifications ^ from 2 Kings
xxiv. 8-25, 30.

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old on his accession and he
reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was
Hamital bath Jeremiah of Libnah, and he did evil before Yahweh,
exactly as Jehoiakim had done. Indeed, through the anger of
Yahweh, matters went so far in Jerusalem and Judah towards
His casting them away out of His presence, that Zedekiah
rebelled against the king of Babylon. Accordingly, in the
tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of his reign,
Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, advanced with his whole
army against Jerusalem and they pitched camp against it and
surrounded it with a siege-wall. The siege continued until
the eleventh year of king Zedekiah, in which year, on the ninth
day of the fourth month, famine became very severe in the city

' Perhaps read with LXX " from."

^ The last clause of the verse is a marginal note. Someone who wished
to separate the oracles from the historical chapter lii. added : " The oracles
of Jeremiah extend only as far as ' they weary themselves,' i.e., only as far
as the last Hebrew word in verse 58."

121

so that food failed the common people. A breach was then
made into the city, and the whole garrison, leaving the city,
fled by night through the gate between the two walls beside
the royal garden, while the Chaldeans surrounded the city.
They made for the Arabah, but the Chaldean army pursued
them^ and overtook Zedekiah at the plains of Jericho ; where-
upon his whole force scattered. So they seized the king and
brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, in "the country
of Hamath, who pronounced sentence on him. The king of
Babylon had Zedekiah's sons executed in his presence ; he also
executed all the chiefs of Judah at Riblah. He further put out
Zedekiah's eyes and brought him in chains of brass to Babylon,
keeping him there in prison till his death.

On the tenth day of the fifth month — it was the nineteenth
year -of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon — Nebuzaradan, chief
of the bodyguard, one of the king of Babylon's officers, entered
Jerusalem. He burned the temple and the palace and* tlie
houses of the leading men.* The Chaldean army at his orders
also broke down the entire walls of Jerusalem.

Then Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard took into
exile* the rest of the people left in the city,* those who had
deserted to the king of Babylon, and the surviving artizans.
^e left, however, some of the humbler people as vine-dressers
and crofters.

Then the Chaldeans broke the brass pillars, laver-bases and
sea belonging to the temple, and carried the brass of which
they were made to Babylon. They also took away the pots,
shovels, sprinklers, basons, pans, in fact, all the brass vessels
used in the divine service. Besides, the captain of the body-
guard took away the cups, fire-pans, sprinklers, pots, candle-
sticks, pans, bowls — whatever was of gold, as gold and whatever
was of silver, as silver. As for the two pillars, the sea,3 the
laver-bases which king Solomon had made for the temple, the
brass of which these articles were made was not weighed. The

^ MT has " the king."

* There is confusion in the MT here. I'he above translation rests on an
emended text.

3 With 2 Kings xxv. i6, omit the " 24 oxen." These, according to
2 Kings xvi. 17, had already been removed by Aliaz.

122

lieiglit of each pillar was eiglilcen cuMts and the circumference
was twelve cubits ; they were hollow with walls [?] four fingers
thick. Each carried a capital of brass, five cubits high, which
was ornamented with network and pomegranates, also made of
brass. The pomegranates were ninety-six' . . . ; all the pome-
granates which surrounded a capital were lOO in number.

The captain of the bodyguard further took Seraiah the chief
priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three threshold-
keepers ; and out of the city* he took an officer set over the
fighting men and seven men from the intimate councillors of
the king, who were discovered in the city, and the secretary
of the commander in chief who enrolled the common soldiers,
and sixty of the people of the land, found in the city. After
taking these, Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, brought
tlicm to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and the king of Babylon
had them executed at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah
was carried away captive from its country.

The following is the sum total of the population which
Nebuchadrezzar took away captive. In the seventh year 3,023
Jews ; in Nebuchadrezzar's eighteenth year 832 from Jerusalem ;
in Nebuchadrezzar's twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan, captain
of the bodyguard, took captive 745 Jews ; the total, 4,600.

In the thirty^seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin,
king of Judah, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth* month.
Evil Merodach, king of Babylon, in the year of his accession
showed favour to Jehoiachin, and, having freed him from prison,
treated him kindly and honoured him more highly than other
kings who were beside him in Babylon. Jehoiachin took off
his prison clothes and ate bread at the royal table for the rest
of his life ; and everything needed for his support was supplied
daily to him by the king of Babylon, so long as he lived.

^ Evidently something has fallen out of the text.

* i.e., as contrasted with the temple personnel ; one might translate
" from the laity."

123

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EDITORS' PREFACE

THK modern translations that exist of parts or of the whole
of the Old Testament are, as a rule, too expensive and too
scholarly for the ordinary reader. In the case of the New
Testament excellent help has been afforded by many recent
translators, notably by Dr. Moffatt. In a wide experience
among working men and women we have found frequent requests
for a simple version of the Old Testament in similar language
to that employed in the modern versions of the New Testament.
By the generous help of our colleagues in this enterprise we arc
able to present a translation that is well within the reach of
everyone, and that rests upon the best results of modern
scholarship.

Literary elegance has been sacrificed to clearness of expression
and simplicity of language. In the present book the two
charming stories gain much from the more familiar style of
language, and from being presented in the narrative form to
which we are accustomed in modern books.

We can now definitely promise a continuance of this series,
and further issues will follow shortly. We are grateful for the
reception given to those already issued, and have tried to
benefit by many helpful criticisms received for which we arc
thankful.

Suggestions and criticisms will be welcomed by us.

G.C.M.
T.H.R.

Note. — Throughout the footnotes, LXX denotes the
Septuagint, i.e., the Greek translation of the Old Testament,
made from a Hebrew text between 200 B.C. and the beginning
of the Christian era ; and MT the Massore ic Text, i.e.,
the traditional Hebrew text.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Editors' Preface . .

General Introduction

Introduction to the Book of Ruth

The Book of Ruth

Introduction to the Book of Jonah

The Book of Jonah

THE BOOKS OF

RUTH AND JONAH

IN COLLOQUIAL SPEECH.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
TEXT.

THE Books of Ruth and Jonah, Hke the rest of the Old
Testament, were written in Hebrew, Ancient Hebrew
writing was very hard to read. Only the consonants were
written, as in some modern systems of shorthand, and the
vowels had to be suppHed by the reader as he went along.
Again, just as in old English or in German, long "y" is easily
confused with " f," so in Hebrew some of the consonants, such
as " d " and " r," had such similar forms that it was hard to
distinguish them, especially in words unfamihar to the copyist.
That is why far more errors have crept into the poetical and
prophetic parts of the Old Testament than into such straight-
forward stories as Ruth and Jonah. A further difficulty was
that the writing read straight on, like some children's letters,
every word all capitals, with no divisions between the separate
words or sentences or paragraphs, with no punctuation marks or
inverted commas, and with the lines very close together. In
one respect, moreover, it was quite unhke any European writing
because it read from right to left instead of from left to right.

But the great reverence of the copyists for what they were
copying largely transcended these difficulties. The books of
Ruth and Jonah are in an excellent state of preservation, and
the few errors can usually be detected and corrected by com-
paring the Hebrew with the Septuagint, that is, the Bible of the
Greek-speaking Jews, or some other version.

One point of difference between the traditional Hebrew text
(the Massoretic text, indicated as MT) and the Septuagint
(indicated as LXX), is the position of the Book of Ruth in the
Canon. The Jews divided their Scriptures into three sections,
first the legal and historical books, then the Prophets, and last

the miscellaneous and mostly later " Writings." Our English
Bible followed the Septuagint (LXX) in placing Ruth along-
side Judges, among the historical books ; but MT put it
amongst the " Writings." As this was probably its original
position, it affords a strong argument for a late date. Its
inclusion in the Canon at all, apart from its intrinsic
beauty, " was doubtless due to its connexion by the genealogy
with David, just as Ecclesiastes was made canonical for its
supposed connexion with Solomon."

Translation :

The following translations are an attempt to lower the
barriers between the modern English reader and the meaning
and message of two of the most beautiful books in the Old
Testament. They can lay no claim to the sonorous and dignified
beauty of our familiar versions, which, however, too often convey
a sense of remoteness from present-day speech and problems.
The constant aim of the translator has been to find the words
which would in some measure reproduce for the English reader
the same impression that the original stories made on their
first hearers.

THE BOOK OF RUTH

INTRODUCTION.

Scope and Purpose of the Book.

The Book of Ruth is the exquisitely told tale of a Moabite
woman who, moved by love for her mother-in-law, left the home
and faith of her own people and migrated to Bethlehem, where,
through her marriage with Boaz, a relative of her first husband,
she became the ancestress of David, the greatest king in Hebrew
history.

Emphasis is continually laid throughout the story on the
Moabite nationality of Ruth. In order to appreciate this
insistence it must be remembered that the Deuteronomic
Code excluded any Moabite from communion with the Jews.
" An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the Assembly of
the Lord ; even to the tenth generation shall none belonging to
them enter into the Assembly of the Lord for ever " (Deut.
xxiii. 3). This prohibition became of great practical im-
portance after the return from the Exile. The Jews left behind
in Palestine had freely intermarried with their heathen neigh-
bours, and Ezra and Nehemiah, the leaders of the returning
** Zionists," quoted this passage to justify their unsparing
condemnation of such marriages. (Ezra ix. and x. and
Nehemiah xiii. 23-31). It is easy to appreciate the passionate
desire to keep Israel a holy nation, undefiled by contact with
heathenism, but the harshness with which Ezra and Nehemiah
dissolved existing marriages recalls the similar action of another
and greater ecclesiastical reformer. The marriage of the
Christian clergy had been condemned by the Western Church
over and over again before the days of Pope Gregory VII, but
he it was who made clerical ceUbacy an accomplished fact by
insisting on the actual separation of husbands and wives. Such
an outrage on the deepest instincts of human nature was not
carried through without much protest, and it can well be
imagined that Ezra's vigorous policy provoked a like revolt.
The story of Ruth should be read against that background of
gloomy fanaticism. It was a positive reminder, in an age of
narrow and bitter patriotism, that one of the noblest heroines

of Hebrew history had been " one of 'em darned furrin wummin,"
for whom nobody had a good word to say ; just as to-day the
best rebuke to Anti-Semitism is often a quiet reminder of the
nationaHty of our Lord. Some have objected that so perfect
an idyll could have had no ulterior motive, and certainly the
polemical aim is well concealed. But the modern conception of
" Art for Art's sake " is alien from the Jewish mind, and the Jew
has superlatively the gift of making a story the vehicle for the
highest spiritual truth. The Parable of the Good Samaritan by
the same means conveys the same protest against racial exclu-
siveness.

The tradition that a foreign woman had been counted worthy
to become the ancestress of the I^ord's Anointed seems histori-
cally trustworthy. As an apologia it would have lost its point
had it not been founded on fact ; " the proper names in the
story do not look like a group invented after the exile " ; and
the most natural explanation of David's action in placing his
parents under the protection of the King of Moab when
threatened by Saul (i Sam. xxii. 3, 4) is that he had family
ties with Moab.

The marriage of Ruth with Boaz raises another question which
has been thought by some to form the motive of the book.
The author lays stress on the " commendable piety of a next-
of-kin marriage ; not necessarily a levirate marriage (Deut.
XXV. 5f), for Boaz was not the levir or brother-in-law of Ruth's
dead husband, but a marriage analogous to it in principle and
object." The custom of a man marrying the childless widow
of his elder brother to give her a son who was reckoned to the
dead man, a custom which provided the puzzle problem set to
Jesus by the Sadducees, is of widespread antiquity. This
social custom was supported by both economic and religious
motives. On the one hand there was the wish to keep in the
family that valuable piece of primitive property — a wife ; and,
on the other, there was the desire, still so deeply engrained in
Indian thought, to avoid the calamity of a man dying without
leaving behind him a son to perform the sacred funeral rites.
This calamity was avoided by a legal fiction such as is often found
in primitive codes of law. Sometimes, however, the economic
and rehgious motives might come into conflict. The relative
in the story of Ruth is quite prepared to buy in his cousin's

estate to keep it in the family, but draws back when reminded
ofthe further obligation — by now apparently an act of social
supererogation — of marrying the widow. For his son would
inherit the property as well as the home of his step-father and
the real father would enjoy only a temporary usufruct.

It may be noted that the Book of Ruth itself recalls the still
more desperate deed of that other childless widow, Tamar,
to obtain her rights, when defrauded by Onan. According to
the Old Testament genealogies of Ruth iv. 19-22 and i Chron.
ii. 4-13, and also the genealogy given in Matt. i. 2-16, the
sons of both these women, Ruth and Tamar, stood in the direct
Davidic line. The Matthean genealogy mentions only two
other women as ancestresses of Jesus, Bathsheba, the paramour
of David, and Rahab. The latter is apparently to be identified
with the prostitute of Jericho, whose assistance to the early
invaders of Canaan won her high Rabbinic estimation, and who
is here rewarded with the honour of mothering that highly
respectable landed proprietor of Bethlehem, none other than
Boaz himself ! Dr. Moffatt has suggested that the author of a
Gospel which sought to persuade Jewish Christians that Christ
and His Church were for Gentile as well as Jewish believers,
selected these four women for the sake of their foreign origin,
Tamar and Rahab being Canaanites, Bathsheba a Hittite by
marriage, and Ruth a Moabite. In particular, Ruth's marriage
into the Davidic line would typify the admission of the Gentiles
into the Kingdom. Others imagine that they were mentioned
because they had lain under the same suspicion as the Virgin
Mary herself. This theory may be dismissed^ and yet there is
something akin in the character, though not in the situation, of
Ruth with that later mother who, according to this Gospel, also
gave birth to her first-born in the little hill-town of Bethlehem,

For Ruth is the most beautiful woman character in the Old
Testament. She has given expression to the fideHties of love
in words which will endure as long as the world endures. It
is easy to love the lovely, but Ruth's devotion was lavished
upon a sorrow-stricken and embittered old mother-in-law.
She cherished Naomi with large sacrifice, wise forethought and
untiring service, until she awakened in the old woman a like
self-forgetting affection for the daughter-in-law who was
" better to her than seven sons." Her tenderness was balanced

with strength. With gentle firmness she overcame Naomi's
objections, nor did her grateful courtesy to Boaz hinder
her from insisting on the obligations that he owed the
dead. Yet she accepted the advice of her mother-in-law, and
her faith in human nature made it possible for her to place
herself completely in the power of Boaz. Her faith was not
betrayed. Boaz was pious as well as prudent and prosperous ;
a trifle pompous, maybe, but full of good sense. He met an
embarrassing situation with consummate tact. In short, he
was one of those stolid, unimaginative, God-fearing men who
are so often rewarded with heroic mates. Naomi is a shrewd
old peasant woman, able to forget her own sorrows in the desire
to do her best for her young daughter-in-law, ready to exploit
Ruth's charms in a stratagem akin to Tamar's, but of more
prosperous issue, thanks to the sterling character of Boaz.

It is the delineation of these characters by a master hand which
earned for the Book of Ruth Goethe's praise as " the loveliest
little idyll that tradition has transmitted to us." How great is
the relief to turn to these pages from the bloody records of the
Book of Judges ! Here, amidst the turmoil of social anarchy
and the wild acts of tribal hatreds, we find, like the wayside
lilies flowering amid the mire of Nazareth, the simple courtesies
of country life and the unsoiled beauty of human love. Through
the quiet ways of human relationships of fidelity and trust, God
was working His purposes out.

Author and DaU.

The author of the Book of Ruth is unknown and its date
uncertain. Though the story is set in the days of the Judges,
it cannot have been written before the period of the monarchy,
since its climax is the birth of King David. Probably it belongs
to a much later age, when King David, like our King Alfred,
had become almost a legendary hero and his figure loomed large
through the mists of time. This agrees with the view advanced
in an earlier paragraph, that the book was written in opposition
to the harsh policy of Ezra and Nehemiah as late as the fifth
century B.C., after the Return from the Exile.

RUTH

In the days when the land was under the Judges, a man from
Bethlehem in Judah was forced by famine to emigrate to Moab,
along with his wife and his two sons. The man's name was
Ehmelech, his wife's was Naomi, and his two sons were called
Mahlon and Chihon, — all Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah.
On reaching Moab they settled there. Here Ehmelech,
Naomi's husband, died, and she was left a widow, with her two
sons, who both married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth by
name. For about ten years they all lived together there, until
both Mahlon and Chihon also died. Then the woman, having
lost her two children as well as her husband, set about leaving
Moab with the help of her daughters-in-law, for news had reached
her while in Moab that Yahweh had taken pity on His people
and sent them food. So she left the place where she had been
living, and she and her two daughters-in-law took the road to
Judah.

*' Come, you must both go back to your mother's house,"
said Naomi to her daughters-in-law. *' May Yahweh be as
good to you as you have been to the dead and to me. God grant
that you may each of you find a home and a husband."

Then she kissed them good-bye, but they burst out crying,
and said with tears :

" Oh no ! we will go on with you to your people."

But Naomi said, " Go home, my daughters. Why should you
go with me .? Have I any more sons to come who could be your
husbands ?^ Go home, my daughters,^ for I am too old now
to get another husband. Even though I had not given up hope,
though I were to get a husband this very night and sons came to
me, would you be wilhng to wait until they were grown-up ?
Would you deny yourselves husbands for their sakes ? No,
my daughters. I am grievously distressed for you, but the hand
of Yahweh has been raised against me."

^ An allusion to the custom of levirate marriage, that it the marriage of a
childless widow with her brother-in-law (Lat. Levir) to secure a son who could
be reckoned to the dead man. See Introduction.

* Omit, with the Syriac and a MS. of LXX, " Go your ways."

At this they burst into tears again and sobbed. Then Orpah
kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth still clung to her.

" See," said Naomi, " your sister-in-law has gone back to the
home and faith of her own people. Will you not follow her
back ? "

" Entreat me not to leave you nor to go home instead of going
with you," Ruth repHed. " For where you go I will go, and where
you stay, I will stay ; your people shall be my people, and your
God my God. Where you die, will I die, and there will I be
buried. May the curse of Yahweh be upon me if aught but
death part you and me."

When Naomi saw that Ruth had made up her mind to go with
her she gave up trying to dissuade her. So they went on to-
gether until they came to Bethlehem.

Now when they entered Bethlehem the whole city was in a
stir about them.

" Can this be Naomi ? " the women folk were asking.

But she said to them,

" Call me no longer by the sweet name of ' Naomi,'' rather
call me by the bitter name of ' Mara,'* for bitterly indeed has
the Almighty dealt with me. I went away full and Yahweh
has brought me home again empty. Why call me * Naomi,*
seeing that Yahweh has punished me and the Almighty has
afflicted me ? "

So Naomi came home and her daughter-in-law, Ruth the
Moabitess, with her,3 and they reached Bethlehem just as the
barley harvest was beginning.

Now there was a kinsman of Naomi's husband whose name
was Boaz. He was well-to-do and belonged to the same clan
as EHmelech.

One day Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi,

" Let me go down to the harvest-fields and glean among the
sheaves behind anyone who is kind enough to give me
permission."

^ In Hebrew the name meani " Pleasant."

* In Hebrew the name means " Bitter."

3 Omit " who came from Moab " aa a marginal note, accidentally included,
perhaps inserted fromii. 6.

" Yes, go, my daughter," was the reply.

So off she went, and when she came to the fields she began to
glean after the reapers, and happened to hit on the field
belonging to Boaz, the relative of Ehmelech.

Then, as it chanced, Boaz himself came out from Bethlehem
and greeted the reapers.

" Yahweh be with you," he said.

" And may He bless you, too," they replied.

Then Boaz said to his man in charge of the reapers, " Whose
girl is this ? "

" It's the Moabite girl who came back with Naomi from
Moab," the man answered. " She asked permission to glean and
gather among the shocks after the reapers. So she came and
has been busy ever since early morning without a moment's
rest."^

" Listen to me, my girl," Boaz then said to Ruth, " Do not
go gleaning in any other field and do not wander away from here,
but keep close to my women. Watch to see which field they are
reaping and follow behind them. I have given orders to my
young men that they are not to touch you. And when you
feel thirsty, go to the water-jugs and help yourself to the water
they have drawn."

Then she flung herself on the ground at his feet and said to
him,

" Why have you been so kind to me ? Why should you take
so much notice of me whom nobody knows here ? "

" I have heard all about what you have done for your mother-
in-law since her husband's death," Boaz said in reply to her,
" how you have left your father and mother and your native
land to come and Hve amongst strangers. May Yahweh make
it up to you, and may He who is the God of Israel, under whose
wings you have now come to take refuge, give you a full reward."

" I hope I may prove worthy of your kindness, sir," she said,
" for you have cheered and comforted me. Even though I am
not one of your servants yet I am at your service."

At the dinner-hour Boaz said to her,

^ MT has "her dwelling in the house is short," but is probably corrupt.
The LXX and the Vulgate suggest that the above translation represents the
original sense.

" Come here and help yourself to a piece of bread and dip
it into the wine."

So she sat down alongside the reapers and he^ passed across
to her some popped corn. She ate as much as she wanted and
had some left over. When she got up to go on gleaning, Boaz
gave orders to his men,

" Let her glean right among the shocks and do not interfere
with her. Pull out some ears for her, too, from the bundles.
Leave them on the ground for her to glean and do not hinder
her."

So she stayed gleaning in the field until nightfall, when she
beat out what she had gleaned, and it came to nearly a bushel of
barley. Then she took it with her and went back into the city.
After she had shown* her mother-in-law her gleanings she
brought out the food she had saved and gave it to her.

" Where did you go and glean to-day ? " said her mother-in-
law to her. " Where were you working ? Blessings on the man
who took so much notice of you ! "

Then Ruth explained to her mother-in-law with whom she
had been working, and said,

" Boaz is the name of the man with whom I was working
to-day."

" God bless him," said Naomi to her daughter-in-law,
" Yahweh's goodness does not fail the living nor the dead ! "
Then she added, " That man is a relative of ours who has a duty
to us."

" Yes," rejoined Ruth the Moabitess, " and he told me
that I was to keep close to his workers until they had finished
harvesting."

" You would do well, my daughter, to stay with his women,"
Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, " and then you will
come to no harm in any other field."

So Ruth stayed with the women working for Boaz and gleaned
until the end of both the barley and wheat harvests and then
went backs home to her mother-in-law.

' " he " is to be preferred to " they."

* MT has "her mother-in-law saw," but a slight vowel change improves
the sense.

3 So with Vulgate. MT has " she stayed with. "

One day Naomi said to her daughter-in-law,

" Shall I not try to find a home for you, my daughter, that
you may be properly provided for ? Now how about our
relative Boaz, whose women you were with ? See now, he is
going to winnow barley to-night down at the threshing-floor.
Make yourself look as nice as you can,^ put on your best clothes
and go down to the threshing-floor, but do not let the man know
who you are till he has finished supper. Then when he lies
down, notice carefully the spot where he is lying. Go in and
lift up the covering at his feet and lie down and he wdll tell
you what to do."

" I will do as you say," repHed Ruth.

So she went down to the threshing-floor and did just as her
mother-in-law had told her. When Boaz had eaten and drunk
enough to make him merry he went and lay down on the edge
of a heap of corn. Then she crept up stealthily, lifted the cover-
ing at his feet and lay down. But in the middle of the night
the man started up out of his sleep and, turning suddenly,
he saw a woman lying at his feet.

" Who are you ? " he said.

" I am Ruth your servant," she answered, " and I ask you
to spread your cloak over your servant,* for you have a duty by
me.

" May Yahweh bless you, my girl," he said, " for the right
feeling you have always shown, especially here, in not going after
any of the young men, rich or poor. And now, my girl, have
no fear. I vnll do for you all you ask, since everybody knows
you are a virtuous woman. Now it is true that I am a
relative, but there is a nearer relative than I. Stop here
to-night and then, in the morning, if he is wdlling to do his duty
by you, well and good. Let him do it. But if he will not do
his duty by you, then, as God lives, I will do it myself. Lie
down again till morning."

So she lay at his feet until morning. But she got up before
it was light enough for anyone to be recognised, as Boaz thought

^ Hebrew is literally " Wash and anoint yourself."
* By this sjrmbolic act dainung her as his wife.

it was better that her visit to the threshing-floor should not
be known.

" Hand me the wrap you are wearing," he said. " Now,
hold it out."

And while she held it out he poured into its folds a bushel*
of barley and helped her on with it again. Then she* went back
to the city.

When she got home her mother-in-law asked,

" Well,3 my daughter f "

Then Ruth told her how the man had behaved.

" He gave me this bushel of barley," she said, " for he told
me I was not to go back empty-handed to my mother-in-law."

" Wait quietly, my daughter," said Naomi, " until you see
how it all turns out, for the man will not rest unless he settles
the matter this very day."

Meanwhile Boaz went up to the city gate and sat down there.
When he saw go by the relative of whom he had spoken, he
called out to him,

" Hi ! you there ! Come over here and sit down."

He crossed over to him and sat down. Then Boaz asked ten
of the city counsellors to sit down along with them. When
they had taken their seats he addressed the relative.

" Naomi," he said, " who has just come back from Moab,
has made up her mind to sell the property which belonged to our
cousin EHmelech, so I thought I would let you know of it, to give
you the chance of publicly buying it in before these counsellors.
If you wish to buy it in, do so, but if not,-* tell me frankly,
because I want to know. For no one else has a claim before
you, and I come after you."

" Very well, I wish to buy it in," he rephed.

' Hebrew " 6 measures " perhaps 6 omers, which would be roughly
equivalent to a bushel.

«MT"he."

3 Hebrew, " Who are you ? " meaning " How have you got on ? "

♦ MT has " if he will not," an obvioui misreading corrected in many
MSS and versions.

".When you buy the property from Naomi," went on
Boaz, "you must also take Ruth^ the Moabitcss, the widow
of the late heir, to keep up the entail on the property of
the deceased."*

" Then I cannot buy it in," said the relative, " without
impoverishing my own estate. You can have my right in the
matter, for I do not mean to exercise it myself."

It was an ancient custom in Israel that contracts of buying
and selling were sealed by one man taking off his sandal and
giving it to the other man. That used to be the custom
in Israel.

So the relative took off his sandal as he said to Boaz,

*' Buy it for yourself."

Then Boaz addressed the counsellers and everyone else
present, saying,

" You are witnesses this day that I have agreed to buy from
Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to
Chilion and Mahlon. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the
widow of Mahlon, I have also agreed to take as my wife, to
keep up the entail on the property of the deceased so that his
Hne may not die out. To all these things you are vdtnesses
this day.

" We are," they all replied, counsellors included. " God
grant that your new bride may be another Rachel or Leah,
from whom sprang the house of Israel. May you prosper in
Ephrathah and your name become renowned3 in Bethlehem.
May this young woman by God's help bring you children who
shall make your house famous like the house of Perez,^ whom
Tamar bore to Judah."

' MT has " you must also buy it from Ruth," but the Vulgate and Syriac
give the correct sense.

* Although the transaction was not a strict levirate marriage, for neither the
relative nor Boaz were brothers to Mahlon, yet Boaz's point is that whoever
marries Ruth will have only a temporary usufruct in the property as it will
pass to their child, who will inherit both the estate and the name of Ruth's
first husband. This explains the relative's refusal. In the appended
genealogical tabic, however, Ruth's child is reckoned as the son of Boaz.

3 MT has " may you proclaim .a name," but " may your name be
proclaimed " (or become renowned) is supported by the LXX.

* Mentioned as ancestor of Boaz : see genealogy.

So Boaz took Ruth into his home. They lived together as
man and wife and God blessed them with a son. Then the
women neighbours said to Naomi,

" Give thanks to Yahweh, for from to-day He will never again
leave you without someone to look after you. May the boy
win a name for himself in the history of Israel. He will renew
your youth and be the stay of your declining years, for he is the
child of your devoted daughter-in-law, who is better to you than
seven sons."

Naomi picked up the child and pressed it to her breast and
became its nurse. And her women neighbours said,

" We must give Naomi's baby a name." So they called him
Obed. And he became the father of Jesse, the father of David.

THE FAMILY TREE OF PEREZ.^
Perez.

Hezron.

Ram.

Amminadab.
Nahshon.

Salmon.

BOAZ.

■ I

Obed.

Jesse.

David.

^ A later addition, perhaps borrowed from i Chron. ii as it stands. Its
aim is to relate David to the house of Judah through Perez, and therefore it
reckons Obed as the son of Boaz, whereas from the standpoint of the author
of Ruth, he was to be reckoned as the son of Mahlon.

THE BOOK OF JONAH

INTRODUCTION.

Scope and Purpose of the Book.

According to this familiar story, the prophet Jonah was
commanded by Yahweh, the God of Israel, to preach against
Nineveh, capital of the hated Assyrians. His refusal cost him
three days inside a great fish. When he obeyed Yahweh's
renewed command, it was only to find his prophecy of
destruction nulHfied by the immediate repentance of the
Ninevites. Thereupon the disappointed prophet blamed God
for His mercy and justified his earlier refusal on the ground that
all along he had known God was like that, " gracious and full
of compassion, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy," only too
ready to let His foes slip through His fingers. But Yahweh
reminded Jonah of his own selfish pity for a gourd vine that had
afforded him but a noonday's shelter. How much more, then,
should God have compassion upon man, the work of His hands !
The babes at their mothers' breasts, nay, the very beasts of the
fields, none could be outside the shelter of His love.

Interpreted literally, the story is full of both psychological
and physical improbabilities. Besides the miraculous adven-
ture inside the fish, there is a miraculous gourd-vine which
springs up in a single night. But, greater miracle than either,
the immediate repentance of a vast city follows on a single
sentence spoken by an unknown foreigner. The story is clearly
not meant to be a record of historical fact. Once this is frankly
recognised, all the difficulties about the details of the story melt
away. It is as idle to ask whether the whale actually swallowed
Jonah as to enquire whether the wolf actually swallowed Red
Riding Hood's grandmother. Both incidents belong to the realm
of fancy, not of fact. We are in the magic world of folk-lore.
But, because the fantastic setting of the Book of Jonah enshrines
the highest revelation of the all-embracing love of God which the
Old Testament contains, the story may more appropriately
be described as a parable than as a mere folk-tale. In spirit
as well as in form Jonah takes rank with Jesus'sown parables of
the Good Samaritan and of the Prodigal Son. Man's universal

capacity for repentance, the exclusiveness and intolerance of
the self-righteous, the ready response of the sinful, the moral
intolerance of a Jew as contrasted with the humanity and
spiritual insight of Gentiles, are all illustrated in this little
story. But, supremely, the Book of Jonah anticipates the teach-
ing of Jesus on the all-embracing love of the Heavenly Father,
without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground, yet in whose
sight one of the least of His little ones is of much more value
than many sparrows. Was it in Yahweh's closing appeal
to Jonah that Jesus found His favourite argument from human
pity to the greater compassion of God ? At any rate Jesus
knew this story well. When asked for a miraculous sign to
authenticate His preaching. He declined, and quoted the moral
and spiritual appeal of the preaching of Jonah to Nineveh as the
only sort of sign He Himself would give His own generation
(see Luke xi. 29, 30, Matt. xvi. 4 and xii. 39 and 41). Matt,
xii. 40, which interprets the sign of Jonah as the parallel between
the three days and nights spent by Jonah in the fish and those
the Son of Man was to spend in the grave, is a gloss which
misses the point. There is no suggestion in the story that the
Ninevites were aware of, much less influenced by, the wonderful
adventures of the prophet. But, further, if the sign of Jonah
to Nineveh had been his miraculous escape from the fish and
not the spiritual appeal of his preaching, Jesus would hardly
have quoted him in support of His refusal to commend His own
preaching by a miraculous sign. Jesus used the story as an
illustration, as an evangelist might quote the parable of the
Prodigal Son. In neither case can such a quotation be adduced
as involving any judgment on the historical reahty of the story.
As a matter of fact, the adventures related in the Book
of Jonah are woven round a real person. The prophet
Jonah, son of Amittai, lived a generation before the prophet
Amos : but all that history knows of him is that he prophesied
to the youthful King Jeroboam H the reconquest of his lands
from heathendom (2 Kings xiv. 25^). Our author probably
selected this shadowy prophetic figure as the hero of his parable,
because his one association was with a policy of narrow nation-
ahsm. The name Jonah means " Dove," often a type of later
Judaism, and some would see in the Book of Jonah an elaborate
historical allegory in which Jonah stands for ** Israel as a whole

in thrir national reluctance to fulfil their Divine mission to the
world." According to this interpretation, Jonah's adventure!
inside the whale are an allegory of the national Exile into Babylon
and the Return. In support of this view they quote Jeremiah,
who certainly depicts the Babylonian Exile under the figure of a
Dragon first swallowing and then disgorging its prey (chap. li.).
It may be granted that Jonah stands, in a general way, for his
fellow countrymen, so swift in condemnation of their heathen
neighbours, so slow to learn the wider mercies of God ; but it is
unnecessary to press the identification in detail. The episode
of the fish has so many parallels in folk-lore that it is un-
necessary to look for an allegorical significance, and the whole
story is parable rather than allegory. Like the Book of Ruth,
with which it is contemporary, the Book of Jonah was a simple
tale, but it had a moral with a very pointed national application.

Author and Date.

This book is a story about the ninth century prophet, Jonah.
It is clearly not written by him. Its unknown author wrote
many centuries later, when Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, had
been destroyed by the Babylonians in 612 B.C. and its greatness
was no more than a legend. The Assyrian monarchs were never
known to their contemporaries as Kings of Nineveh ; the
" King of Nineveh " in the Book of Jonah is simply the con-
ventional king of folk-lore. The author is familiar with
Jeremiah's lesson that God's judgments upon the nations were
conditional on repentance (see esp. Jer. xviii. 7, 8), and also
with the universalist and international teaching of the Great
Unknown Prophet of the Exile, who wrote Isaiah, chaps,
xl.-lv. The Book of Jonah stands alongside the Book of
Ruth, as a protest, under the guise of a story, against the
stifling of these loftier views by the narrow nationaHsm of later
Judaism. Its date Hes somewhere between 400-200 B.C.,
when the returned Exiles in Palestine were struggling to main-
tain their national existence while ringed round with powerful
heathen neighbours.

The Psalm in chap. ii. interrupts the sequence of the story,
and whether or no it is by the author of the rest of the book, it
can hardly be in its original position. As a thanksgiving for

deliverance from a literal or figurative death by drowning, it is
quite inappropriate to Jonah's position while still in the belly
of the fish. The most probable explanation of its intrusion
into the story seems to be that some copyist placed it in the
margin after ii. lo, as an appropriate expression of Jonah's
gratitude for his escape. Then a later copyist noticed that the
only mention of the prophet praying occurred while he was still
inside the fish (ii. i) and accordingly shifted the Psalm to that
place without considering its appropriateness.

JONAH

Once upon a time the word of Yahweh came to Jonah,
Amittai's son :

" Get up," said Yahweh, " and go to the great city of
Nineveh and denounce it ; for its wickedness stinks in my
nostrils."

Up got Jonah, but he fled to Tarshish, to get away from
Yahweh, He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship
bound for Tarshish ; he paid his passage and went on board
to go with its crew to Tarshish, out of Yahweh's sight.
But out at sea Yahweh overwhelmed them with a hurricane, and
the sea grew so stormy that the ship seemed to be breaking up.
The sailors became panic-stricken, and each of them started
crying out to his own god. Then to lighten the ship they threw
overboard the ship's cargo. Now Jonah had gone down to the
hold. As he was Ipng there fast asleep the captain came
across him and spoke to him.

" What are you doing asleep .? Get up and pray to your God.
He might have a thought for us and save us from destruction."

Meanwhile the sailors were saying to one another :

" Come, let us draw lots to find out who is to blame for this
disaster."

So they drew lots and the lot fell upon Jonah.

Then they said to him ; " Tell us, pray,^ what is your busi-
ness here .? Where do you hail from ? What's your country
and people ? "

" I am a Jew," he answered them, " and I am flying* from
Yahweh, the God of Heaven, the Creator of land and sea."

"^ What a thing to do3 ! " they exclaimed, "What shall we
do wath you that we may lay the gale ? " For the sea was
growing more and more stormy.

' Omit as a marginal note, accidentally included, "who is to blame for
this disaster } "

* MT reads, " I worship Yahweh," but the change of a single letter gives
better sense.

3 Omit as a marginal note, accidentally included, " For the men knew that
he was flying from Yahweh, because he had told them so. And they said
to him."

" Take and fling me into the sea," he said to them. '* Then
the sea will be calmed for you, because it is my fault, I know,
that this terrible tempest has come down on you."

The men, however, rowed hard to get back to shore, but all
in vain, for they found that the sea was growing more and more
stormy. So they called on Yahweh, and said, " O Yahweh,
we ask Thee not to let us suffer for this man's death, neither
hold us blood-guilty. We are innocent. This is Thy doing,
O Yahweh, for so it has seemed good to Thee."

Whereupon they took Jonah and flung him into the sea and
the sea became calm.

Then the men were filled with great awe of Yahweh, and
with solemn vows they offered sacrifice to Him. Now Yahweh
sent a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah remained inside the
fish three days and three nights. While he was inside the fish
Jonah prayed to Yahweh his God. And Jonah said :

'" Out of my anguish I called

To Yahweh and He made answer ;

From the pit of Sheol I cried

And Thou didst give ear to my plaint.

Into Ocean's midst Thou didst fling me
And round me swirled the flood ;
Thy breakers were all about me.
And over me swept Thy tides.

Far from Thy sight, said I,
Hast Thou not flung me ;
Yet to the hope I cling.
Thy holy house once more to see.

In the deadly embrace of the waters
Was I engulfed by the deep ;
Round my head were the sea-weeds twining
Midst the roots of the hills beneath.

^ The present position of this Psalm as uttered by Jonah while still inside
the fish is inappropriate. A more suitable position would be after the
following verse, as the expression of Jonah's thanksgiving for his
deliverance.

Down, down had I gone to that land
Whose portals are barred for ever ;
Yet up from the pit Thou didst raise me
To life again, Yahweh, my God.

When to my fainting soul
Came the Lord to mind,
Then did I pray to Thee,
Within Thy house once more to be.

'[Those who set store by vain idols
Forsake their true refuge.
But I will sacrifice unto Thee
With loud thanksgiving ;
And I will perform what I have vowed.
To Yahweh belongeth salvation."]

Then Yahweh spoke to the fish and it threw up Jonah on to
the dry land.

A second time the word of Yahweh came to Jonah.

" Get up," said Yahweh, " and go to the great city of
Nineveh and denounce it as I shall bid you speak."

Then Jonah got up and went to Nineveh as Yahweh had
bidden him. Now Nineveh was a huge city, great even in the
sight of God. To walk through it took three days. Jonah
went for a day's journey into the city and then he began
to prophesy.

" Three days* more," he said, " and Nineveh shall be over-
thrown."

At once the Ninevites believed the word of God. They all
put on sackcloth from the highest to the lowest, and when the
tidings reached the King of Nineveh, he got up from his throne,
and doffing his royal robes, he, too, covered himself with sack-
cloth and sat in ashes. Then he sent heralds to make this
proclamation throughout Nineveh :

^ These concluding verses do not form part of the original psalm, but «r«
probably the pious comment of some copyist.

« So LXX, but MT has " forty."

" By Order of the King and His Nobles !

" Take Notice ! A Fast is proclaimed for Man and Beast,
Sheep and Oxen ! None may eat or drink, but all shall put on
Sackcloth and pray to God with all their Might. Further,
every Man is to refrain from Lawlessness and any Act of
Violence."

For, said the king, " Who knows whether God may not
relent and His fierce anger be appeased so that we escape
destruction .? "

And indeed, when God saw what they were doing and how
they were abandoning their wicked ways. He relented of the
evil that He had said He would do to them and He stayed His
hand.

But Jonah was bitterly angry and he prayed to Yahweh :

" See now, O Yahweh, was not this just what I said would
happen wliile I was still at home .? That was why I was so
eager to fly to Tarshish. For I knew Thee, that Thou wert a God
full of grace and pity, slow to be moved to anger, but abounding
in mercy and swift to relent of evil. Now, therefore, Yahweh,
I implore Thee, take away my life. I were better dead than
aHve."

" Are you doing right to be angry .? " asked Yahweh.

But Jonah left the city and sat down to the east of it to see
what was going to be the city's fate.' Then Yahweh'* sent a
gourd-vine to grow up as a shelter over Jonah's head and to
relieve him in his distress. The vine gave great pleasure to
Jonah, but at dawn the next day Yahweh sent a worm which
attacked the vine and it withered away. Moreover, when the
sun was up, Yahweh sent a scorching east wind and the sun
beat down on Jonah's head, until he began to grow faint. He
wished he were dead, saying to himself :

" I were better dead than alive."

Then Yahweh said to Jonah once again : " Are you doing
right to be angry ? "

" Yes," replied Jonah, " mortally angry."

' Omit V. 6, " There he made himself a hut and «at down under it in the
ihadc," a glois that destroys the significance of the vine.

* MT has " Yahweh God " and in vv. 7, 8, 9 '* God " instead of Yahweh.

3ut Yahweh said : " You had pity on the vine, although you
never toiled over it, nor made it grow. It came up in a night
and in a night it was dead. Then should not I have pity on the
mighty city of Nineveh, in which are more than six score
thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their
left, and many cattle too ? "

*7 iJs

l/2i.

BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN COLLOQUIAL SPEECH.
Edited by G. Currie Martin, M.A., B.D., and T. H. Robinson, M.A., D.D.

NUMBER FIVE.

THE BOOKS OF

JOEL, NAHUM, AND
OBADIAH

TRANSLATED INTO COLLOQUIAL ENGLISH BY

J. GARROW DUNCAN, B.D., F.S.A. (Scot.)

G. CURRIE MARTIN, M.A., B.D.
CONSTANCE M. COLTMAN, M.A., B.D.

:lo'

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English by the Rev. T. H. Robinson, M.A., D.D.

Paper covers, 6d. net. Second Impression.

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EngHsh by the Rev. T. H. Robinson, M.A., D.D.

Cloth limp covers, is. net. Second Impression.

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EngHsh by the Rev. Professor Adam C. Welch, D.D.,
of New College, Edinburgh.

Cloth limp covers, is. 3d. net.

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EDITORS' PREFACE

THE modern translations that exist of parts or of the whole
of the Old Testament are, as a rule, too expensive and
too scholarly for the ordinary reader. In the case of the
New Testament excellent help has been afforded by many
recent translators, notably by Dr. Moffatt. In a wide experi-
ence among working men and women we have found frequent
requests for a simple version of the Old Testament in similar
language to that employed in the modern versions of the New
Testament. By the generous help of our colleagues we are
able to present a translation that is well within the reach of
everyone, and that rests upon the best results of modern
scholarship.

Literary elegance has been sacrificed to clearness of expression
and simplicity of language. In the present issue the three
prophets, translated by different hands, vary greatly in style in
the original, and this has been, to some extent^ preserved in the
versions here given. The three books have certain literary
connections with one another, which render it convenient to
have them in one volume.

We can now definitely promise a continuance of this series,
and further issues will follow shortly. We are grateful for the
reception given to those already issued, and have tried to benefit
by many helpful criticisms received, for which we are thankful.

Suggestions and criticisms will be welcomed by us.

G.C.M.
T.H.R.

Note. — Throughout the footnotes LXX denotes the Septua-
gint, i.e., the Greek translation of the Old Testament, made
from a Hebrew text between 200 B.C. and the beginning of
the Christian era ; and MT the Massoretic Text, i.e., the
traditional Hebrew text.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Editors' Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

THE BOOK OF JOEL :

J. Garrow Duncan, B.D., F.S.A. (Scot.)

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . 5

Translation of the Book . . . . . . . . 13

THE BOOK OF NAHUM :

G. CuRRiE Martin, M.A., B.D.

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . 26

Translation of the Book . . . . . . . . 29

THE BOOK OF OBADIAH :

Constance M. Coltman, M.A., B.D.

Introduction .. .. .. .. .. 35

Translation of the Book . . . . . . . . 37

- THE BOOK OF JOEL

INTRODUCTION.

SOMEWHERE about the year 400 B.C., or fifty years after
the time of Ezra, a Jewish writer imbued with the
enthusiasm of Ezra for the cult of Yahweh, discovered
a collection of oracles or discourses which were understood to
have been written by an earlier prophet named Joel.

From the parts of the book assignable to him (ch. i,-ii. 27)
Joel appears to have lived probably some centuries earlier, though
of this we cannot be certain, and all memory of the man seems
to have perished. Only his words remained.

The pious Jew, who rediscovered them, found that by some
slight additions, omissions and alterations, the book might be
adapted to suit the needs of the end of the fifth century B.C.,
and used to propagate among the dejected people, who had just
returned from exile in Babylonia, the teaching of the great Day
of Yahweh with its promise of the restoration of Judah and
Jerusalem to their former glory and place among the nations.

The book, which was originally a vivid and accurate description
of a dreadful series of locust invasions accompanied by long-
continued drought, a day of visitation from an angry Yahweh,
has therefore been converted, by the addition of the passages
ii. 28-iii., and other changes, into a description of the great Day
of the Judgment of the Nations predicted in Ezekiel xxxviii.-
xxxix.

THE CONDITIONS OF THE PERIOD.

I.—SOCIAL.

Our uncertainty as to the exact date at which Joel himself
wrote robs us of all assistance from external evidence regarding
the conditions of his period. We are therefore thrown back
on the book itself.

I, From the disasters suffered and the blessings promised
we gather that grain and fruit growing was the staple industry,

and that tKe people laboured under several great disadvantages.
The first of these was, as it still is, the insufficient supply of
water. ^ The second was the consequent prolonged droughts ;
and the third the frequent occurrence of fires by which both
pasture and trees were destroyed. These same causes made the
land a real prey to locusts, and the position of the country
as the battlefield of Eastern against Western nations made it
liable to devastation and pillage at any time. The prominence
given to the wild beasts of the veldt suggests also that owing to
recent devastation the land had been allowed to run waste, and
become the prey of these " beasts of the field."

The people lived, therefore, in a state of ceaseless expectation
of disaster, as is clearly reflected in both parts of the book. How
keenly alive to this they were, and how quickly they awakened
to its seriousness, is shown in ii. 6 and i. 12. The picture is
true of any period of Israel's history, though it would be an
advantage to know what period is referred to. The water
problem was prominent in Joel's mind, for he reminds them,
in the song of thanksgiving, that Yahweh has sent the former
and the latter rains as aforetime. But the Editor goes much
further, and promises a permanent solution of the difficulty
(iii. 18) ; which shows that it was being more keenly felt with
the lapse of time.

What the book therefore describes is a hand-to-mouth
existence among the rural population. Famines were the rule,
and not the exception. At the most they could store up for
such emergency only the surplus crop of each year, and the
insufficiency of that is clearly shown in i. 17. The " store-
houses " mentioned there do not refer to extensive public
buildings, such as the granaries we find in Egypt, but to what
might more properly be called private cupboards made of mud,
such as the Arabs have used all along and use still in their houses
in Egypt.

The one thing needed for the peace of a people dwelling in
such insecurity was some guarantee of assured results for their
labours. Both parts of the book, therefore, promise the very
things needed — abundance of water, sure crops of corn and
fruit, security against locust invasions, and permanent freedom

^ Hence the severity of the punishment in ii, ^o.

from the devastation wrought by enemies. Compare ii. 19
with iii. 17-20, where this security is more definitely assured.

2. Regarding social organisation, the book gives httle infor-
mation. No king is mentioned. This is most Hkely due to the
Editor, who wrote at a date when there was no king. Thf
Priests are the only officials named. They are the most promi-
nent class in the book, which again agrees with the late date at
which the Editor re-wrote the book.

In i. 14 some say ih^ Elders are appealed to as a class to collect
the people, but in ii. 16 they are mentioned as having been them-
selves gathered together with the rest of the people. The word
" Elders " does not describe a class of officials in Joel's part of the
book, but means simply " men of age and experience," and such
authority as they possess rests on these two quahfications. In
the Editor's time, however, " Elders " were a separate class of
officials ; and he is probably responsible for the change of text
in i. 14, which makes Joel address the Elders and bid them collect
all the people.

The Prophet holds the usual position. He is a man specially
gifted and inspired by God with a special message for his day,
though in some ways Joel is unique, i. 2 also shows that the
people were in the habit of assembhng to hear the prophet's
message.

The only other class mentioned are the slaves, male and female
(ii. 29). As a class these existed all through Israel's history,
but their position was more as children of the family, not as we
understand slavery. There is no occasion to refer to the
merchant or trading class, who inhabited the towns and villages
as the Prophet deals with an agricultural problem.

II.— RELIGIOUS.

Joel mentions no particular sin of the period, though it is
clear there is some defection from Yahweh in his mind and theirs,
which he deems it unnecessary to mention, or which the Editor
has omitted.

The verse ii. 12 shows that the people have been giving too
prominent a place to the externals of religion. " They have
been forgetting the nearness of Yahweh and His power to strike."
There was no living Faith in Him.

Yet it needed little to recall them to a fitting attitude.
They accept Joel's suggestions and admit the justice of his call
to repentance, and they rejoice in the thought of being Yahweh's
peculiar people (ii, 17). Their penitence is immediate and
complete. The idea that suffering may be sent by Yahweh for
KQs own purpose, and may ultimately become a blessing through
the restoration of proper relations between Him and them, is
quite familiar to the people. That Yahweh should repent of
the affliction which He has sent is a new attribute to Him.

The only public sin or moral backsliding Joel mentions is
drunkenness (see i. 5-8).

IIL—POLHICAL.

There is no reference to any pressing problem of foreign
politics. Joel is entirely concerned with the domestic problem
and disaster described.

How the whole picture will fit in with the Editor's period,
about 400 B.C., when Nehemiah is busy restoring the walls and
Temple of Jerusalem and re-establishing the religion of Yahweh,
may be seen by a reference to a detailed history of Israel for that
time, or to the article by Dr. A. C. Welch in The Expositor for
September, 1920.

THE POET JOEL.

The name Joel occurs in fourteen different connections in
the Old Testament, and in each instance describes a man of
power and position. It is supposed to mean " Yahweh is God,"
which exactly describes the essence of the book's message.
The Hebrew and Greek texts describe him as the son of Pethuel,
and the son of Bathuel. Other versions describe him as Joel
of Bethuel, a town identified with Beth-Zur in the Negeb.
He appears to have belonged to Judah, and Judah and
Jerusalem seem to have been the sphere where he laboured,
though some passages seem to show an intimate knowledge of
Northern Israel as well.

Some have suggested that he was, like Jeremiah, a Priest,
which is very probable, if indeed he was not High Priest

(see i. 13)*. That he was a man of property is clear from
i. 7, 16.

That he was a man of position and influence cannot be
disputed. He rehes on his influence with the people, and uses
diplomacy, both in what he says and how he says it. He
speaks with the suasive power of one who is accustomed to be
heard with respect and obeyed. He uses no harsh words. He
makes no accusations. He says nothing that will arouse oppo-
sition, or hinder the purpose which he has in view. The
prophet usually speaks with the voice of denunciation, with the
feeling all too evident that he will meet with no sympathy, and
that he is the champion of a forlorn hope. There is nothing
of this in Joel.

Even as priest or prophet he is manifestly an unusual type.
Advanced in his thinking, he was gifted with a breadth of mind
and endowed with spiritual insight not usually found among
the Priests. It seems quite probable that Joel not only was a
Priest, but also desired greatly to see reform in the Priesthood,
as well as among the people : but reasons for this statement
cannot be given here.

Perhaps the best description of him is that he was a Poet-
Preacher. His one great aim and desire is to see Yahweh
re-estabHshed in the hearts of his people, and " dwelling in
Zion," unless this latter idea belongs only to the Editor.

He has been contrasted in many ways with other prophets —
for instance, because he does not mention any great sin of the
day : because there is no rebuke for sin in the book : and because
Prayer, Fasting, and Temple Ritual seem very important in his
eyes. That he mentions no special sin and adds no rebuke is
perhaps an indication of his delicacy and his diplomatic method,
and the passages (i. 9, 14 ; ii. 16) which lay stress on the Temple
Ritual, are probably all inserted by the Editor. To accuse Joel
of ceremonialism is to misunderstand utterly the spirit of what
he wrote. He is accused of laying too great emphasis on the
importance of a solemn Fast, but it is quite plain that what he
values is the spirit that prompts it (cf. Dr. Welch, Expositor,
1920), as ii. 12 shows.

^ In 1. 13 Joel invites the Priests to " come into the Temple," a rendering
which LXX favours.

He has been called the Prophet of Pentecost, as prophesying a
universal outpouring of the Spirit upon all mankind, ii. 28-32,
however (even if w^ritten originally by him), prophesies an
outpouring of the Spirit universal only in the case of the Jews,
and only partial in the knowledge which it brings. It is note-
worthy that in Yahweh's promise of restoration and blessing
Joel does not rise to Job's conception of a state of spiritual bliss
independent of material considerations.

Bewer has said : " Joel was no great thinker, and no great
Prophet, but he was a Poet, and a Poet of no mean order."
This is fair criticism. Joel appears not to have interested
himself in the great political problems of his day, but to have
focussed his attention on domestic affairs, the material and
spiritual condition of the people, which latter was perhaps,
after all, the greatest problem of his time, as it is of all time.
His book, too, is poetry through and through.

He has a great command of language, and his style is " clear,
fluent, beautiful." His writing will bear comparison with some
of the finest in the Old Testament, and his terse, graphic, and
dramatic style is peculiarly effective. His fondness for play
upon words, and perhaps upon ideas as well, is quite a feature
of the book.

It is no wonder that people listened to him and obeyed. He
so aptly expressed their own feelings, and so carefully avoided
jarring them. He never denounces. That is the chief point
of contrast between him and other prophets. He is conciHatory.
He seeks to persuade. He would have been a " Popular
Preacher."

THE EDITOR.

As in the case of Joel, our knowledge of the Editor is gleaned
only from the book. As a writer he is vastly inferior to Joel
in style and originality. He quotes copiously, and is probably
responsible for every one of these passages in Part I. of the book
on the ground of which Joel himself has been accused of
borrowing. He quotes from Amos, Ezekiel, Obadiah, Nahum,
Isaiah ii., Isaiah i., Malachi, Zephaniah, and he knew also Micah.
He knew Old Testament Scripture well.

He was not an inspired prophet, and apparently his own name
and position were not sufficient to command the interest of his

he:i'rers. How deeply he was impressed by, and indebted to,
Ezckiel has already been pointed out. That he was the borrower
is proved by ii. 32, where he admits he is quoting (Obadiah 17).
This settles the question in most of the other quotations.

Like Joel himself, he has not reached Job's conception of
spiritual prosperity apart from material blessings, but makes
Yahweh promise both. In fact he makes Yahweh renew His
original promise of a " land flowing with milk and honey."

The two passages regarded as closely resembling Joel's style
(ii. 28-31, and iii. 9-13) suggest that he is quoting a later
composition of Joel's on Eschatology {cj. Bewer). It seems
most probable that Joel's writings were in his hands in a
fragmentary condition, unless we suppose that he ruthlessly
cut out what he wanted and threw aside the rest.

He is regarded as responsible for chapters ii. 28-iii. and the
following passages interpolated in the first part of the book :
i. 9a ; 13b ; 15 ; ii. lb ; 2a ; lib ; and 14 last clause ; and
ii. 20.

Opinions differ as to how he wished the first portion of the
book to be understood when he revised it. Either he regarded
the serious agricultural disaster as a sign of the nearness of the
Great Day of Yahweh ; or he wished us to interpret the Locust
Invasions allegorically, as representing the gathering of the
nations against Judah and Jerusalem, which would end in their
Judgment and overthrow by Yahweh on that great and terrible
day.

JOEL.

Part I.

i. I. The word of Yahweh which came to Joel, the son of
Pethuel.

ii. l-io. T^hg Invasion of the Army of Locusts.^

(a) ii. 1-3. The Warning of its coming.

Sound the signal with the horn in Zion, raise the alarm in
my holy hill ! Let all the inhabitants be roused to fear ! For
[the day of Yahweh is come, yea it is at hand, a day of darkness
and gloom, a day of clouds, yea of heavy clouds. p Spread
above the hills like twihght is a host numberless and powerful,
whose like has never been from time immemorial, nor shall be
after them unto the years of countless generations. The
drought has devoured before them, but after them it is as if
flame has scorched everything. Like the garden of Eden is the
land in front of them, but behind them a wilderness of desolation,
for nothing shall escape them.

(b) ii. 4-10. describe the advance and appearance of
this host.

Their appearance is as the appearance of horses, and as
saddle-horses so do they run. With a sound like the noise of
chariots they leap on the tops of the hills, like the crackle of
flame of fire devouring reeds, Hke a powerful army in full panoply
of war ! From their presence hearts3 quail in anguish, all faces
withdraw their ruddy glow. Like men of valour they run, as
men of war they attack.* They advance straight, each in his
own track ; they do not entangle their paths. Nor do they press
each his neighbour from behind. To a man they tread each his
own highway, as if made for himself alone, and through every

^ The original order of the text is here restored.
* The passage is an interpolation by the Editor.

3 MT has " peoples."

4 MT adds, " The wall."

obstruction that opposes them they drop to the ground without
a break in their ranks. They rush upon the city, they run upon
the wall, they leap upon the houses, in by the windows they come
like thieves.' In their presence earth seems to tremble, and the
heavens to shiver. The sun and the moon grow dark and the
stars withdraw their shining.

i. 2-12. The Poet describes the ravages of the great plague
of locusts accompanied by droughty to the assembled people.

(a) i. 2-4. Its character and extent.

A visitation of locusts was no unusual thing in Palestine.

It is the fact that on this occasion there were four successive

swarms J which makes it so memorable and unprecedented. An

ordinary visitation of locusts would not be regarded as an

occasion for a solemn call to national repentance^ but as an

item in the ordinary experience of the people.

Hear this ye men who are old in experience, and give ear all

ye inhabitants of the land ! Has ever such a thing happened

in your time, or even in the days of your fathers ? Here is a

thing to talk of to your children, and your children to their

children, and they again to the generation after them. What

the first swarm of locusts left cut and broken, the clouds of the

second attack have obHterated. What these left, the third

swarm has lapped up, and what the lappers left the succeeding

swarm has devoured.

(b) i. 5-8. Ihe distress caused to the drinkers of wine.
Rouse yourselves, you that drink to excess ! Weep and howl,

all you that drink wine, for this year's juice of the grape
that is snatched from your lips ! For a nation has come up
against my land, powerful and numberless. His teeth are the
tearing teeth of a lion, and the crunching molars of a young lion
are his. He has made my vineyard a wilderness, and my fig-tree
a mass of spHnters. He has stripped it completely. He has
cast it down. Its branches lie white. Weep, O Israel, as the
virgin bride clothed in mourning garb weeps for him who was
to have been the husband of her youth. *

» So LXX. MT has " thief."
3 So LXX.

«4

[The meal-offering and the drink-offering arc cut off from
the house of Yahweh.^] The Priests who minister at the altar
of Yahweh walk with downcast look of sadness.

(d) i. 10-12. Distress of the land, and the workers on
the land. The whole countryside is -personified and described
as mourning like the people. In the next three verses there
is a play on two Hebrew words meaning " to be withered " and
" to be ashamed.^"*

Sore oppressed is the countryside, the earth droops in sorrow ;
for the corn-crop is destroyed, the juice in the grapes that should
later have flown into the vats is dried up in the withered
twigs, and this year's oil-flow has faded away. The farmers
have no heart left ; their spirit is worn down by fruitless labour.
The harvesters* make loud lament for the wheat and barley
crops, for perished is the harvest of the countryside. The vine-
yard is wdthered, the fig-tree languishes, the pomegranate, the
palm-tree, the apple-tree, all the trees of the field wither in
shame. Joy, too, is withered and shamed from the hearts of men.

The voice of Yahweh is in this visitation.

ii. II. T^he last clause to verse II has been added by the

Editor y though some think that the whole verse^ as well as verse

10, is an interpolation by him for his own purpose.

And Yahweh has sent forth his voice in the noise of this, his

approaching army, for exceeding great is his host, yea, powerful

is his instrument that performs his command.

[For great is the day of Yahweh, and greatly to be feared.
Who shall endure it ?p

ii. 12-14. TahweFs message in this visitation.

The prophet thinks the scourge may be abated, or the evil

may be yet averted, and fellowship with Yahweh re-established

by prayer and penitence.

And now hear the message of Yahweh : " Return unto

me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and

^ Some regard 9a as interpolated by the Editor.

^ MT has " vinedressers " — change of one letter gives '* harvesters,"
which was probably the original text.

3 This clause is an interpolation by the Editor.

wailing," but rend your hearts and not your garments, and
return unto Yahweh, your God, for pitiful is he, and com-
passionate, slow of anger and abounding in love, and he is
grieving over the suffering which he has allowed to come upon
you. Who knows ? He may return to us, he may relent, and
cause this visitation to leave a blessing behind it [ — cause to be
left sacrifaces of food and drink to Yahweh your God.]'

i. 13-14. Call for a Penitential Assembly.

The prophet therefore calls for an assembly of the people,
as was the custom in any sudden great emergency {cf. 2 Chr.
XX. 3), accompanied by a fast. Confession, penitence, and
supplication were the usual features of a fast. In Ezra viii.
21, fasting is described as " afflicting the soul.^^

Only on very serious occasions was sack-cloth worn day and
night.

Gird yourselves, O Priests, with sack-cloth. Make loud
lament, you ministers who wait on the altar ! Beat your
breasts in grief ! Come into the temple, pass the nights in
sack-cloth, you servants of my God [for that sacrifices both of
food and of drink are withheld from the house of your God.p
Proclaim a holy fast, summon an assembly of the people. Bring
together the men of age and experience,* all the inhabitants of
the land to the house of Yahweh, your God, and cry unto
Yahweh.

i. 15. 7' here follows one of the several passages concerning
the Day of Tahweh interpolated by a later editor, who converted
JoeVs discourses into an eschatological treatise. Instead of
the locust invasion he has substituted the Day of Tahweh as
the great catastrophe to be averted. This passage is supposed
to be quoted from Is. xiii. 6, though some think it is an inter-
polation there too. Compare Joel ii. 2, ii. lib.

Alas for the day ! For the day of Yahweh is at hand, and
with manifestation of might from the Lord of Might will it
come.

' This clause is an interpolation by the Editor.

* MT has " O Elders " — text probably changed by the Editor.

i. 16-20. Facts which justify the call for prayer.
The food of man and beast is destroyed. The very beasts
are crying unto Tahweh, and will not man ?

The passage shows that in Palestine^ as in Egypt^ the
custom of storing grain in storehouses for emergency prevailed.
We get no definite information in the Old Testament^ but here
it is clear that they were built of sun-baked bricks, falling
easily into disrepair during the rains. Mud was used in
making sun-baked bricks in Palestine in Amorite times,
especially for thick walls. Throughout the Jewish period also
houses were mainly of these, with stone facings, and white-
washed. After the departure of the locusts, fresh seed had
been sown, which lay dormant owing to drought.
Is not food cut off from before our very eyes, joy and
rejoicing from the house of our God ? The seeds sown, on which
we rehed for the autumn food, He dormant under the clods, ^
Our stores of food saved from last year are exhausted, and our
store-house chambers are broken down. It is useless repairing
them, for, since the corn is withered, what shall we put in them r^
The beasts of burden sigh3 and the herds of oxen wander
distraught, because there is no pasture for them. Even the
flocks of sheep and goats are suffering for sin. Unto thee, O
Yahweh, is their cry,"* for fire has devoured the natural pasture
of the veldt, and flame has scorched all the trees of the country-
side. Even the wild beasts cry aloud unto thee, for dried up
are the streams and fire has devoured the pasture of the veldt,
their resting-place by night.

ii. 1 5-1 7.5 The Solemn Assembly and Prayer.

With this passage compare i Mace. vii. 36, and Judith iv.

9-15. The helpless babes and aged will move Yahweh to

pity.

They have blown the trumpet in Zion. They have

made a solemn fast. They have summoned an assembly

^ MT unintelligible. Steiner's emendation " clods " adopted.

* LXX here restores correct text.

5 The Hebrew words for " Why do the beasts sigh ? " and " What shall
we put in them ? " are so ahke that a scribe omitted part of each clause.
It is here restored.

4 MT and LXX read " do I cry."

5 MT and LXX have imperatives throughout this passage.

and gathered together the people. They have sanctified the
congregation. They have collected the old men. They have
brought in the children, even those that suck the breasts.
The bridegroom has come forth from his chamber, and the
bride from her marriage-closet. Between the porch of the
temple and the altar the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, walk
weeping and crying : " Have mercy, O Yahweh, upon thy
people, and give not thy possession to be a thing despised and a
byeword among the peoples round about. Why should they
say among the nations ' Where is their God ? ' "

ii. 18-20, 25, 26ac, 27. TahweVs Answer and Tronr.ise
of Restoration.

The verses in the following two passages are restored to
their original order.

And Yahweh had compassion on his land and showed mercy
unto his people. And Yahweh answered and said to his people :
" Behold I am sending^ you corn and grape-juice, and olive oil for
this year, and you will have abundance of each, and I will not
give you to be the sport of the nations (i.e., the political
battlefield for the peoples round about). [The enemy from the
north]^ I will remove far away from you, and I will drive him
to a land of drought and desolation, his fore-part towards the
Dead Sea and his hinder part towards the Mediterranean ;
and the smell of the carcases will arise, and their stench will
ascend, for he has wrought great destruction. And I will
restore to you the fruits^ which the locusts have eaten, the
swarmer, the lapper, the devourer, and the shearer, my great
army which I sent among you. And you will eat to the full and
be satisfied, and my people will never again be put to shame.
And you will know that in the midst of Israel am I, and I am
Yahweh, and there is none besides."

And my people will never again be put to shame.*

^ So LXX.

* This term seems to be due to the Editor. Joel probably wrote
some other phrase.

3 Some translate by " years."

* This clause and probably the whole of the last verse, is a gloss or marginal
note accidcntly included.

ii. 21-24, 26b.* Song of Joy over Restoration begun.
This passage tvas written some months at least after the
preceding. The effects oj the devastation have disappeared,
and the poet now calls upon the land, the beasts, and the people
to rejoice over the revived fertility.
Fear not, O earth, but rejoice and be glad, for Yahweh has
acted with power. Fear not, O wild beasts, for the pastures
of the veldt are growing green, the tree is sending up its fruit, the
fig-tree and the vine are yielding their strength.

And you, children of Zion, rejoice and be glad in Yahweh,
your God, who has sent you an instructor for righteousness,
and has now caused to fall upon you the autumn rains and the
spring rains as of old. See ! the threshing-floors are full of
wheat, and the vats overflow with the juice of the grape and the
olive-berry ! And you will praise the name of Yahweh, your
God, for what he has done among you in setting you apart for
himself.'

Part II.

ii. 28-iii. JudaFs Ideal Future inaugurated by the
Advent of the great Day of Tahweh.

(a) ii. 28-32. An oracle declaring the coming of the Great
Day of Tahweh with the remarkable signs that will herald
it and its result for Israel. The passage gives two signs :

(1) There will be a great outpouring of the Spirit. Ecstatic
experiences tvill be universal among Tahweh^ s people of every
class and station,

(2) There will be great disturbances in the earth and
heavens. There will be dreadful wars, and destruction of
property, towns, and people, " blood, and fire, and pillars of
smoke ascending?'^ The sun will be eclipsed, and the moon
zvill look the colour of blood, seen through the smoke of burning

^ It is quite likely that, after the locuiti departed, the farmers sowed fresh
seed, which, owing to the drought, lay dormant (i. 17) for long, but ultimately
yielded a harvest, for which Joel gives thanks. It is more difficult to explain
how the fruit-trees could yield fruit that same year after their treatment ;
but it is noticeable that the word used in LXX in i. 10, 12, means " This
year's flow of oil is lessened " and v. 12, " The fig-trees are made few," implying
not a total annihilation. The verses have been restored to what seems to
have been their original order.

»9

villages or the dust of ruined houses. Only those Jews who
habitually fray to, and serve, Tahweh, will be saved.
And after this I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters will speak under divine
impulse, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men
of purity will see visions, and even upon slaves, both male and
female, will I pour out my spirit in those days. And I will
send portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire
and pillars of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness,
and the moon to the colour of blood, before the advent of the
Day of Yahweh, the great and terrible one. And it shall be
that every one who calls habitually on the name of Yahweh will
be delivered, " for in the hill of Zion and in Jerusalem there will
be those that escape," as Yahweh has said,^ and among the
saved will be those whom Yahweh calls (the elect of Yahweh).

(b) iii. 1-3. The third sign that the Day of Tahweh has
arrived is the gathering of all the nations to the valley where
Tahweh judges. They zvill come up to plunder Jerusalem, but
Tahweh will meet them there and hold a reckoning zvith them
for the wrongs which they have done to his people. The
background of this part of the book is Ezekiel xxxviii.-xxxix.
which should be compared.

The valley ofjehoshaphat is really a rhetorical device, and
means " the valley where Tahweh judges^"* or it is a late
insertion. At the time when the book was written there was
no valley so named near Jerusalem, though the Kidron valley
received the name from this passage at a very early date. If
we take the word literally, the valley referred to in the text
must be very near to Jerusalem, and is generally identified
with the Kidron valley. Zechariah {chap, xiv.) gives it and
the basin formed by it with the junction of the three adjoining
valleys on the South side as the Valley of Reckoning.

Old Testament tradition says all heathen nations are

included, but the atrocities of which they are accused limit the

word " nations " to those guilty. These atrocities are detailed

in the following passage.

And behold, in those days and at the time when I will

restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather

^ Obadiah 17.

together all the nations and I will bring them down to the
T^lley where Yahweh judges, and I will reckon with them there
concerning my people and my possession Israel, whom they have
scattered among the nations. For they have divided my land
amongst themselves and they have cast lots over my people.
They have given boys as the price for harlots, and they have
sold girls for wine and drunk it.

(c) iii. 4-8. Here follows a special oracle denouncing the
atrocities oj the Phcenicians {Sidon a?id Tyre) and the Philis-
tines. These have not actually plundered the land ojjudah in
war, hut their traders have followed in the wake of victorious
armies, buying the booty, and their captives as slaves. The silver
and gold of the Jewish homes {or as some say, of the Temple)
they have carried away to adorn their own palaces {or Temples).
The Jewish maidens and boys they have sold to Greek
merchants to carry them far away from their homes. This is
a special abomination in the sight of Yahweh ; and as they
have sowed, so will they reap. They will receive the same
treatment in accordance with the law of " an eye for an eye,
and a tooth for a tooth.'''' Their children will be sold to the
men of Sheba, the Sabceans, and will be carried as far South
as the Jewish captives have been carried North. The
Sabceans and Greeks were middlemen in the slave traffic.
Both traded in Palestine from an early date — the Greeks as
early as 650 b.c, as proved by their tombs at Gezer.

It was quite usual for traders to follow a victorious army,
and supply wine, goods and women to the soldiers in exchange
for booty and captives. Their motive was purely commercial,
though a deeper and more cruel motive is suggested here. The
passage is supposed by some to be later insertion, though it
cannot date later than 350 b.c.
Moreover, what are you to me. Tyre and Sidon, and
all you districts of Philistia ? Are you securing repa}'Tnent
from me for something I have done ? Or are you doing some-
thing against me to provoke me to repay it ? If so, then s\\iftly
and speedily will I bring your deed upon your oym head. You
who have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried away
my goodly treasures to your temples,^ and have sold the sons of

^ So LXX.

Judah and the sons of Jerusalem to the Greeks, that they might
remove them as far as possible from their homes. Behold, I
am just about to rouse them from the place to which you have
sold them, and I will make your deed recoil upon your own head.
For I will sell your sons and daughters to the Jews, and they will
sell them to the Sabaeans, who will in turn sell them to a nation
further away, for Yahweh has spoken.

(d) iii. 9-12. Tahiveh demands that a herald he sent^ or
commands his angelic host to bid the nations prepare for this
final reckoning with him. In the first three verses he uses
the simile of battle. It is to be a conflict with dreadful
consequences. They must therefore make all possible
preparations, both spiritual and material. Ihey must begin
with a solemn service of consecration. Every weapon of every
kind, and every soldier available will be needed.

Then in the last verse the figure suddenly changes to the Law
Court. " The battle-scene gives place to the Judgment-
scene " {Bewer), and Tahiveh sits, not in wrath, but in solemn
majesty to reckon with all the nations around, or, as some
prefer, with all the nations ^^ from everywhere.^'' For the
change of simile compare Ps. xxiii.

The crisp, clear, short sentences of the original Hebrew
suggest that this passage was written by Joel himself, or is a
good imitation. Compare ii. zZ-^ifor the style.

Proclaim this among the nations : " Inaugurate war with
holy rites ! Rouse the mighty men of valour. Let all the
men of war come together and go forth to fight ! Beat
your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into
spears. Let the weakhng say, A man of might am I ! Let the
coward^ become a hero 1 " Let the nations be roused and go
forth to the valley where Yahweh judges, for there will I sit
to reckon with all the peoples round about.

^ MT (v. 1 1) reads " Make haste and come, all ye nations round about,
and gather yourselves together at that place " — a gloss upon 12a and usually
omitted. In lib MT reads " Cause thy mighty ones to come down, O
Valiweh 1 " for which LXX has " Let the meek become a warrior," thus
restoring the right text.

(e) iii. 13. 7hert is an interval in the dramatic movement
here^ during which the nations are understood to have assembled
themselves at Jerusalem in the valley where Tahweh judges.

7ke writer now compares the assembled peoples to a grape-
harvest ready for the vintage-knife, and the valley to a wine-
press full of grapes ready for the juice to he trodden out. So
ripe are they that the vats are full to overflowing before anyone
has trodden the winepress.

When he sees them gathered together, Tahweh turns to his
angelic host, the instruments who are to work out his judgment
{not to the Jews), bids them reap the harvest, and then tread
out the grapes which they have cut off and thrown into the press.
The passage practically means that they are to tread upon
the nations who are packed in the valley like grapes in a
winepress, and wade in their blood, with which compare
Isaiah Ixiii. 3.

It is possible that it is the elect remnant of Judah (ii. 32)
that Tahweh here calls on to act as his instruments of punish-
ment.

7 he graphic style of the verse again suggests the hand of
Joel himself.
Make your vintage-knives flash, for the grape-harvest is ripe.
Come, get down into the winepress and tread, for the winepress
is full. Empty the vats, for their overflow is great.'

(f) iii. 14-17. T^he writer nozv describes the conflict, or
reckoning, between Tahweh and the nations. Tahweh does not
appear in the actual battle, but his voice sounds from Zion
above the din of conflict. The conflict itself, or treading, is
not described, and its result is assumed, but the accompanying
disturbances of nature, which make the conflict more gruesome,
are detailed. The fate of Israel, however, is left in no doubt.
Tahweh will be their refuge. The great, all-important
outcome of the reckoning with, or crushing of, the nations,
will be the restoration of Tahweh to his place in the hearts of
Israel, and to his abode in Zion. The change of subject in
verse 17 is characteristic of the writer.
There is the rustling of crowds in the Valley of Reckoning,
for the conflict of the day of Yahweh is raging in the

^ MT has " for great is their wickedness."

Valley of Decision. Sun and moon have turned black, and the
stars have hidden their light. And Yahweh thunders from
Zion, and from Jerusalem gives forth his voice, and the heavens
and the earth do quake, but Yahweh is a refuge to his people
and a fortress to the sons of Israel (i.e., Judah). And you will
know that I am Yahweh, your God, who dwell in Zion, my holy
hill, and Jerusalem will be a sanctuary, and strangers will not
again pass through her.

(g) iii. 1 8-2 1. The last passage has left us without any
definite assurance as to IsraeVs fate in the future. The
Editor now supplies this deficiency. An ideal time of blessing
for Judah will follow this reckoning with the nations^ arid
their discomfiture. Like the early description of Canaan in
the Old Testament^ Judah will be " a land flowing with milk
and honey. '^^ J he fertility of the country will be phenomenal.
Barren hills will flow with milk and wine. The problem of
the water supply of Jerusalem will also be solved for ever to
some extent. A never failing spring will flow out of the
7emple hill (Zion)y and water the JVady-es-Sant, flowing out
to the Mediterranean by Gath and Askelon.

Egypt and Edom, great as they are, will be desolation in
comparison, for Yahweh will avenge the innocent blood of
Jews, which has been shed by Edom on Jewish soil.

The writer thus strikes two popular notes here. The problem
of the water supply has always been of outstanding interest in
Jerusalem, so that he touches a hope that was strong in every
breast. A constant supply of good water would undoubtedly
be part of the picture of an ideal age in the mind of any dweller
in Jerusalem.

Though the complete destruction of Edom might not also
form part of that picture, the prediction of his further punish-
ment could not fail to awaken joy in the heart of every post-exilic
Jew. The same may apply to Egypt also, though not to the
same degree.

The foundation and essential background of this ideal age
of prosperity is the abiding presence of Yahweh in Zion.
And in that day the mountains will drip sweetness'
i.e., honey), and the hills flow with milk, and all the

^ So LXX. MT has " sweet wine."

water-courses of Judah will flow with water, and a spring will go
out from the house of Yahweh and will fill the Vale of Acacias.
[Egypt will become a desolation, and Edom a barren plain for
his violence done to the sons of Judah, in that he did pour out
the blood of the innocent in their own land.]^ But Judah will
be inherited for ever, and Jerusalem unto all generations.
[And I will avenge their blood, which I have not avenged]*,
for Yahweh will abide in Zion.

^ If the bracketed passages are omitted, which so interrupt the sense and
introduce ideas that would fit better an earlier section, the passage would
flow much more smoothly. Egypt and Edom were already included among
the nations, and so some propose to oroit these clauses. But we have pointed
out how especially the further punishment of Edom would appeal to the
Jews.

INDEX TO PASSAGES.

page

2-12

14-15

13-20

16-17

I-IO

13-14

II-I4

15-16

15-17

17-18

page

ii.

18-20

ii.

21-24

ii.

25-26a

ii.

26b

ii.

260-27

ii.

28-iii. 21

19-24.

THE BOOK OF NAHUM

INTRODUCTION

OF the prophet Nahum we know nothing beyond the
mention of his name in the title of his book. There
is considerable evidence that he was a native of the
Southern kingdom of Judah, in which his interest seems to
have been most centred, but the identification of his birthplace
is by no means certain.

As to the period covered by the greater section of his message,
there is much greater assurance. The capture of the city of
No-Ammon (Thebes) in Egypt by the armies of Assur-bani-pal
took place in 664-662, and the city of Nineveh was captured
by the Medes in 612 B.C. Somewhere during the half-
century thus marked out must have been the period of his
prophecy. Probably the first siege of Nineveh under Cyaxares,
the Median king, was the occasion that gave rise to the prophet's
terrible forecast of Nineveh's final overthrow. This took place
about 624 B.C. There is a probability that the final siege of
Nineveh, which appears to have lasted for about two years,
may have been the actual event to which reference is made.
As Professor Davidson said in his commentary on the book :
" If the distress of Nineveh referred to were the final one
(i. 9, 12,) the descriptions of the prophecy would acquire a
reahty and naturalness which they otherwise want, and the
general characteristics of Hebrew prophecy would be more
truly conserred."

The larger section of the book (chaps, ii. and iii.) consists of
a picturesque and poetic description of the destruction of
Nineveh, and the moral reason for its absolute overthrow. The
splendour of the imagery and language can be felt even through
the medium of a translation. The prophet voices the cry of the
oppressed and suffering, and their natural feelings of relief
and exultation, when they witness the destruction of the
tyrant's power. The city is like a lair of wild beasts, and as
the villagers rejoice when some mighty hunter destroys the
lions that have ravaged their herds and slain their people, so
do the oppressed exult at the victory over their enemies. The

city is like a Cleopatra, who has lured many to destruction, and
lier overthrow brings release from the miasma of moral
corruption. Humanity breathes more freely when this menace
to liberty, purity and peace has been removed. And the prophet
feels that Yahweh is on his side, and that the defeat of Assyria
is not only a triumph of human arms, but a Divine judgment.

The first chapter presents considerably greater difficulties.
Its connection with the rest of the book is not very clear, for
it is much more general in tone, and contains no special reference
to the circumstances of the later section. Besides, there is
evidence that it was originally an acrostic poem, each verse of
which began with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It is not
now possible to restore this form, as the text has been much
altered and possibly the order of the verses changed. We have
to take it more or less as it stands, and confess our inabihty to
reconstruct the original with any certainty. The poem is
probably considerably later than Nahum's own prophecy, and
may date from the middle of the fifth century or even later.
The standpoint of the writer is that of the later prophets, who
were looking for restoration, and for the mercy of Yahweh in
His goodness to a repentant and recreated nation.

It has been frequently noted that Nahum has no reference
to the sins of his own people — all his attention being concentrated
on the corruption of Nineveh. The pent-up feehngs of genera-
tions of suffering patriots here burst forth into flame. Yet he
gains in power by this very fact, and, as Driver says, his " dignity
and force approach most nearly to Isaiah." Nor can we hold
that he has no modern message, for "Assyria in his hands becomes
an object lesson to the empires of the modern world, teaching
as an eternal principle of the divine government of the world,
the absolute necessity for a nation's continued vitahty, of that
righteousness, personal, civic, material, which alone exalteth
a nation " (A. R. S. Kennedy).

His point of view is in opposition to that of Jeremiah, and he
may be regarded as our only literary representative of those
who were considered " false prophets." He can see no future
for the nation save in victory. Yahweh must triumph over his
enemies, and his land and temple must never be profaned by
the victorious feet of pagans. He represents the view of the
average man — not that of the spiritual ideahst — only that the

brilliance of his poetical power and the splendour of his
descriptive language lift him into the realm of literature. The
translator has attempted to be simple in language, and yet
preserve the poetic form as well as possible. The Irish word
" keen " seemed the only one to express the idea in ii. 7. It is
much more expressive than " bewail " or " lament."

NAHUM

The first section is an acrostic poem, now imferject, and
probably added to Nahuni's book at a much later period. It
deals in general terms with Tahweh^s power and judgments.

i. 2-IO.
2 A jealous God^ is Yahweh,

Vengeful is Yahweh and wrathful.
3b In storm and tempest is Yahweh's path,

The clouds are the dust of his feet.

4 The sea he rebukes and dries up,

He changes streams to dry channels.
Bashan and Carmel languish.
And the blossom of Lebanon fails.

5 The mountains tremble at his touch.
The hills become molten.

The earth heaves before him.

The habitable world, and all that dwell in it.

6 Before his indignation who can stand ?

Or who can bear the fierceness of his anger .?

His fury pours out like fire.

The rocks are rent at his presence.

7 Good is Yahweh to them that put their hope in him.
He knows them that trust in him.

8 With an overflowing flood he will utterly destroy them

that rise up against him,*

And pursue his foes unto utter gloom.
9b He makes a total desolation ;

Nor shall trouble rise a second time.
9a What think you of Yahweh ?
2b Yahweh is vengeful on his adversaries.

He keeps his anger against his enemies.

The following verse is probably a later addition, as it
breaks the thought, and does not fit the acrostic scheme.
3 [Slow to anger and great in might is Yahweh ;
And will not let (transgressors) scot free.]

^ MT adds " and vengeful."
2 Following the LXX.

10 And though they are as thorns tangled and soaked,
As dry stubble shall they be consumed.

It is difficult to place this section, for the verses, as they
stand, in the ordinary text^ destroy the sense of the passage
but zvhen thus connected give a message of comfort and
re-assurance to Judah.

i. 12, 13, 15; ii. 2.

12 Thus saith Yahweh :

Though they be strong and numerous
They shall be cut down ; they shall disappear.
Though I have afflicted you, I shall not afflict you any
longer.

13 Now will I break his yoke from off you ;
Now will I burst your bonds.

15 Lo ! upon the mountains the feet of the messenger of
good news, proclaiming peace !
Celebrate your feasts, O Judah 1 pay your vows !
For the wrongdoer shall no more pass through you.
He is utterly destroyed.
ii. 2 For Yahweh restores the vine^ of Jacob, even as the vine'
of Israel,
Seeing that the ravagers had devastated and destroyed these
vine-yards.*

The Oracle against Nineveh.
i. I. The Book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

This constitutes N ahum"* s first real message, and consists of
an arraignment of Nineveh, and a declaration of impending
judgment on the city.
\. II, 14.

II Out of you (i.e., Nineveh) came he forth, who imagined
evil against Yahweh.
Who gave mischievous counsel.

14 Thus has Yahweh commanded concerning you :
^ Your name shall no longer be remembered.

From the house of your god will I remove idols and images,
It shall become your tomb of dishonour.

^ MT " glory," but slight change gives " vine."
^ Literally " their twigs."

Now follows the first main section of the prophecy^ consisting

-' oj a vivid description of the onslaught on Nineveh^ and of its

destruction, compared to that of a lions den. 7 he closing verses

contain an emphatic statement of the power oj Tahweh^s word.

ii. I, 3-13-
I The hammerer has come up against you.
Hold the fortress !
Guard the way !
Gird up your loins !
Put forth all your might !

3 The shield of his soldiers is red in hue,
The warriors are clad in scarlet.

The metal (?) of the chariots gleam like fire !

'. . .'

And the ^. . .' quiver.

4 In the fields the chariots flash past.
They gallop across the plains.
They appear as torches,

They dart to and fro like lightning.

5 He remembers his vahant men,
They stumble in their steps,
They hasten to the wall.
Their defence is made ready.

6 The river gates are opened,
The palace falls in ruin.

7 And '. . .1 is uncovered and brought out,

Her maids are keening like doves, and beating on their breasts.

8 Nineveh was ever a pool of water,
And (her inhabitants) flee away.

They cry " Stand ! " but no one turns back.

9 Spoil the silver ! Loot the gold !
There is no end to the store
And wealth of precious objects.

10 Lo ! a wilderness, weariness and waste !

The melting heart, and the trembling knees,

Anguish in all loins,

And blanching of all faces !

^....^ In the present state of our knowledge the Hebrew words which
occur here are unintelligible.

11 Where is the den of lions,
The lair' of the young lions —

Where the lions and her cubs were wont to be,
And none to make them afraid ?

12 The hon, who tore up the meal for his young,
Strangling the prey for his mate.

He filled his dens with prey,
And his lairs with torn beasts.

13 Lo ! I am against you, oracle of Yahweh of Hosts.
I will send up your ^. . .* in smoke.

The sword will devour your young lions.

I will cut off your prey from the land,

The voice of your emissaries will be heard no more.

Now follows the second main section of the profhecy. It
contains a description of a renewed attach on the city^ and the
reason for its destruction. The comparison with the locust
swarms should he read alongside those in Joel.
iii. 1-19.

1 Woe to the city of blood,
Fall of falsehood and violence !
It continually seeks after prey.

2 Hark the whip ! Harken the noise of rattling wheels !
Hark the prancing horses, the bounding chariots !

3 The charging horsemen, the flashing sword, the ghttering
Lo, the multitude of the slain ! [spears !
The heaps of the dead !

The unnumbered masses of the slain !
Men stumble over the corpses.

4 Such is the reward of the manifold wickedness of the
The mistress of magic — [lovely temptress,
The city that, through her harlotry, destroys nations.
And peoples by her wicked arts.

5 Lo ! I am against you ! Oracle of Yahweh of Hosts.
Your raiment will I throw over your face,
Displaying your nakedness to the nations.

And your shame to the kingdoms !

^ By slight alteration of the Hebrew word.

*....* In the present state of our knowledge the Hebrew word which
occurs here is unintelligible.

6 I will throw loathsome dirt upon you,

Disgracing you, and making you an object of derision.

7 So that all who look on you will flee from you, and cry,
" Nineveh is laid waste, who shall mourn for her ? "
Where shall I seek comforters for her f

8 Are you better than No-Ammon,

Girt about by the streams of the Nile,
Whose ramparts was the great river, and her walls its
waters ?^

9 Cush and Egypt were her unending strength.
Put and Lubim* her3 helpers.

10 Yet were her people carried away and went into captivity,
Her children were dashed to pieces at the head of every

street.
They cast lots for her nobles, and her great men were bound
in chains.

11 You shall also become drunk, and shall swoon,
You shall also seek refuge from the enemy.

12 All your fortresses are like fig-trees — your garrisons like

their first ripe fruit.
WTien they are shaken they drop into the eater's mouth.

13 Lo ! your people* become like women,

The gates of your land are thrown open to their foes.
The fire has destroyed the barriers of your gates.

The follozLnng verses consist of an ironical encouragement
to resist.

14 Draw water for the siege, strengthen your fortifications
Go to the clay-pits, and tread the clay.

Seize hold of the moulds for the bricks.

Now the prophet returns to the vision of judgment, and
closes with a final dirge, mocking as a pee an.

15 There the fire has destroyed you, and the sword has cut

you off.
It has devoured you, though you have increased like the
young locust swarm.

^ By change of vowels we get " waters " instead of " sea."
^ Probably countries bordering on Egypt.

3 MT "thy."

4 MT adds " in your midst."

1 6 Though you have multipHed your merchants more than

the stars of heaven.
And your nobles and high-officers hke locust -swarms,

17 Which swarm in the hedges on a cold day,

But they fly away when the sun rises, and their place is
unknown.

18 Woe to you !^ your shepherds slumber ! and your great

ones fall asleep ;
Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is
no one to gather them in.

19 There is no healing for your hurt — your wound is deadly.
All who hear the report of your downfall, clap their hands,
For upon whom has not your evil continually fallen ?

^ MT adds " O King of Assyria."

THE BOOK OF OBADIAH.

INTRODUCTION.

RACIAL hatred is one of the most persistent obstacles to
human peace and progress, though rarely has it found a
^more vehement and vindictive utterance than in the short
prophecy of Obadiah. Its roots run down to the dim beginnings
of history, and it is continually fed by bitter and inflaming
memories. The antipathies of modern nations are still kept
alive by the recollections of defeats in bygone battles and even of
tribal conflicts in the time of Julius Caesar. In the same way,
Obadiah's theme, the enmity between Israehte and Edomite —
perhaps the most virulent example of national antagonism
known to history — can be traced back to their traditional
ancestors. The feud between Jacob and his twin brother
Esau, " the Red," in Hebrew " Edom,"^ was inherited by their
tribal descendants. The blood relationship, which they never
forgot, and their common frontiers — for Edom bounded Judah
on the south — only served to strengthen their mutual anti-
pathies. From Amos onwards, expectation of Yahweh's doom
upon Edom recurs like a minor chord through Hebrew prophecy,
until it rises to a crashing climax in Obadiah's Hymn of Hate.
Only one gleam of wider vision relieves the murky gloom of
Obadiah's savage exultation over a chastened foe. His con-
ception of a Kingdom that shall be Yahweh's was crude enough,
hardly more than the triumph of Israel over her national foes,*
yet it was destined to become the one solvent of racial hatred,
the one antidote to national antagonism, when Jesus transformed
it into his sublime ideal of a world-wide Kingdom of God, ruled
by the King of Love, wherein all men were brothers indeed.
Obadiah helped to sow the seed of belief in the sovereignty of
God. He set it in the exceeding bitter soil of national rancour
and revenge, but it germinated through the centuries until at
last it flowered into the tree of life, whose fruit shall be for the
heahng of the nations.

^ Read Gen. xxv. 23-34.
^ See verse 21.

Obadiah means *' Servant of God," too common a name to
afford any clue to our author's identity. He wrote at a time
when raids upon the Edomites, probably by Arabs, sons of the
desert like themselves, seemed to him to promise fulfilment of an
ancient oracle against Edom, also quoted by Jeremiah (chap. xlix.).
If the book is a unity, it must have been written after 586 B.C.,
when the great capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonians took
place, and before 400 B.C., for about that date Joel quoted from
the Book of Obadiah, but verses 15 to 21 are different in matter
and manner from the earHer ones and may be from other and
later hands.

Edom, the " Red Land," stretched between Palestine and
the Arabian desert, a hundred miles by twenty of porphyry and
red sandstone. The capital, Petra, lay fifty miles south of the
Dead Sea, a mountain eyrie perched so inaccessibly among the
porphyry chffs and approached by such tortuous defiles, that in
later times its very existence was forgotten for centuries. The
town of Teman lay to the north of Petra.

The geographical allusions of the closing verses are very
obscure and the text is corrupt. But the general tenour is
clearly that to S. and W., to N. and E., the Jews were to regain
their ideal boundaries. The northern exiles were to penetrate
Phoenicia as far as Zarephath, the far northern town between
Tyre and Sidon, where the widow once succoured Elijah ; while
the southern exiles were to gain the cities of the Negeb, the
southernmost district of Palestine and the point of attack upon
Edom. The text speaks of Judahites in exile at Sepharad, but
the only known place of that name is in Asia Minor, where we
should not expect to find exiled Jews. Either there was another
Sepharad, now unidentified, or there may be some confusion
in the text between Sepharad and the Zarephath just previously
mentioned.

OBADIAH

la. The prophecy of Obadiah.

Obadiah quotes an ancient oracle against Edom uihich is
also quoted, a little differently, in Jeremiah xlix. 14-16 and
7-10.

lb-5. This is the oracle of the Lord Yahweh against Edom.

This word from Yahweh came to us at the time when a
messenger had been despatched to the nations with the challenge,
" Rise, and fly to arms against her ! "

Yahweh said :

'' Behold, I will make you least among the nations and
despised by men. Your pride goes before a fall. Because you
live in a lofty home among the clefts of Petra, you say to
yourself, ' Who can bring me to the ground ? ' But though
you were to soar like the eagle and set your nest among the
stars, even from there would I bring you down. When men
come and cut your grapes they will leave no gleanings ; when
thieves of the night attack you they will take their fill of
plunder."^

A Dirge over Esau's doom. Esau the Red was the legendary
ancestor of the Edomites, and here stands for the nation
which was being betrayed by its neighbours. Its plight
recalled the old oracle, that Esau, for all his cunning, should
one day be caught napfing.

6-8. How thoroughly has Esau been ransacked and his hidden
places rifled ! All your alhes have driven you back to your
frontiers and your friends have deceived you. Those that had
broken bread with you kept setting traps for your undoing and
no one had sense enough to see through them.* Yahweh had
prophesied it : " In that dav shall I not destroy the wise men
of Edom and the cunning of Mount Esau ? "

* Following Jer. xlix. g and omitting " How art thou cut off " as a gloss.

* Very uncertain text.

In the Babylonian invasion of 586 B.C. the Edomites had
sided against Judah and gloated over the capture of Jerusalem.
But now disaster is going to overwhelm them so that never
again would they he able to repeat their former treachery.

9-14 and 15b. Ah, Teman, such a panic shall strike your
warriors that not a man upon Mount Esau will escape with his
life. Overwhelmed with shame, you shall pay with the last
drop of your blood for the injury done to your brother Jacob.
When you stood aloof on the day that foreigners carried off his
wealth and foes passed through his gates to cast lots for
Jerusalem, on that fatal day you took the part of his enemies.
But never again shall you gloat over your brother in the day of
his misfortune ! Never again exult over the men of Judah in
the day of their destruction, nor jeer at them in the
day of their distress ! Never again shall you enter my
people's gates in their day of adversity, to gaze on their misery
and lay hands upon their goods ! Never again shall you stand
at the cross-roads to cut off their fugitives and to betray the
survivors in their day of defeat ! As you served others, so shall
you be served yourself. Your ill-deeds will come home to
roost. ^

The Day of Tahweh is near, when all nations alike ihall
suffer judgment. Probably a later appendix.

15a, 16. The Day of Yahweh is at hand for all nations. For
as you have drunk upon my holy hill, so in their turn shall all
the nations drink. Drunk with vdne, they shall reel and be
brought down to nothing.

A comment on the preceding verses. A remnant of the Jews
shall escape the Divine Judgment and he enabled to inflict
complete vengeance upon Edom.

17-18. But on Mount Zion a remnant shall take sanctuary, and
the House ofjacob shall regain their possessions. For Yahweh has
said that the House of Jacob shall be the fire and the House of
Joseph shall be the flame, and the House of Esau shall be the
stubble. They will set it alight and consume it until there is
not a soul left alive of the House of Esau.

^ Connecting ver. 15b with ver. 14.

_- This closing passage, especially in its geographical terms^
is very obscure. But the general tenour is that the exiled
Jews shall return and regain their ideal boundaries and then
proceed to a final reckoning with Mount Esau.

19-21. They shaU gain the South Country from Mount
Esau and the Lowlands from the Phib'stines. They shall get
back the district of Ephraim from Samaria and Gilead from
the hands of the Ammonites.' The exiled Israehtes who are
(in Halah' shall get) Phoenicia as far as Zarephath and the exiles
of Jerusalem who are now in Sepharad shall have the cities3 of
the South. They shall go up as victors to Mount Zion to pass
judgment on Mount Esau. And the Kingdom shall be Yahweh's.

^ Instead of Benjamin, a very slight change in the Hebrew.

^ Conjectural emendation of the unintelligible text.

^ Possibly instead of ** the cities " we should read the proper name " Arad,"
the-well-known Canaanitish city of the Negeb, see Num. xxi. i, which would
form a better parallel to Zarephath. The words are almost identical in
Hebrew and there were few other cities in the Negeb to explain the use of
the collective.

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NUMBER SIX.

THE BOOK OF

HOSEA

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ETfirORS' TREFACE.

THE modern translations that exist of parts or of the
whole of the Old Testament are, as a rule, too expensive
and too scholarly for the ordinary reader. In the case of
the New Testament excellent help has been afforded by many
recent translators, notably by Dr. Moffatt. In a wide experi-
ence among working men and women we have found frequent
requests for a simple version of the Old Testament in similar
language to that employed in the modern versions of the New-
Testament. By the generous help of our colleagues in this
enterprise we are able to present a translation that is well
within the reach of everyone, and that rests upon the best
results of modern scholarship.

Literary elegance has been sacrificed to clearness of expression
and simpHcity of language. In the present book Major Povah
has admirably reproduced the tenderness and the stormy
passion which distinguish Hosea amongst the books of the
Old Testament.

We are grateful for the reception given to those already
issued, and have tried to benefit by many helpful criticisms
received, for which we are thankful.

Suggestions and criticisms will be welcomed by us.

G.C.M.

T.H.R.

CONTENTS,

PAGE

Editors' Preface

•^

Introduction

Table of Dates

THE BOOK OF ROSEA :

Preface, i. I . .

Hosea's Marriage. Part I. i. 2-9

Hosea's Marriage. Part II. ii. 2-23

Hosea's Marriage. Part III. iii. 1-4

A Promise of Restoration, iii. 5, plus i. ic

) to ii.

I 17

iv. 1-14

iv. 15-19

V. 1-14

V. 15 to vi. 6

vii. 8-16

viii. I-14

ix. 1-8

ix- 9-17

X. I and 2, 5 to 8

X. 3 and 4

X. 9-1 1

X. 12-13^

X. 13^-15

xi. 1-9 . .

xi. 10 and 11 . .

xi. 12, xii. I to 3^, 7 to II, 14 .

iii. $b to 6, 12 and 13

xiii.

xiv. 1-8

liv. 7

. 38

xiv. 9

. 38

THE book: of hosea

INTRODUCTION.

ALL Israelite history runs back to Moses and implies
(i) a remarkable deliverance from the Egyptians in
the neighbourhood of Suez, which was ascribed to
the God of Moses ; (2) a covenant in the desert, in which
Moses persuaded a number of independent tribes to adopt one
religion, and thus laid the foundation of their national life in
the recognition of a national God. The name of the God
who had spoken to him in the desert, was Yahweh.

This covenant is sometimes regarded as the marriage of
Yahweh and Israel (e.g. Hosea ii. 2, 7, 16, 19, 20, etc.), sometimes
as Yahweh's generous adoption of Israel to be His son (e.g.
Hosea xi. i ; Exodus iv. 22,).

In the minds of the majority Yahweh was associated with
the storm. Yet by the best minds in Israel He was felt to be
more than the personification of a force of nature. It was held
that Yahweh need not have been the God of Israel unless He
had wanted to be ; He had chosen to be Israel's God although
He could have got on without Israel. The thought of Yahweh's
free choice of Israel did not necessarily lead at once to Mono-
theism. But it carried with it the thought that Yahweh had
a free will of His own — that He had character, personality —
— that He was not an It but a He. Hence He required more
of His people than sacrifices ; He required social justice.

As the IsraeHtes conquered the land of Canaan they took
over the sanctuaries of the Canaanite gods and made them
sanctuaries of Yahweh. But they took over with them much
of the Canaanite theology and appHed it to Yahweh. They also
adopted to a considerable extent the debased morals of the
Canaanites.

So, in the middle of the eighth century B.C., though Ehsha and
Jehu had followed up the work of Elijah by exterminating many
of the worshippers of the Baal of Tyre, which god Jezebel had
proposed to substitute for Yahweh as the national God, the
religion of the bulk of the Israelites did not differ much from

that of the surrounding nations. The rehgion of Yahweh
had forcibly absorbed the worshippers of the Baal of Tyre ;
but it had absorbed their theology and morality with them.

The surrounding nations worshipped their Baahm. These
Baalim (plural of Baal— " lord," "owner," "husband")
were usually nature gods — symbols of the forces of nature
or symbols of the " life force." To worship the Baal of the
vine is not to worship the mere plant, but to worship the power
that makes it grow — the " life force."

But if men picture their gods on the lines of the forces of
nature, or on the lines of the " life force," or the drive of the
primitive instincts in animals and men, they will inevitably use
cruel and immoral rites in their worship. Are earthquakes
kind ? Are all men clean-minded ?

In the time of Hosea Yahweh was looked upon, by the
majority of IsraeHtes at any rate, simply as the Baal of Israel.
Other nations had their own Baalim. The worship of Yahweh
was often idolatrous. Yahweh was worshipped with the
assistance of an idol in the form of a bull. This stood for the
strength and productive power of Yahweh.

Hosea Ben-Beeri' was a younger contemporary of Amos. He
belonged to the kingdom of Northern Israel. He fell in love
with and married Gomer Bath-Diblaim.^ He loved her greatly.
But the happiness of Hosea's home was " as a morning cloud,
as the dew that passes early away." Gomer was not true to him.

Now Hosea's whole life is bound up in his love for Gomer.
Why is he so cruelly tortured f Is his love for Gomer a
mistake ? Are all the best things in life simply cruel delusions,
mere will-o'-the-wisps ? Is his home ruined for ever ? Shall
he try to forget Gomer ?

No. As he thinks it all over, he feels that his love for Gomer
is not a mistake, not a delusion, not something to be forgotten.
It has been " the beginning of Yahweh's speaking with him. "3
It is through his love for Gomer that Yahweh has been calling
him to be a prophet. His love for Gomer is from Yahweh.
It is bringing him cruel suffering. But so is Yahweh's love for
Israel bringing cruel suffering to Yahweh. For, as Gomer has
been false to Hosea, so has Israel been false to Yahweh.

^ Ben = "sonof." 2 Bath ^ " daughter oi." 3 Hosea i. (2).

A national god was often looked upon as the husband of his
""people. As the Baal of Israel, Yahweh was regarded as the
husband of Israel.

Hosea's charge against Israel is similar to that of Amos.
The religion of Yahweh is popular, but the character of Yahweh
is misunderstood. For instance, Hosea's view of Jehu's
massacre of the worshippers of the Baal of Tyre is very different
from that of the later historian which appears in 2 Kings x. 30.'
To Hosea this massacre in the name of Yahweh is a crime.^

Presently Hosea's home breaks up altogether. But his love
for Gomer does not die. She is sold into bondage. He redeems
her. But he feels that they cannot attempt to live together
again at once. They must live apart for a time in hope of the
eventual restoration of their home life.3

And thus, Hosea feels, Yahweh will have to deal with Israel.
Israel must go into exile. In exile she must abide many days,
unable to carry out the ritual of Yahweh's religion, just as Gomer
must abide many days apart from her husband.-*

No more is known of the future of Hosea and Gomer. Was
their home life restored .? Was Hosea perhaps killed or
deported in 734 B.C., or in 722 B.C. ? We do not know. At any
rate there is no sure reference in his book to either of the
deportations.

In 722 B.C. the Assyrians captured Samaria. They deported
many of the inhabitants and introduced conquered foreigners
in their place, in accordance with the Assyrian method of making
concerted rebelHon difficult. Thus were produced the half-
Israelite, half -heathen, Samaritans, important in New Testament
times.

It seems that among those of the Northern Israelites who were
not deported, were some of the disciples of Hosea, and that they

' This historian asserts — *' Yahweh said unto Jehu, Because thou has
executed well that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house
of Ahab according to all that was in my mind, thy sons of the fourth generation
shall sit on the throne of Israel."

2 Hosea i. 4-5.

3 Hosea iii. 1-3.

* Hosea iii. 4.

:ollected and wrote down fragments of his utterances. The
Dook thus formed was subsequently edited and expanded by
editors in Judah.

Thus the book is not an easy one to read. In places there
;eems to be little connection between one sentence and the
lext. There are some obvious additions. Even when these
lave been removed, there are a good many passages which some
;cholars attribute to the prophet's editors rather than to the
prophet himself. Moreover, the text has suffered a great deal
n transmission, and in several of those passages in which the
;raditional Hebrew text (MT) defies translation, there is a
•emarkable lack of agreement between scholars as to how it
ihould be amended.^

None the less Hosea's editors seem on the whole to have
;reated him fairly and to have introduced into his book very
ittle which is not in accordance with his spirit. Nor do the
lumerous places in which the exact meaning is uncertain, leave
■oom for doubt as to what are the main lines of the prophet's
:eaching. The personality of the prophet is impressed on the
vhole book. And the book introduces us to one of the finest
igures of history — the Prophet of Love.

The followers of Hosea carried on his message. It seems that
:he nucleus of Deuteronomy was put together by the followers
)f Hosea and the followers of Isaiah. And the highest note in
Deuteronomy is the note which runs through the whole of
H^osea — Love. Yahweh loves Israel and Israel must love
ifahweh.

To-day a Jewish child repeats, in the course of his morning
md evening prayers, Deut. vi. 4 and 5 — " Listen, O Israel, the
Lord is our God, the Lord is one — and you shall love the Lord
^our God with all your intellect,^ with all your instincts,^ and
vith all your * muchness ' (your ' self as a whole ')."

^ Help can sometimes be obtained from the Greek version (LXX).

* Hebrew "heart." But to Hebrew psychology the heart is the seat of
he intellect. " Heart " in the Bible must often be understood to mean
' rnind."

3 The Ilebrow word for "soul" also means "appetite," "desire,"
' emotion."

T/^BT.E OF D/1TKS.

B.C.

about looo
separate

933

about 860

9th century

David

Disruption : Northern Israel and Judah

Kingdoms
Elijah prophesying
" J " Editors active in Judah . .
Jehu massacres worshippers of Baal of Tyre in Valley

of Jezreel 842

Jeroboam II., King of N. Israel . . . . . . 783

" E " Editors active in N. Israel (Ephraim) . . 8th century
Amos prophesying . . . . . . . . about 760

Hosea's call to be a Prophet

Death of Jeroboam II. ; his son Zechariah succeeds him 743

Shallum kills Zechariah (end of House of Jehu) and

becomes King . . . . . . . . . . 743

Menahem kills Shallum and becomes King . . . . 743

Call of Isaiah to be a Prophet . . . . . . . . 740

Menahem pays tribute to Assyria . . . . . . 738

Death of Menahem ; his son Pekahiah succeeds him 737
Pekah kills Pekahiah and becomes King . . . . 736

Pekah and Rezin, King of Damascus, join a coalition

against Assyria ; they attack Judah to force her to

join them ; Judah, against advice of Isaiah, calls in

Assyria to help her . . . . . . . . . . 735

Assyrian invasion of N. Israel ; Assyrians deport a

great part of population of Galilee . . . . 733

Hoshea (not the Prophet) kills Pekah and is made King

by the Assyrians . . . . . . . . . . 730

He rebels against the Assyrians . . . . . . 725

Assyrians take Samaria — end of the history of the " Ten

Tribes " of Northern Israel . . . . . . . . 722

Sennacherib fails to take Jerusalem . . . . . . 701

Disciples of Hosea and disciples of Isaiah compiling

nucleus of the Book of Deuteronomy
Deuteronomic Reformation in Judah . . . . . . 621

HOSEA

PREFACE.

Chapter i. I.

Probably by a Judaan editor. Note precedence given to
Kings ofjudah. Rosea'* s zvork was in Northern Israel. It
is doubtful whether Hosea was still prophesying when Hezekiah
came to the throne. In any case Jeroboam II. died before
that date.

This is Yahweh's message which came to Hosea Ben-Beeri
in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of
Judah — in the reign of Jeroboam Ben-Joash, king of Israel.

HOSEA'S MARRIAGE. PART I.

Chapter i. 2 to g.

Tahweh^s call to Hosea to be a prophet came to him through
his love for Corner. Comer was not what the world calls
" a girl of bad character,''^ before Hosea married her. She is
compared throughout the book to Israel, whom Hosea clearly
considers to have been what the world calls " innocent,** in the
days of Moses when Tahweh married her {see ix. lo, xi. i).
Comer must soon have made Hosea* s home life unhappy. But
she is not at first, at any rate so far as Hosea knows, unfaithful
to him in the legal sense of the word. Hosea does not, it seems,
doubt thatjexreel is his own child.

By calling the child 'Jez.reeP- Rosea compares the relation
oj himself and Gomer to that of Tahzueh and Israel. Jez^eel,
the child, is a constant reminder to Hosea that Gomer, his
wife, is utterly out of sympathy with him. Jezreel, the
valley, where Jehu massacred the worshippers of the Baal of
Tyre, is a constant reminder to Tahweh that Israel, His wife,
is utterly out of sympathy with Him.

As the name he gives her indicates, Hosea realises that
Lo-ruchamah^ is not his child. But he forgives Gomer and
does not divorce her. Thus Lo-ruchamah counts as a
legitimate child of Hosea in the eyes of the world. She thus
resembles the Israelites, who are brought up in the religion of
Tahweh but are quite ignorant of His real character. They
are thus bastards^ calling themselves the children of Tahweh,
to whose religion they are devoted, but in reality the children
of IsraeVs " lovers^"* the Baalim or nature gods of
Canaan. They are looked upon by Tahweh, just as Gomer^s
third child is looked upon by Hosea, as Lo-ammi^ — " not
my people.''^

Children were not weaned until they were two or three
years old. So the events recorded in i. 2-9 must have extended
over some years.

This is the way in which Yahweh began to communicate his
message to Hosea.

Yahweh put it into Hosea's mind to woo and marry a girl of
treacherous character — one who would bear him children not
his own.

^ Jezreel — "God sows." Note word-play on "Israel." Note word-
play in ii. 23.

^ Ruchamah — " She has been loved " — " she has been pitied " — " her
father has sympathy for her.

Lo-ruchamah — " Lo," being the negative in Hebrew, reverses the
meaning.

3 See Hebrews xii. 8.

4 Ammi — " my people " — " akin to me."
Lo-ammi — " not my people " — " not akin to me."

[And why ?] Because the country was persistently committing
adultery by being treacherous to Yahwch.

So Hosea wooed and married Gomer Bath-Diblaim. And
when she had borne him a son, Yahweh put it into his mind to
call the child Jezrecl.

[And why ?] Because very soon Yahweh would punish the
dynasty of Jehu for the massacre of Jezreel and would put an
end to the sovereignty of Israel. On that " Day "^ Yahweh
would break the army of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

When Gomer had borne another child, a daughter, Yahweh
put it into Hosea's mind to call the child Lo-ruchamah.

[And why .?] Because Yahweh would no longer be moved
by a father's sympathy for the Israelites to take their iniquity
away.^

When Gomer had weaned Lo-ruchamah she bore a son .
And Yahweh put it into Hosea's mind to call the child
Lo-ammi.

[And why ?] Because the Israelites were not Yahweh's
people, and Yahweh would not be their God.

^ Day of Armageddon (Har-Megiddo = Hill of Megiddo), or Day of
Jezreel. There is a great plain or valley dividing the hill country of Samaria
from the hill country of Galilee. The north-west portion of this plain was
called the Plain of Esdraelon or the Plain of Megiddo. This portion drains
into the river Kishon. The south-east portion of the plain was called the
Valley of Jezreel and drains into the Jordan.

A consideration of the map will show that this great plain must always
have provided the chief battlefield of Israel. Thus " a day of Armageddon "
or " a day of Jezreel " means a day of battle. Whether the battle is to be
won or lost depends on the context. For one great " day of Armageddon "
see Judges iv. and v. The great " day of Yahweh " was to the contemporaries
of Amos the great " day " on which Yahweh would conquer all Israel's
enemies. Compare the German '* Der Tag." To Amos himself the day of
Yahweh was the great " day " on which Yahweh would punish Israel. So
Hosea says that " on that day " Yahweh will break the army of Israel on
the battlefield of Jezreel or Armageddon (i. 5). Once Israel has been
punished, the " day " becomes a day of restoration (i. 11 ; ii. 16 ; 18 ; 21 ;
— compare the " latter days " in iii. 5). The " day " thus stands for the
unique interest in history displayed by the Hebrews — an interest due to their
belief that history is no objectless cycle of golden, silver, bronze and iron
ages (as it is to Greek and Indian thought), but that behind history is the
living God.

^ Verse 7 is an addition 5 see below.

Chapter i. 7.

A later addition — note awkwardness of grammar —
probably added after Sennacherib'' s failure to take Jeriisalem
in 701 B.C.

But Yahweh would be moved by a father's sympathy for the
Judaeans and would save them by the help of Yahweh their
God ; he would not save them by the help of their bows and
swords and equipment, or of their chariots and cavalry.

HOSEA'S MARRIAGE. Part II.

Chapter ii. 2 to 23.

Between the narrative of i. 2-9 and that of iii. 1-4 occur
some important events which are not recorded. In i. 9 Rosea
seems to allow Lo-ammi to be reckoned as a member of his
family^ i.e., he forgives Gomer. Does he afterwards divorce
her P Or does she run away from him ? At any rate his
home breaks up altogether. When next we hear of Gomer,
she has come to grief and has had to barter her independence
for her maintenance by becoming a bondservant. Hebrew
bondservice was indentured labour rather than slavery. But
in the case of Gomer the bondservice is clearly of a disreputable
kind. Has she become a common prostitute ? Or has she
become a concubine of a " lover " ?

We do not know how long an interval elapsed between i. 9
and iii. i. Much of ii. 2-23 seems to belong to the interval.

As Gomer has made Hosea suffer, so has Israel made Yahweh
suffer.

Israel, like Gomer, thinks that she can easily reform herself
when she likes, that Yahweh is very good-natured, that it
will all come right in the end.

But Yahweh loves Israel with a boundless generosity. He
loves her far too much to let her off. He will stick at nothing —
spare neither Himself nor Israel — in His endeavour to make
her what He meant her to be.

Israel must be removed from the luxuries of Canaan and
put back into the desert to resume the nomadic life she led in
the days of Moses. But this punishment is not vindictive.

// is part of the way in which Tahweh will woo her again and
enable her to make afresh start. {For what happened in the
valley of Achor, see Joshua vii. 24-26.)

Plead, O plead with your motherland.^ Let her give up
her inveterate prostitution, her shameless adultery. Lest I
strip her naked hke a convicted adulteress and reduce her to
what she was at the beginning of her history — yes, make the
land like the wilderness, turn it into a desert, and kill the soil
with drought.

For her children I will not be moved by a father's sympathy.
They are bastards. For their motherland has become a
prostitute. She who bore them has disgraced herself. For
she thought — " I will follow my lovers, who give me my bread
and water, my wool and linen, my oil and wine."

So, see, I am going to make a thorn hedge across the road —
build a wall across the path. She shall fail to find her way.

So when she has run after her lovers but failed to catch them,
when she has searched for them but failed to find them, she will
say to herself — " I will go back to my first husband, for I had
better luck in the old times than I have nowadays."

And she — even she — does not know that it is I who have
given her that corn and wine and oil — that it is I who have made
her rich in gold and silver.^ Therefore I will withdraw the
corn which I give her at the harvest, and the wdne which I give
her at the vintage. I will snatch away my wool and my linen,
which I give her for clothing. Yes ! now will I uncover her
shame before her lovers. Not one of them shall be able to
rescue her from me. I will bring to an end all her merry
pilgrimages, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her festivals.
I will lay waste her vines and her fig-trees, which she looked
on as her earnings — as wages paid her by her lovers. I will
turn them into a jungle. Wild animals shall devour them. I
will punish her for keeping the feasts of the Baalim — feasts at

* MT adds " for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband " — a
marginal note, which spoils rhythm of Hebrew and is contrary to the
whole spirit of the book.

2 MT adds " which they made into an image of the Baal " — a scribe's
marginal note. The golden bull was meant to be an image of Yahweh.

which she makes offerings to them, decks herself in ear-rings and
jewelry, follows her lovers and forgets me.

Yahweh whispers in my ear — So, see, I am going to make love
to her. I will lead her into the wilderness. I will speak
kindly to her. There [she shall make a fresh start]. I will
give her her vineyards, I will make the pass of Achor a gate of
hope. There she shall respond to my love, just as she responded
in her youth, at the time when she came up from Egypt,

On that "day" — ^Yahweh whispers in my ear — she' shall
call me her husband and shall no longer call me her Baal. I will
make the very names of the Baalim obsolete words in the language
of Israel. Their very names shall be forgotten.

I will make peace on that " day " between the Israelites and
the wild animals, the birds and the reptiles. I will break the
bow, the sword and all weapons of war and cast them out of the
country. I will make the Israelites lie down in security.

I will betroth you to myself [O Israel] for ever. Yes, I will
betroth you to myself, giving you the virtues of loyalty and
justice, of affection and sympathy, as my bridal gift.^ Yes,
I will betroth you to myself, giving you the virtue of constancy
as my bridal gift, and you shall know Yahweh.

In that " day " I will respond — ^Yahweh whispers in my ear
— I will respond to the call of the sky and it shall respond to the
call of the land ; the land shall respond to the call of the corn,
the wine and the oil, and they shall respond to the call of Jezreel,
I will sow Jezreel in the land to be my own. I will be moved
by a father's sympathy for Lo-ruchamah. I will call Lo-ammi
my people, and he shall call me his God.

HOSEA'S MARRIAGE. Part III.

Chapter iii. I to 4.

As Yahweh treats Israel^ so Hosea treats Gomer.

Yahweh put it into my mind to woo [Gomer] again, to love
her — this wife with a lover, this adulteress.

' So LXX ; MT, " you."

2 Dowry with which a man bought a wife.

[And why ?] Such was Yahweh's love for the Israelites,
.l-hough they were looking to other gods and in love witli cakes
of raisins !^

So 1 bought her for myself for fifteen shekels in money and
fifteen shekels' worth of barley.^ Then I told her that for a
long time she must [live alone and] wait for me, having no
relations with men — yes, that for a long time I myself could not
live with her.

[And why ?] Because for a long time the Israelites would
have to [live alone and] wait — without king or prince, without
sacrifice or sacred pillar, without idol of Yahweh or image.

A PROMISE OF RESTORATION.

Chapter iii. 5, plus i. 10 to ii. I, which seems to belong
here.

Many think that this passage is not by Hosea. Note
reference to the ideal king of the house of David. At ariy rate
it is in the spirit of Hosea.

Afterwards the Israelites shall again resort to Yahweh, their
God, and to [the son of] David, their king. In the " latter
days " they shall come with trembling to Yahweh — come with
trembling to [experience] his kindness.

The Israelites shall be as numerous as the grains of sand
by the sea, which cannot be measured or counted.

Instead of being called Lo-ammi, they shall be called sons of
the Hving God.

The Judaeans and IsraeHtes shall join hands and set over
themselves one commander. They shall conquer^ the country,
for glorious shall be the " day " of Jezreel.

Call your brothers " Ammi " and your sisters " Ruchamah."

^ Used in worship of the Baal of the vine and taken over by the popular
Yahweh religion.

^ This seems to be the meaning. Thirty shekels was the price of a
bondservant.

'^ Meaning of phrase thus translated is uncertain.

Chapter iv. i to 14.

The priests derived their income from the popular religion —
a religion in which Tahweh was worshipped but his character
was misunderstood.

In most religions sacred prostitution has been practised
as part of the ritual. It was practised in Canaan. After
the Conquest it seems to have been taken over by the popular
Tahweh religion.

We have here an eighth century B.C. denunciation of the
view which prescribes one code of sexual morality for women
and allows another for men.

O Israelites, hear Yahweh's message. Yahweh has a quarrel
with the inhabitants of the country. For there is no truth,
kindness, or knowledge of God in the country — only perjury,
murder, theft, adultery, violence. Murder follows hard on
murder. That is the reason of these frequent droughts — when
all who live in the country pine away — even the v/ild animals
and the birds — ^when the very fish lie in heaps [in the dry river-
beds]. But what good can a man do by quarrelling and uttering
reproaches ? My people are merely imitating their priests.^

O priests, you persistently stumble when' you have the light,
and the prophets also stumble with you. The darkness comes !
I will destroy your whole caste.

Destroy ! My people have let you destroy them because
they do not know me. Because you, priests, have refused to
know me, I refuse to recognise you as my priests. Because you
have forgotten the ideal of your God, I — even I — will forget
the members of your profession.

The greater the influence of the priests the more they err
concerning me. I will bring their glorious office into contempt.
They derive their income from my people's error. They
greedily encourage my people in their perverted religion.

So the people will become as bad as the priests. I must
punish them for their conduct and pay them back in their

' Text here is corrupt. Most commentators agree that this is the general
serise.

own coin. They will eat but not be satisfied. They will
commit fornication but not multiply. For they have ceased
to take any notice of Yahweh.

Fornication, wine and new wine deprive men of their wits.
My people ask advice of their sacred trees — their diviners'
rods declare to them [my will] ! For lust for prostitutes has
so muddled their brains, that they have [prostituted their
intelligence to idolatry and] committed adultery against their
God.

On the tops of the mountains they sacrifice, on the hills they
make offerings — under oaks, poplars and terebinths, which
provide convenient shade. That is why their daughters are
always committing fornication and their wives adultery. I will
not punish their daughters for committing fornication nor their
wives for committing adultery. For they themselves go aside
with harlots and maintain temple prostitutes at [my] sanctuaries.

A people is ruined when it will not think !

Chapter iv. 15/0 19. Fragmentary Utterances.

Although you, Israel, are committing adultery against mc,
I would not have Judah share your guilt.

Do not attend the sanctuary of Gilgal ! Do not go up to
Bethel !^ Forbear in Beer-Sheba^ to protest your devotion
to me !

Yes, Israel jibs like a jibbing heifer !

How then can Yahweh let the Israelites graze like lambs in
a broad pasture land ?

Ephraim3 is wedded to idols ! [What can Yahweh do but]
let him alone f

^ Bethel — from " Beth," house, and " El," God — means "House of God."
It was the chief sanctuary of Yahweh in Northern Israel. But, owing to
the fact that Yahweh was worshipped there under the form of a bull, Hosea
calls the place Bethaven — from " Beth," house, and " Aven," idolatry
— "house of idols."

* Inserted by many commentators to restore the rhythm.

3 Ephraim — son of Joseph — often stands for Northern Israel. Word-play
occurs in Hosea with Peri, " fruit," and Pere, " wild ass."

The Israelites are a drunken mob/ obsessed by lust for
prostitutes. Israel's rulers have fallen in love with dishonour,
rhe wind will snatch her up, like a " dust devil, "^ and whirl her
iway. The Israelites will wish they had never trusted in their
>acrifices.

Chapter v. i to 14.

The government — by commission, license, taxation, etc.
— make their profit out oj the popular Tahweh religioji.

Hosea predicts the destruction of the Ten Tribes oj Northern
Israel — a prediction fulfilled in 722 B.C.

Hear this, you priests ! Listen, all Israelites ! Court of
he King, attend ! It is against you that this sentence is
)ronounced. For you have proved a snare at Mizpah — spread
''ourself like a fowler's net on Tabor.

They have deepened^ the pit which was made at Shittim.*
^ut I will be a scourge to them all. I know Ephraim — yes,
srael cannot hide himself from me. Already, Ephraim, you
lave committed adultery against me — yes, Israel has let himself
)e defiled. Their own habits prevent them from returning
o their God. They are obsessed by lust for prostitutes. So
hey do not know Yahweh. Time after time does the Majesty
•f Israel give clear evidence against him. But time after time
lo the Ephraimites5 fall, tripped up by the iniquity [they do not
ecognise]. (Judah, too, has tripped up with them !) Time
fter time with sacrifices of sheep and oxen do they make efforts
o seek Yahweh, but they never find him. He eludes them.

^ Slight amendments of MT are necessary to render it translatable.

2 " Dust devil " — a column of dust driven along by the wind in a whirling
piral (cf. " the wings of the wind ").

3 Changing one letter of untranslatable MT in accordance with many
ommentators,

4 See Numbers xxv. 1-9.

5 MT adds " Israel " — a marginal note.

They have defrauded Yahweh. For they have let their
clwldren grow up in ignorance of him.

Next month may see the end of them and of their estates !
Sound the alarm in Gibeah ! Blow the cornet in Ramah !
From Bethel^ call Benjamin to arms ! Oh, Ephraim, on the
day of your punishment you will be utterly exterminated.

Against the tribes of Israel I make a prediction which will
certainly be fulfilled.

The nobles of Judah are no better than common swindlers.
I will drown them in the deluge of my anger.

Ephraim is oppressed — his national independence is stamped
out. [And why ?] Because he has obstinately followed
idols.*

So it is I, like moth, who am devouring Ephraim — like
dry rot, devouring the Judsans. Ephraim has perceived the
sickness [of the state] and Judah has perceived his wounds.
So Ephraim has resorted to Assyria — sent for help to the Great
King.3 But he cannot possibly heal you or cure your wounds.
For it is I, like a lion, who am preying on Ephraim — yes, like a
young lion, on the Judaeans. It is I — I myself, who will mangle
you and make off with you. I will drag you away and none shall
be able to rescue you.

Chapter v. 15 to vi. 6.

The God of the Prophets is not omnipotent in the sense oj
having left Himself free to do anything He likes — the omni-
potence of childish day-dreams. By giving men some power
of choice — making them not machines but men — He has
limited His own power ^ rendered Himself liable to be frus-
trated by them — to suffer at their hands.

I will leave them and return to my temple [in heaven] until
they suffer the consequences of their guilt and seek my presence.

^ See note on iv. 15-19.

« So LXX ; MT, " a Hne."

3 Reading Melek rab for Melek Jareb.

When they are in trouble, they always seek me energetically
enough, saying —

" Come, let us return to Yahweh. For it is he who has
mangled us, but only to heal us. It is he who has smitten us,
but only to bind up our wounds. He will revive us in two or
three days — set us on our feet that we may live in his presence.
Oh, let us know Yahweh, let us run after Yahweh that we may
know him ! As soon as we seek^ him energetically we'* shall
find him. He will come to us like the rains, like the spring
showers which water the soil."

What can I make of you, Ephraim — what can I make of you,
Judah — when your affection for me is like a morning mist, like
dew that passes early away ?

That is why I have [but] shattered my people by [sending
them] the prophets — that is why my promises have [only]
brought them death — why my3 justice proves a lightning
flash [to strike them].

For it is your affection that I delight in, not your sacrifices —
— yes, your knowledge of God, not your burnt offerings.

Chapter vi. 7 to vii. 7.

Very difficult. In places MT defies translation and
commentators differ even as regards the general sense conveyed
by the original.

But they, like ordinary men, have broken their covenant
[with me]. Look ! It is there that they have been false to
me ! Gilead is a city of criminals — the roads to it are marked
by trails of blood !

Like brigands in ambush gangs of priests murder people
seeking asylum at Shechem.+ Yes, they have committed
atrocities.

^ Transposing one letter of MT.

2 So LXX 5 MT, " his going forth."

3 So LXX 5 MT, " thy."

* Shechcm was a city of priests and a city of refuge from the blood feud
for a man who had killed another accidentally (Joshua xx. and xxi. 21).

In the land of Israel I see appalling things ! There Ephraim
is x-ommitling adultery against me — yes, Israel has let himself
be defiled. Judah too — there is a harvest to be reaped by you !

When I try to restore my people, when I try to heal Israel,
the iniquity of Ephraim discloses itself and the crimes of
Samaria — sharp practice in business, burglary, brigandage. Yet
it never occurs to them that I remember all their crimes. They
are already utterly in the grip of bad habits. But I know them
through and through.

By wickedness they curry favour with the king. By lies they
curry favour with the nobles. They are all adulterers — like
an oven heated by the baker ; he may stop stirring up the fire
while fermentation is taking place !^

At court ceremonies the nobles get dead drunk.

The king associates with wasters.

Yes, their minds are hot^ as an oven with their intrigues. All
night their anger [merely] slumbers.3 In the morning it is
blazing like a flame.

They all grow hot as an oven [with intrigues].

Like cannibals they devour their rulers ! All their kings
have been assassinated — not one of them calling to me for help.

Chapter vii. 8 to i6.

Like Isaiah, Hosea denounces alliances with foreign nations
as treason against Tahzveh Sahaoth — the God of the armies of
Israel — Israels protector.

Ephraim apes the heathen. Ephraim is a half-baked cake.
Foreign [fashions] have sapped his vigour, but he himself is
unaware of it. Yes, he has a grey hair here and there ; but he
himself is unaware of it. Time after time does the Majesty of
Israel give clear evidence against him. Yet the Israelites have
never returned to Yahweh their God nor sought him — not even
for all this !

' Very difficult ; reading and sense uncertain.

2 So LXX J MT, " they bring near."

3 Very difficult ; reading and sense uncertain.

Ephraim is like a silly dove [fluttering about aimlessly].
They will call in the Egyptians ! They will resort to Assyria
for help ! As soon as they go I will catch them in my net —
shoot them like a bird.^ . . .

Alas for them ! For they have fluttered away, [frightened of]
me.

Destruction upon them ! For they have rebelled against me.

And I — can I rescue them when they themselves propagate
a false view of me ?

They have never prayed to me honestly. They merely howl
beside their altars^ for corn and wine. They lacerate them-
selves3 according to the ritual. But [when I would lead them on]
they jib.

It was I who trained them and made them strong. Yet it
is of me that they are suspicious.

They are ever returning to idols.'^ They are like a bow which
never hits the target.

Their nobles will be put to death because of their arrogant
boasting. Israel will be derided for this by the Egyptians.

Chapter viii. i to 14.

IsraeVs religion is a dope. He refuses to face the living
God and the great ideal the living God has set before him.
Israel worships Tahweh, but wants a dead Tahwehy not a
living Tahweh. Hence Israel seeks to reduce Tahweh to
an idol in order to gratify his religious feelings without facing
the living Tahweh and striving to live up to His ideal.

It seems that Hosea was the first prophet explicitly and
unequivocally to denounce the practice of employing golden
bulls to represent Tahweh. To the people in general the bull
of Samaria was most sacred. To say that it was not God was
blasphemous ! But Hosea does not regard golden bulls as the

' Rest of verse 12 very difficult and uncertain; here omitted.

2 MT, "beds."

3 So LXX ; MT, " throng," See i Kings xviii. 28.

4 So LXX; MT, meaningless.

only kind of idols. Diplomacy^ politics, etc., become idols, just
-'CIS easily as do the adjuncts of religious worship, if they are
regarded as substitutes jor the living God.

One symptom of Israel's inability to face the living God
is his desire to safeguard his little country by a foreign
alliance.

King-making is another symptom. Does Hosea refer to the
objection to having a king at all, which appears in the later
of the two accounts of the beginning of the monarchy in
I Samuel? Or to the revolt of Jeroboam I. in 933 B.C. ?
Or to the events of J ^7, B.C. ?

Trumpeter, sound the alarm ! Like a vulture [the Assyrian
swoops down] on Yahweh's own country !

It is because the Israelites have broken their covenant with
me and rebelled against my ideal.

To me they will cry — call me their God — say, " We Israelites
know thee." Israel has repudiated what is good. Let the
enemy rout him !

They have made kings without my consent — princes whom I
never recognized. Of their own silver and gold they have
made idols [of me] — to gratify their rehgious feelings, but to
separate themselves from me !

^ I will repudiate the miserable bull [you have made for me],
Samaria. They rouse me to anger ! How long shall I have to
continue to punish them ! Yes, — this is Israel's idea [of me !]
A smith made it ! It is not God !

Samaria's miserable bull shall be smashed to atoms.

Yes [their religion is] a sowing of mere wind, but its harvest
will be a tornado.

Should their seed spring up, it cannot spread. It will never
yield bread. Should it yield bread, this would be devoured by
foreigners.

Devoured ! Israel is devoured ! They are already an
unmarketable commodity among the nations. For they have
grovelled to Assyria ! (Ever a fractious wild ass is Ephraim !)*

1 MT, "he has repudiated."

2 Word play between Ephraim and Pere, " wild ass."

They have hired lovers ! Even if they make a present of
themselves to all the nations, now will I whip them in. They
must cease^ for a while ^from anointing kings and princes.^

For the more altars Ephraim has built, 3 the further have they
led him from the goal. Were I to write down for him the outline
of my ideal, he would think it belonged to a foreign religion !

The Israelites offer sacrifices to hold communion [with
Yahweh]. Yahweh does not accept them. Now must he
remember their iniquity and punish their errors. They must
return to Egypt.

Israel has forgotten his maker and built palaces !

Judah has constructed a chain of fortresses. So I must
light a fire in his cities to consume their citadels.

Chapter ix. i to %.

The teaching of Moses about Tahzveh has been obscured by
the heathen ideas which have been taken over from the
Canaanites by the popular Tahzveh religion. Hence either
Assyria or Egypt — Hosea does not know which — will conquer
and deport Israel.

Rejoice not so loudly, O Israel, in your heathenish religion !
It is merely adultery against your God. You love to indulge
in immoral harvest rites on all your threshing floors.

Threshing floors ! Their threshing floors and wine vats will
not nourish them. Their new wine will disappoint them !♦
TheyS will pour out no drink offerings to Yahweh and prepare^
him no sacrifices. Their breads will be like the bread of

I So LXX; MT, "and they began."

^■2 So LXX ; MT, " from the burden of a king, princes."

3 MT adds " to sin."

4 So LXX ; MT, " her."

5 Transposing verses 3 and 4.

6 MT, •' be sweet " ?

7 MT, " they have."

mourners. All who cat of it will thereby make themselves
unclean.^ For they will eat merely to appease their hunger
and not to hold communion with Yahweh.

*[And why ?] They cannot remain in Yahweh's land.
Ephraim must return to Egypt. In Assyria they must cat
unclean food.^

Alas, for the festival days ! Alas, for the days of pilgrimage
to Yahweh !

For see ! they must go to Assyria.3 Egypt must be their
rendezvous. [There they will die and] be buried in the
cemetery of Memphis. As for their precious silver idols —
thistles shall replace them, thorns shall grow in their sanctuaries.

Arrived is the time of punishment ! Arrived is the time of
retribution ! Oh, let the Israelites perceive it !

[Why say you] — " The prophet is irreligious, the inspired
man is mad " ?

Because of your great iniquity and your great animosity
[against me for speaking of it].

I* am Ephraim's watchman with my God. Wherever I go
they lay traps for me. There is animosity against me among the
priests of my God.

Chapter ix. 9 to 17.

Verse 9 seems to refer to Judges xix. 22. For Baal-Peor
see Numbers (xxv. i to 3). Perversions of religion and per-
versions of the sex instinct are closely connected. Sexual
malpractices have rotted the vigour of the nation. This is
shown by the falling birth-rate. Contrast the freshness and
vigour of the early days of the nation^ suggested in verse loa.
Yet what matters the falling birth-rate ? Soon all the children
who are being brought up, will be destroyed by the invader.

^ Mourners, being "unclean " by the dead, could not eat of sacrificial
meals. Therefore they could not hold communion with Yahweh. In
exile the Israelites would not be able to offer firstlings or first-fruits at any
sanctuary of Yahweh. Therefore all their food would be " unclean."

2 Transposing verses 3 and 4.

3 MT, " from destruction."

4 MT, " prophet."

In the age of the prophets there was no doctrine of a life worth
living beyond death. Children^ by keeping a man's name
alive on earthy provided what we may call a substitute for
immortality . Childlessness was regarded by the Israelites
as the worst possible curse. But so dreadful will be the
destruction of Israel, that Hosea feels that childlessness will be
better than the rearing of children to be slaughtered. Compare
"Jeremiah xvi. \ to \ and PauVs earlier view of marriage in
I Corinthians vii., written when he expected that disasters,
ushering in the end of the world, would shortly begin. Contrast
Ephesians v. 22 to 33/ written when he had realised that the
expectation of an immediate end of the world, taken over by
the first generation of Christians from the Jewish Apocalyptists,
zvas erroneous. Co7?ipare also Luke xxiii. 27 to 31, where
Jesus predicts the horrors which were actually to occur at the
siege and fall of Jerusalem (70 a.d.)

ix. 9,

They practice unnatural vice — the sin of Gibeah. Yahweh
must remember their perversion, punish their ejrrors.

ix. 10, II, 16, 12, 13.

[Delightful] as grapes in the wilderness v^as Israel when I
found him there. Fresh as a first ripe fig were your fathers
when I chose them. But when they came to Baal-peor, they
consecrated themselves to Baal^ and became as loathsome as
the idols they loved.

Ephraim — fruitful Ephraim — his birth-rate is dwindling like
a bird vanishing into the blue. No children, no motherhood,
no fatherhood.

' In the New Testament the writers, almost without noticing that they
are doing so, ascribe the position held in the Old Testament by " message
(or word) of Yahweh," " messenger (or angel) of Yahweh," " Yahweh," to
Jesus of Nazareth. So in Ephesians v. 22-33 the figure of marriage, once
employed by Hosea as a symbol of the relation of Yahweh to Israel, is now
employed as a symbol of the relation of Christ to the Church — the new Israel.
Compare use of word " saviour " in Hosea xiii. 4 and Ephesians v. 23.

* Reading Baal — later scribes so disliked this word that they often
substituted Bosheth, " shame."

^Ephraim is a worm-eaten tree. His roots are dried up. No
fp«it can [the fruitful ones] hear. What children they bear —
— darlings of their mothers — I must kill !^ Of what children
they rear I must bereave them — not one shall survive. (Yes,
alas for the parents too when I depart from them !) Ephraim's
children arc destined^ to provide game for the sport of the
nations. Ephraim can produce children merely to be slaughtered !

ix. 14. Hosea speaks.

Give them, O Yahweh — what can I ask thee to give them ? —
Best give them miscarrying wombs and shrivelling breasts !

ix. 15. Tahweh speaks.

All their crimes are focussed in [my sanctuary in] Gilgal. Yes,
it is there that I began to hate them. Because of their evil
habits I will expel them from my sanctuary. I will love them
no more. All their leaders are jibbers !

ix. 17. Hosea speaks.

My God will reject them, because they have not listened to
him. They must become vagabonds [Cains] among the nations !

Chapter x. i and 2, 5 /o 8,

Israel was a luxuriant vine. He3 grew richer and richer.
The richer he grew, the more altars he built. The more prosper-
ous his country, the finer the sacred pillars he made. But the
Israelites are not single-minded. Now must they suffer
punishment . [Yahweh] will break down their altars — ruin their
sacred pillars.'*

' Read 16 after 11.

2 So LXX; MT, "like I have seen Tyre transplanted."

3 Meaning of MT very uncertain. (Translation here is in accordance with
one of the numerous amendments which have been proposed.)

* For X. 3 to 4 see below ; it seems to be out of its place.

For the ^miserable bull of Bethel* the inhabitants of Samaria
will lament. 3 Yes, its people will mourn for it. Its priests
will be in agony* for it. For its rich gold will have been
stripped off it and taken away to a foreign land. The object
itself must be carried to Assyria as a " present " to the Great'
King. Ephraim will be disgraced ; yes, Israel will wish he had
never trusted in his diplomacy.

Samaria will collapse — her king will be like a twig on a torrent !

The idolatrous high places — Israel's error — will be destroyed.
Thorns and thistles will grow on their altars. The Israelites
will say to the mountains — " Cover us " — and to the hills —
" Fall on us ! "

Chapter x. 3 and 4.

Seems out of its place or a later addition.

For now they will say — " We have no [real] king since we do
not fear Yahweh. As for the king [we have], what can he do
for us } Nothing but make^ and break promises, and enter
into alliances with foreigners — while his administration of
justice is as useful as weeds among the corn ! "

Chapter x. 9 to 11.

In verse 10 IsraeVs " two perversions " are probably (a) the
worship of Yahweh under the form of a bull, and {b) the
monarchy. Or (c) unnatural vice {cf " days of Gibeah ")
may be one of them. Verses 9 and 10 are very di-fficult and
uncertain.

I So LXX; MT plural.

* See note on iv. 15 to 19.

3 MT, " sojourn."

4 MT, " rejoice."

5 Reading Melek rab for Melek yareb.

* So LXX ; MT, " They make . . . their administration .

Ever since the days of Gibeah^ have you gone wrong, O
Israel! The IsraeHtes persist in that sin. Must not the
attack be pressed home against Gibeah — against the black-
guards ?

H will chastise them in my fury — nations shall combine
against them to chastise^ them for their two perversions.

Ephraim is a* heifer fond [of the easy work] of threshing corn.
But I will fit a yoke on her fair neck. I will put Ephraim into
draught. Judah must plough. Jacob must harrow before he
can thresh.

Chapter x. I2 to i^a.

Suggested by the agricultural metaphors of II. See verses
12 to i^ainR.V. 7 he Hebrew says " sowj'^ " reap^^^ ^'fallow
ground,^^ " plough,''^ " reap,"^^ because agriculture was the
chief industry in Israel in the days of Hosea. The translation
here given is a paraphrase, seeking to apply Hosea^s thought
to a commercial community .

Lay out your capital honestly. Make your profits in accord-
ance with the law of kindness. Look into your business methods.
It is time to seek Yahweh that he may come and teach you
honesty. You have invested in evil enterprises. You have
made unjust profits. You have lived on shams.

Chapter x. 13^ to 15.

There are at least five differing views as to who this Shalman
was. Some event, well-known in the author\( day, is referred
to.

Since you have trusted in your poHcy — in the strength of your
armies, the din of battle shall arise among your tribes. All

^ See Judges jdx. 22.

2 MT, " In my desire, that I may chastise them."

3 So LXX ; MT, " When they combine."

4 MT adds — " that is taught — a marginal note.

your fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman stormed Beth-arbel
and destroyed it, dashing in pieces mothers and children. Thus
must^ I do to you, O Israehtes,^ because of your great wicked-
ness. The king of Israel shall utterly collapse — [like a dream]
in the morning !

Chapter xi. i to 9.

When Israel was a child, he attracted my love and I called
him out of Egypt to adopt him as my son.

The more I3 have called them the more they have avoided
me. 3 It is with the Baalim that they hold communion — to
images that they make offerings.

It was I who taught the baby Ephraimites to walk. [When
they tumbled down] I ^would pick then up in my* arms. Yet
they never knew that I had healed their bruises.

I led them humanely with ropes of loveS . . .

Israel must^ return to Egypt. The Assyrian must be his
king. [And why ?] Because the Israelites have refused to
return [to me].

So the sword must be brandished against their cities. Their
gates must be stormed. They will be swallowed up by their
own diplomacy.

My people have a bias towards refusing to face me ! ^

How can I let you go, Ephraim ? How surrender you,
Israel ? How can I let you become like Admah^ or make you

' So LXX ; MT, " he did."

2 So LXX 5 MT, " Bethel."

3 So LXX ; MT, " they called them, so they went from before them."

4 So LXX ; MT, "he ... . his."

5 Rest of verse very difficult and uncertain ; here omitted.
^ Reading on lines of LXX.

7 Rest of verse very difficult and uncertain ; here omitted.

^ Admah and Zeboiim, cities associated with Sodom and Gomorrah (see
Genesis xiv. 2), cited by Hoseaascxamples of vice and subsequcnldestruction
in the same way as Sodom and Gomorrah are cited by Amos iv. 1 1 and Isai.ih.

like Zeboiim ? My mind recoils from the thought ! All my
emofions are in conflict ! Must I not give effect to my anger ?
Must I not come back^ to destroy Ephraim ? For I am God
and not man, in the midst of you a transcendent one. . . .'

Chapter xi. lo and II. Later addition — note cotifused
metaphors — a promise oj restoration.

They will follow Yahweh. Yahweh will roar like a lion —
yes, it is he who will roar. Sons will hurry from the west.
They will hurry, Hke sparrows, out of Egypt — yes, like doves,
out of Assyria. Yahweh whispers in my ear — " I will bring3
them back to their own homes."

Chapter xi, I2, xii. i to -^a, 7 to II. 14.

Hosea^s unpopular view of the character oj the national
ancestor, 'Jacob {Ta^aqob), whose name resembles the verb
*aqab, " to follow at the heel^"* " over -reach?'' The Canaanites
or Phoenicians were the great traders of the day. Ephraim
considers that " business is business^"* and that one cannot
afford to be over-particular ; but Tahweh will overthrow all
IsraeVs commercial civilisation, taken over from the
Canaanites, and reduce the Israelites to the nomads they
were when he met them at Horeb.

Note the force of"*" in whom there is no guile " in John i. 47.

Ephraim besets me with lies — yes, the Israelites beset me
with falsehood.* . . .

^ See V. 15.

^ Rest of verse very difficult and uncertain ; here omitted.

3 So LXX; MT, "will make them dwell."

^ Rest of verse, of uncertain meaning, is probably a later addition. It is
here omitted.

What Ephraim feeds on is mere wind ! The dreams he
pursues are but a sirocco ! ^ All day long they pile up Hes and
fraud.* They make treaties with Assyria — pay tribute in oil
to Egypt. Yahweh has a quarrel with Judah. He must
punish Jacob for his conduct — pay him back in his own coin.

In the womb [Jacob] overreached his brother .3 He is a regular
Canaanite — armed with false balances, loving extortion !

Ephraim thinks — " Well, at any rate, I have grown rich. I
have made money. My profits are the result of fair business.
They do not make my hands what anyone could call dirty."

But I am Yahweh, your God since you came out of Egypt.
I will make you nomads again as you were when I met you
[at Horeb].

Time after time do I put my message in the minds of the
prophets. It is I who have granted visions in abundance —
who give you hint after hint through the prophets.

In* [my sanctuary at] Gilead there is a perverted rehgion* —
mere waste of time ! In the sacred Stone Circle at Gilgal they
sacrifice oxen. Their altars, even theirs, shall become stone
heaps in ploughed fields.5

Ephraim has bitterly provoked his master. His master will
not clear him of his mortal guilt — he will pay him back for his
insults.

Chapter xii. 3^^ to 6, 12 and 13.

An editor^ either misunderstanding Hosea or feeling that
Jacob had been harshly dealt with, fitted into Rosea' s text
some passages in which Jacob appears to great advantage.
This editor derives the name " Israel " {the other name for
Jacob) from Tisreh—'' He perseveres ''—and El—'' God:'

^ Sirocco =:a hot east wind.

2 So LXX ; MT, " destruction."

3 Rest of verse 3 and verses 4, 5, 6, are a later insertion ; see below.

4 MT, "if . . . idolatry."

5 For 12 and 13 see below.

There may perhaps he a link between the added passages in
that the verb translated " keep " in verse 6 is the same as the
verb translated " kept " in verse 12 and in verse 13.

xii. 3^ to 6.

With all his energy Jacob persevered with God — persevered
with an angel and prevailed. He prayed to him — prayed with
tears. At Bethel he found God — yes, there God spoke with us.

And Yahweh is the God of our armies — Yahweh is his name.

You, too, by the help of your God, must return [to him].

Keep kindness and justice and wait for your God without
ceasing.

xii. 12 and 13.

Jacob fled to the country of the Aramaeans — yes, Israel served
for a wife — for a wife he kept sheep.

By a prophet Yahweh brought up Israel out of Egypt — yes,
by a prophet was Israel kept.

Chapter xiii.

Ephraim has made " the great refusal " to face the living
God and to " walk " {i.e. " make progress ") with the living
God. To Hosea idolatry is perverted religion ; cf. i John v.
(20 and 21). Idolatry implies that God is regarded as an It
rather than as a He, or as less alive in the present than in the
past.

The popular idol in the days of Hosea was a golden hull.
But according to the principle proclaimed by Hosea, a book,
a creed, an " infallible Church^'' a " life force,''^ " natural
law," or a philosophical Absolute, are equally idols or dead
gods if they are regarded as substitutes for the living God.

Once, whenever Ephraim spoke, men trembled. He was
prince^ in Israel. But he incurred guilt [by confounding me]
with the Baalim — and lies dead.

I MT, "lifted up."

Even now the Israelites continue in their error. They have
made themselves molten images out of their own silver — idols
to suit their own ideas [of me] ! Smith's work is it all ! Such
things they call God^ !

Men, when they sacrifice, kiss miserable bulls ! Therefore
they are like a morning mist — like dew that passes early away
— Hke chaff that is swept away by the gale from the threshing
floor — like smoke that goes out through the window.

Yet I, Yahweh, have been your God since you left Egypt.
You have no experience of any God but me. No other has ever
been your saviour. It was I who was your* shepherd in the
wilderness, in the dreadful land of drought.

But the better their pasturage, the more the Israelites gorged
themselves. They gorged themselves and became arrogant.
That is why they have forgotten me.

So I must prey upon them like a lion. Like a panther must I
lurk beside their path. I must fall on them like a bear bereaved
of her whelps, break their chests, and devour them on the spot
like a lion — yes, wild animals shall tear them to pieces. Since
31 am your destroyer, O Israel, who* is there to help you ?
Where now is your king .? Let him save you ! Where are
all 5your nobles f Let them right you ! 5 Yes, where are all
those of whom you said — " Give me a king and nobles " ? I
gave you kings in my anger and deposed them in my fury.

Ephraim's iniquity is repressed. His error is hidden [from his
consciousness]. It is time for him to be born [to a bigger life].
He is a laggard child. He refuses to face the new birth.

Can I rescue them from Sheol ? Can I redeem them from
death ! Come, Death, with your plagues ! Come, Sheol,
with your destruction ! I must banish compassion from my
mind !

^ MT, "to ihem."

3 So LXX ; MT, " I knew thcc."

3 MT, " he."

4 MT, "in me."

5"5 MT, " in all your cities, and your judges."

Although Ephraim — the fruitful one — be more fruitful than
all his brothers, there will come a sirocco [from Assyria], Yahweh's
wind, rising from the wilderness. Ephraim's fountains will
fail, his springs will run dry. [The Assyrian] will plunder the
treasury of all its precious jewels.

Samaria must bear her punishment, for she has rebelled
against her God. Her men will be killed in action, her children
dashed to pieces, her women with child ripped up.

Chapter xiv. 1/08.

Return,' O Israel, to Yahweh your God. For you are fallen,
tripped up by the iniquity [you have not recognised]. Take
with you [instead of a sacrifice] your confession and return to
Yahweh. Say to him — " Take away our iniquity altogether
and accept what is good [in us], that so we may render as our
thank-offering the fruit^ of our grateful lips. We will not look
to Assyria to save us, nor trust in the chariots [of Egypt]. Never
again will we call our own inventions God ! For it is thou who
are moved by a father's sympathy for the orphans. "3

I will cure their refusal to face me. I will love them
generously.

Now that the anger'^ which I launched against him has
returned, I will be like the dew to Israel. He shall blossom like
the lily, strike root [and stand firm] like the Lebanon range.
His branches shall spread. He shall be like the olive-yards
in beauty, like the forest of Lebanon in scent.5

What further use can Ephraim have for idols ? It is I who
will respond to him and take care of him. I am ever green like
the cypress. It is through me that your harvest is assured.

' The word " to repent " is in Hebrew " to return (to God)."

« So LXX; MT, "bulls."

3 Cf John xiv. 18 margin.

♦ See Hosea xi. 9.

5 \'crse 7 is an addition ; see below.

Chapter xiv. 7, a later addition ; note plural.

Once^ more shall Yahweh's protecting shadow be their home.
They shall enjoy their lives like a well-watered garden.* They
shall be prolific as the vine and fragrant as the wine of Lebanon.

Chapter xiv. 9.

A commentary on the hook hy an editor who writes in the
style of " Proverbs " at a date when there has been much
discussion on the problem of how to reconcile the goodness of
God with the pain^ sorrow, and sin in the world.

Let the wise understand this and the understanding prove
it by experience. Yahweh's ways are straight and level. The
loyal make progress in them, but the rebellious trip up in them.

^ So LXX ; MT, "The dwellers in his shadow shrill return."
2 MT, "They shall live, corn."

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EDITORS' PREFJCE.

SINCE the issue of our last number in this scries the whole
company of Old Testament students has been laid under
a debt of gratitude to Dr. MoflFatt for his complete trans-
lation of the Old Testament. To this we refer our readers for
comparison and further enlightenment. But we feel there is
still ample room for our versions.

First, there is great convenience in being able to purchase
separately any book we wish to study. Secondly, the plan of
our series enables us to give introductions to each book, and to
provide divisions and explanatory notes to each section . Thirdly,
our footnotes enable readers to see at a glance the reasons for
important changes.

By the generous help of our colleagues in this enterprise
we are able to present a translation that is well within the
reach of everyone, and that rests upon the best results of
modern scholarship. Literary elegance has been sacrificed to
clearness of expression and simplicity of language.

We are grateful for the reception given to the books previously
issued, and have tried to benefit by many helpful criticisms
received, for which we are thankful.

Suggestions and criticisms will be welcomed by us.

A pathetic interest now attaches to this book, for just as the
final proofs were ready for his revision Dr. Skinner was very
suddenly called away from his earthly work. Our thankfulness
is the more intense that he was enabled to bring the translation
practically to the form he desired. The editors have done the
final revision with the utmost care, and have made no changes
for which they did not feel that they had the distinguished
author's authority. In a very few cases they have added notes
which are enclosed in square brackets. The book seems to
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interpretation of the Old Testament.

G.C.M.
T.H.R.

CONTENTS

Editors' Preface
Introduction

I. Samuel and Saul (i Sam. i.-xv.) . .

II. Saul and David (i Sam. xrvi.-2 Sam. i.)

III. David (2 Sam. ii.-xxiv.) . .
Index

PACE

136

„ THE BOOK OF SAMUEL.

ISTRODUCTION.

THE two books of Samuel are amongst the most
instructive, and certainly most interesting, of the Old
Testament writings. They deal with a period of history
covering about four human generations, from the birth of
Samuel to the old age of David — a period crowded with stirring
and memorable events in the political life of the people of
Israel. They exhibit the transition from the disunion and
anarchy of the age of the Judges to the comparative order and
security of the early monarchy. To them we are indebted for
all wc know of the struggle for national independence against
the Philistines, which issued in the establishment of the kingdom,
first under Saul and then under David. Here also we discover,
if not the beginnings, at least the emergence into clear history,
of the prophetic movement which so profoundly influenced
the course of Israel's religious development. It was a rude and
bloody age, in which men of strong will and strong passions
played their parts ; and the dramatic skill with which such men
are made to reveal their characters by word and action has
created a series of historical portraits unrivalled in Hebrew
literature. There are brave and chivalrous figures Hke Saul
and Jonathan, bold and unscrupulous soldiers like Joab and
Abishai, sensual or ambitious princes like xA.mnon and Absalom,
astute counsellors like Ahithophel and Hushai ; and many
others ; while the higher tendencies of the age are represented
in two men of genius, Samuel and Da\'id, who were gifted with
true political insight to guide the destinies of the people in
accordance with the purpose of God, Not the least valuable
features of the narrative are the gHmpses it affords of the common
life of common people : their homes and livelihood, their
everyday rehgion and ways of thinking, — often crude and
primitive, and ruled by superstitious ideas and barbarous
customs, but lighted up by examples of genuine piety, sustained
by a li\-ing sense of fellowship with Yahweh the God of Israel,
and a strong faith in an overruling divine providence.

The Book — the division into two is not original, and is not
recognised in the Jewish Canon — is not the work of a single

author, but, like all the historical books of the Old Testament,
a compilation from earlier written sources ; some of which
(but not all) go back in their turn to oral tradition. These
sources vary greatly in historical value. Some must have been
written within living memory of the events recorded, and take
rank among historic documents of the first order ; others are
no less obviously coloured by the reflections of a later age on
these events. Several good scholars believe that among the
literary sources of Samuel they can recognise the continuation
of the two oldest documents of the Pentateuch, as well as the
work of later writers influenced by the teaching of Deuteronomy.
However that may be, it is certain that no good purpose would
have been served by an attempt to carry through a continuous
analysis in the present translation, as is done in the translation
of Genesis in this series. Only where a blending of narratives
was clear (as in i Sam. viii.-xiv.), or seemed so to me (as in i Sam.
xvii., xviii. and 2 Sam. i.) have I disentangled and separated the
combined narratives. But since it is useful to the reader to
distinguish sections of later origin, or insertions which interrupt
the continuity of the main account, I have indicated such
secondary passages by having them printed with an inlet in the
margin, which seems a more satisfactory method than the
employment of different varieties of type.

Samuel has another and less favourable distinction among
Old Testament books : its text is among the worst preserved
in the Hebrew Bible. Many passages are quite untranslatable ;
others when translated yield no intelhgible sense ; and in
innumerable cases slighter adjustments and corrections of the
text are called for. Hence the profusion of footnotes with
which the following pages are encumbered. Fortunately, in a
very considerable number of cases the difficulty is cleared up
by a comparison of the ancient Greek translation known as the
Septuagint, which was made from Hebrew manuscripts no
longer extant, which were free from a good many of the errors
that have crept into the present Hebrew text. Amid the
bewildering variety of text which the MSS of the Septuagint
present, it so happens that a particular group of MSS, represent-
ing what is called the Lucianic recension, has been found
specially useful in restoring the original text of Samuel. This
accounts for the numerous references to the Septuagint in the

Notes, where tlic I.ucianic recension is denoted by tlic
contraction ** Luc." Other ancient versions, such as the Latin,
the Syriac, the Aramaic Targums, and others, render occasional
help ; although in the Notes they are mostly slumped together
under an " etc." Sometimes all these external aids fail us,
and we must either have recourse to conjectural emendation,
or give up the attempt in despair. Readers who wish further
information on these and suchlike matters will do well to consult
a good modern commentary, such as that of Professor A. R. S.
Kennedy in the " Century Bible."

About the translation I need only say that it is meant for a
translation and not for a "crib." While avoiding mere
paraphrase as much as possible, I have purposely shunned the
opposite extreme of literalism, or always rendering the same
Hebrew word or expression by the same English equivalent.
My aim has been to present the sense of the Hebrew in such
language as would naturally be used by an English writer of the
present day ; although it has to be remembered that the ancient
Hebrew had many things to say that a modern Englishman would
never think of saying. I have thought it necessary here and
there to fill in an Enghsh phrase to relieve the characteristic
compression of Hebrew style : such additions, as involving no
change of text, are left without any external indication.

A word must be added on the Notes. Except a very few
which are merely explanatory — of names, customs, allusions, and
so forth — they all refer to alterations made in the Hebrew text,
whether on the authority of an ancient version or by reasonable
conjecture. Where only a single word is affected, a numeral
stands after that word ; where more than one, the numeral is
repeated at the beginning and end of the alteration. The
marks ° ° denote slight changes of text, to which it was
thought unnecessary to append a note. Square brackets [ ]
enclose short passages which, though left in the translation,
are probably not original.

[Dots with a query after them denote that the existing text
can neither be translated, nor amended.

Asterisks signify that the text as it stands is deficient,
especially where two narratives have been combined.

Where this is more uncertain a query follows the asterisks.
—Ed.]

The following are the abbreviations employed :
MS(S) : Manuscript(s).

MT : Massoretic Text (the common text of Hebrew Bibles).
LXX : The Septuagint.

Luc. : The Lucianic recension of the LXX (see above).
Syr. : The Syriac Version.

J.S.

SAMUEL.

I. SAMUEL AND SAUL.

(l Sam. i.-xv.)

I. The Birth of Samuel (i. 1-28; ii. 11).

At the time when this story opens there was a man living at
Ramathaim,^ ^a Zuphite' from the hill country of Ephraim,
Elkanah by name, a son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu,
son of Zuph — an Ephraimite. He had two wives, one named
Hannah and the other Peninnah ; and Peninnah had several
children, but Hannah had none. This man went up from his
city regularly once a year to offer worship and sacrifice to Yahweh
Zebaoth at Shiloh. [There the two sons of Eli, Hophni and
Phinehas, were priests of Yahweh. p

Now when the day of Elkanah's sacrifice came round, it was
his custom to serve out helpings to his wife Peninnah and each
of her children, while to Hannah he gave ^only one helping,
although^ he loved Hannah best ; only Yahweh had denied
her the blessing of motherhood. On these occasions her
rival-wife used to exasperate her with gibes about her childless
condition. °This went° on year after year — every time °they°
came up to the house of Yahweh she would provoke her thus —
till one day when she broke down and cried, and would eat
nothing ; and Elkanah her husband, trying to cheer her, said :
" Hannah, why do you weep and refuse to eat .? Why are you
so sad ? Surely I am worth more to you than ten sons ! "
But Hannah rose up after the meal 5in the guest -chamber,^ and

^ Ramathaim (Two Heights) is the same place as Ramah (Height) 5 see
i. 19 j ii. II.

^ — ^ The reading of LXX. MT " Zophim " gives no sense.

3 This sentence seems out of place at this point, because Eli himself is
the only priest with whom Elkanah's family has to do.

■♦ — * LXX. MT suggests (though it cannot be rightly rendered) : " a
special (or double) helping, because."

5 — 5 Doubtful. MT has *' in Shiloh," but its text is in several respects
suspicious.

'presented herself before Yahweh,^ while Eli the priest was
sitting on his usual seat by the door-post of the temple of
Yahweh. In deep distress she prayed to Yahweh, weeping all
the while, and made a vow in such words as these :

"■ O Yahweh Zebaoth ! If thou wilt but consider the trouble
of thy handmaid ; if thou wilt remember and not forget thy
handmaid, but wilt give her a man child — then I will dedicate
him to Yahweh for as long as he lives, and no razor shall touch
his head."

As she continued long in prayer to Yahweh, Eli, who was
watching her mouth, concluded that she was tipsy. For
Hannah was speaking to herself, only her lips kept moving,
while her voice was inaudible. Eli, then, said to her, " How
long is this drunken display to last ? Get rid of the wine that
is in you." But Hannah answered, "You are mistaken, sir!
I am indeed an unhappy woman, but neither wine nor strong
drink of any kind has passed my lips ; I have simply been
unburdening my heart before Yahweh. Do not take your
handmaid for a disreputable woman : it is because I am so
troubled and grieved that I have spoken so long." On hearing
this Eli said, " Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant
the petition you have asked of him ! " To which she replied,
" Think kindly of your handmaid." With that the woman
went away, ^and entered the guest-chamber, where she ate and
drank with her husband^ ; all signs of gloom having vanished
from her face. Next morning they all got up early, and after
an act of worship to Yahweh went home to their house at
Ramah.

After this Yahweh blessed the union of Elkanah with Hannah
his wife so that she became pregnant ; and about New Year
time3 she gave birth to a son, whom she named Samuel : " For,"
said she, " from Yahweh I ' asked ' him.""* And when the man
Elkanah, with the rest of the family, went up to offer the annual

^ — ^ A necessary addition from LXX.
2—2 So LXX. MT has simply " and ate."

3 In the autumn, coinciding with the time of the yearly sacrifice.

4 As if Samuel meant " Asked of God." The name really means " Name
of God." Curiously enough, the explanation given in the text would apply
to the name of Saul (=^" asked ") !

jacrificc to Yahweli and to fulfil his vow, Hannah did not go
up, but said to her husband that she would wait till the boy was
weaned ; then she would bring him to appear before Yahweh,
and let him remain there always. " Do as you think best,'*
said her husband Elkanah, " stay till you have weaned him ;
only may Yahweh ^sanction your vow ! "^ So the woman
remained at home, and nursed her son till she weaned him.
Then when she had weaned him she went up with him, taking
with her ^a three-year-old bullock,^ a bushel^ of meal, and a
skin-bottle of wine, and brought him into the house of Yahweh
at Shiloh ° °. And when they had slaughtered the bullock
*the mother came with her boy^ to Eh, and said " Pardon me,
sir ! but as sure as you live, sir, I am the woman who stood here
beside you one day praying to Yahweh. For this boy I prayed,
and Yahweh has granted the boon that I asked from him.
Therefore I in return now lend him to Yahweh : all the days
°of his life° he is a loan to Yahweh." So 5she left him there
before Yahweh and went home to Ramah' ; and the boy
ministered to Yahweh under the eye of Eli the priest.

2. The Song of Hannah (ii. i-io).

Between i. 28 and ii. II an editor has inserted the following
hymn as a suitable expression of Hannah'' s feelings (5b) ;
although from the poem as a whole it is plain that it must have
originated in a quite different situation.

Hannah prayed and said :

Exulteth my heart in Yahweh,

Elate is my horn through ^my God^ ;
Wide open my mouth 'gainst my foes ;

For thy help makes me glad.

^ — ' Syr. ; MT " confirm his word."

2— a LXX. MT "with three bullocks." V. 25 shows that there was
only one bullock.

3 An ephah, which was about the same capacity as a bushel.

4 — * So LXX ; MT " they brought the boy."

5 — 5 So LXX, preserving the original connection of i. 28 with ii. iia.
MT reads (i. 28b) "and they worshipped Yahweh there." (ii. iia) "And
Elkanah went to Ramah to his house."

6—6 LXX.

None is holy as Yahweh, [For there is none besides theep

And none a rock Hke our God.
Speak not overmuch proudly,

Nor let insolence come from your mouth ;
For a God all-knowing is Yahweh,

^A God by whom^ deeds ^are weighed.^

The bow of the heroes is broken,

While the falling are girded with might.

Gluttons take service for bread,

While the hungry 3from labour are freed.3

The barren is mother of seven,

While she that bare many doth languish.

Yahweh can kill and make living —

Thrust down to Sheol and bring up ;
Yahweh °makes poor° and enricheth —

Humbleth and raiseth to honour :
Lifteth the poor from the dust —

From the dunghill raiseth the needy,
Giving them seats among princes

As heirs of a glorious throne.

Yea, to Yahweh belong earth's pillars ;

On them he hath founded the world.
The feet of his saints he guardeth.

But sinners perish in darkness ;

For no man by strength prevaileth.
Yahweh will shatter his foes ;

*The Highest in heaven will break them.*

Yahweh shall judge to earth's limits —
Will give strength to his king.
And exalt his Anointed's horn.

^ — ^ This line Is metrically superfluous, and is not represented in LXX.
2—2 LXX.

3 — 3 Lit. " cease to labour " ; instead of the inelegant MT " cease :
even to [the barren — she beareth seven]."

MT " on them in heaven will he thunder,"

3. Samuel's Boyhood : the Doom of Eli's House (ii. 12-iii. 21).

Now the sons of Eli were unprincipled men who had no
respect for Yahweh. The priest's customary due from the
people, for example, was that when any one was offering a
sacrifice, while the flesh was being boiled the priest's servant
came round with a three-pronged fork in his hand : this he
thrust at hap-hazard into the pot or kettle or caldron or stewing-
pan, and whatever the fork brought up the priest took °for
himself." Thus was use and wont for all Israel when they came
^to sacrifice to Yahweh^ in Shiloh. But now the priest's servant
would come, before even the fat was burned on the altar, and
say to the person sacrificing, " Hand over some meat to roast
for the priest ; and he will not accept cooked flesh from you :
he must have it raw ! " And if the man said, " By all means,
let the fat first be burned, and then you may take whatever you
please," the fellow would answer, " No !^ You must give it me
now ; if not, I will take it by force." This was a very great
sin in the eyes of Yahweh on the part of the young men, inasmuch
as they belittled the oflFering of Yahweh.

Meanwhile Samuel was officiating before Yahweh as a little
lad wearing a ^^priestly garment made of linen. ^^ And his
mother used to make him a little coat, and bring it to him year
by year when she came up vdth her husband for the annual
sacrifice. Eli would then bless Elkanah and his wife, and say,
" May Yahweh give you issue of this woman, in return for the
loan which she has °lent° to Yahweh ! " Then they returned
to their home. '^And® Yahweh had regard to Hannah : she
became pregnant, and had three more^ sons and two daughers,
while the boy Samuel grew up as a ward of Yahweh.

When Eli, who was a very old man, heard from time to time
of his sons' behaviour to all Israel, [and how they misconducted
themselves with the serving-women at the door of the Tent of
Meeting]* he would expostulate v^dth them thus : " Why do

' — ' Inserted from LXX.

* MT " to him." [The original words are very similar. — Ed.]
[2a_2a Dr. Skinner's MS had " linen ephod."— Ed.]
3 LXX.

^ The bracketed clause is wanting in LXX ; and certain terms used show
that it does not belong to the original narrative.

you do such things as I am hearing of ^ ^ from all the people
^ ^ ? Come, come, my sons ! It is no good report that I
hear the people of Yahweh spreading abroad. If a man sins
against his fellow-man, God may arbitrate, but if a man sins
against Yahweh, who can act as arbiter ? " However, they paid
no heed to their father's words, for Yahweh had resolved on
their death. And meanwhile the boy Samuel was growing up,
and steadily gaining favour both with Yahweh and with men.

There came a man of God to Eli, and uttered the
following oracle :

Thus has Yahweh spoken : Did I, or did I not, reveal
myself to your father's house when they were in Egypt,
slaves^ to the house of Pharaoh ? Yes ! I chose it out of
all the tribes of Israel ^to do priestly service^ to me, to go
up on my altar, to raise the sacrificial smoke, and bear an
ephod before me ; and I endowed your father's house
with all the fire-offerings of the sons of Israel. Why, then,
do you ^look with an envious eye on my sacrifice and my
offerings,^ and honour your sons more than me, gorging
them with the best of all that Israel offers ^before me^ ?
Therefore (says the oracle of Yahweh, God of Israel) I did
intend that your house and your father's house should
officiate before me for ever ; but (so now runs Yahweh's
oracle) Far be it from me ! For them that honour me I
will honour, and those who despise me shall be disgraced.
Mark 1 The time is coming when I will cut off your
strength^ and the strength^ of your father's house
+ * and there shall not be an old man in your house for
all time. One man of yours, indeed, I will not cut off from
my altar, that he may wear out his^ eyesight and pine away
in disappointment ; but all the manhood of your race
shall die ^by the sword of^ men. And this which shall

I— ^ LXX.

2 — ^ Doubtful text : translation follows LXX.

3 Lit. " arm " ; LXX " seed."

4 — ♦ The words omitted are unintelligible and are not represented in
LXX, etc, ; they seem to me to be a corrupt duplicate of what is rendered
above,

happen to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the
sign to you : in one day they shall both die. — But I will
raise up for mc a faithful priest, who will act in accordance
with my heart and mind ; I will build him a lasting house,
and he shall go in and out before my anointed (king) for
ever. Then it shall come to pass that any one of your
house who survives will come and cringe before him for a
piece of money or a loaf of bread, and will say, '* Give me a
berth, please, in some priestly capacity, that I may have a
bit of bread to eat."^

Now in those days, while young Samuel was ministering to
Yahweh under the eye of Eli, the word of Yahweh was scarce,
prophetic visions being few and far between.

But one night — when Eli was asleep in his usual place (his
eyesight was beginning to fail so that he could hardly see), and
the lamp of God was still burning, and Samuel sleeping in the
temple of Yahweh where the ark of God was — ^Yahweh called
^° ° " Samuel ! SamueP." He answered, " Here, sir ! "
and running to Eli he said, " Here I am ; you called me ! "
" No," said Eli, " I did not call : lie down again." So he went
and lay down.

Again the call of Yahweh came, " Samuel ! 3 ° ° Samuel \^ " ;
and again he went to Eli and said, " Here I am ; I heard you
call ! " He said, " I did not call, my son ; lie down again."

Now Samuel did not as yet know Yahweh, nor had the word
of Yahweh as yet been revealed to him. So when Yahweh
called Samuel the third time, he rose and went to Eli, saying as
before : " Here I am, for you called me." Then Eli perceived

^ The passage ii. 27-36, at least in its present fomi, is a late composition
inserted by an editor, tracing back the suppression of the priesthood of Eli's
line to the guilt of his two sons. The main reference {vv. 31-33) is to the
massacre of the priests of Nob by Saul, from which Abiathar alone {v. 33)
escaped (i Sam. xxii. i/ff), and of which the death of Hophni and Phinehas
(ch. iv. 1 1) is to be the sign (v. 34). V- 3S refers to the appointment of Zadok
in the reign of Solomon, and the exclusion of Abiathar from the priesthood
(i Kings ii. 27). Vv. 36, 37, may be a still later priestly addition referring
to the degradation of the Levites in the time of Josiah (2 Kings xxiii. 8, 9).

2—2 So LXX : iMT " to Samuel."

3 — 3 MT : " and Samuel arose."

that Yahweh was calling the lad ; and he said to Samuel : " Go
and lie down ; and if someone calls you, say ' Speak, Yahweh !
Thy servant is listening.' " So Samuel went and lay down in
his place.

Then Yahweh came and stood by him, calling as on the former
occasions, " Samuel ! Samuel ! " And Samuel said, " Speak !
for thy servant is listening."

This is what Yahweh said to Samuel : " Attend ! I am
about to do a thing in Israel which will stun both ears of every
one who hears of it. In that day I will make good against Eli
all that I have spoken concerning his house from the first word
to the last. °Tell him° that I have doomed his house for
all time ° °, because though he knew that his sons were
dishonouring God^ he did not take them to task. Therefore I
have sworn concerning the house of EH, ' Not by sacrifice nor
offering shall the guilt of Eli's house be expiated for ever ! ' "

Samuel then lay still till the morning ; and ^rising early* he
threw open the doors of the house of Yahweh, but was afraid to
tell the vision to Eli, till Eli called him and said : " Samuel, my
son ! " When he answered " Yes ! " Eli asked : " What is the
word that was spoken to you ? hide nothing from me. Woe
betide you if you conceal from me a word of all that he spoke
to you ! " Then Samuel told him the whole story, keeping
back nothing from him. He said : " He is Yahweh ! Let him
do as seems to him good."

And as Samuel grew, Yahweh was with him, and let none of
all his words go unfulfilled ; and all Israel from Dan to
Beersheba came to know Samuel as an accredited prophet of
Yahweh. And Yahweh continued to manifest himself in Shiloh,
for Yahweh revealed himself to Samuel 3 3,

+But Eli was very old ; and his sons went from bad to
worse in their evil ways before Yahweh.'*

^ So LXX; MT "themselves" (?) is one of the "corrections of the
scribes," made from a feeling of reverence for the divine name.

2—2 LXX.

3—3 MT + " In Shiloh by the word of Yahweh " (not in LXX).

4 — ♦ Inserted from LXX.

4- Israel Defeated by the Philistines ; Death of Eli's
Sons ; Capture and Recovery of the Ark (iv. ib-vii.i).

'About this time the Philistines called up their levies to make
war on Israel.' The Israelites took the field against them, and
encamped by the Stone of Help (Ebenezer), the Philistine camp
being at Aphek. The Philistines offered battle to Israel ; and
after a °sharp° encounter Israel was defeated with a loss of some
4,000 rank and file left dead on the field.

When the people were come back into the camp, the elders
of Israel held a consultation as to the reason why Yahweh had
suffered them to be beaten that day by the Philistines. Finally
they decided to bring the ark of ^their God^ from Shiloh,
believing that if it were among them it would save them from
the power of their enemies. So the people sent to Shiloh, and
fetched thence the ark of 3 3 Yahweh Zebaoth, who is

enthroned on the cherubim ; and in charge of the ark of ^ 3
God were the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas.

As soon as the ark of 3 3 Yahweh came into the camp, all
Israel raised such a shout that the welkin rang. The Philistines,
hearing the noise, wondered what could be the meaning of this
loud shouting in the Hebrew camp. When they learned that
the ark of Yahweh had come to the camp, the Philistines were
filled vnth consternation ; for they thought to themselves,
" A god has come to the camp ! " They said : " Woe to us !
The like of this has never happened before. Woe to us ! WTio
can deliver us from the hand of this mighty god ? This is the
god who smote the Egyptians with, all sorts of disasters ^and with
pestilence.'* Pull yourselves together, Philistines, like men,
else you will be slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you.
Be men, and fight ! " And the Philistines fought with such
courage that Israel was completely routed, and fled every man
to his tent ; and in the great slaughter which ensued 30,000
footmen of Israel perished. Moreover the ark of God was

^ — ' LXX : instead of the redundant sentence of MT : " And the word of
Samuel came to all Israel."

2— a LXX : MT " the covenant of Yahweh."

3 — 3 (three times). MT inserts " the covenant of."

MT " in the wilderness,"

taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were
killed.

The news was brought to Sliiloh by a man of Benjamin, who
ran from the ranks, and reached Shiloh the same day with his
coat torn and earth on his head. When he arrived, there was
Eli sitting on a seat by the ^side of the gate, looking out along
the road/ filled with apprehension for the ark of God. When
the man carried the news into the city, a wail arose from the
whole town. Eli, hearing the loud cry of distress, said ^to the
men standing near^ : " What is the meaning of this commotion ?"
But the man himself came hastily to Eli, and told him. (Now
Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were stiff so that
he could not see.) The man said to Eli : " I am the one who
has come from the ^camp^ ; I fled from the ranks this very
day." " How did things go, my son .? " said Eli ; and the
messenger answered : " Israel is in flight before the Philistines !
A great defeat has been inflicted on the army : your two sons
are dead 3 3 j and the ark of God is taken ! " At the

mention of the ark of God, Eli fell backward off^ his seat ° °
by the side of the gate, and broke his neck and died ; for the
man was old and heavy. [He had judged Israel for forty
years. ]**

And when his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, who was
pregnant and near the time of her delivery, heard the tidings
of the capture of the ark, and °the death of° her father-in-law
and her husband, her pangs came upon her, and she sank down
and was delivered. And as she lay dying, the women about her
sought to cheer her by telling her that she had given birth to a
son. But she made no answer, and paid no heed. Only she
named the child " I-chabod," meaning " Gone is the glory from
Israel ! " because of the loss of the ark of God, and because of
her father-in-law and her husband. She said, " Gone is the
glory from Israel ; for the ark of God is taken ! "

I— ^ LXX ; MT corrupt.

2—2 LXX.

3 — 3 MT adds their names.

4 LXX " twenty years." The sentence belongs to the chronological
scheme of the editor, and not to the original narrative.

Meanwhile the ark of God, which had been taken by the
Philistines, was brought from Ebenezer to Ashdod, and lodged
in the temple of Dagon by the side of the idol. But early next
morning, 'when the Ashdodites entered the temple,' there
was Dagon lying face downward on the ground in front of the
ark of Yahweh ! So they took Dagon and put him back in his
place. On the following morning Dagon was again found
prostrate on his face before the ark of Yahweh, but with his
head and two hands broken off and lying on the threshold ;
nothing of Dagon was left except ^the trunk.^ — (This is why the
priests of Dagon and all who enter his temple to this day, avoid
stepping on the threshold.)

The hand of Yahweh then lay heavy on the Ashdodites, and
he caused a panic among them and afflicted them with plague-
boils — not only in Ashdod but in the surrounding district.
When the men of Ashdod saw how matters stood, they deter-
mined that the ark of the God of Israel should not remain with
them, because his hand was hard on them and on Dagon their
god. So they called together all the Tyrants^ of the Philistines,
to consider what should be done with the ark of the God of
Israel. The Tyrants^ suggested that it should be removed to
Gath ; so they sent it on ^to Gath.' No sooner had they done
so than the hand of Yahweh was on that city, creating a great
panic, and smiting the inhabitants young and old with plague-
boils which broke out on them.

Next they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But when it
arrived there the Ekronites cried out : " They have brought
round the ark of the God of Israel to us,3 to kill us3 and our3
people ! " And they summoned all the Tyrants''^ of the
Philistines, and said : '' Send away the ark of the God of Israel ;
let it go back to its own place, and not bring death on us and
our people." For the whole city was seized with a deadly
panic, the hand of God lying very heavily upon them. The
men who did not die were smitten with plague-boils, and the
cry of the city went up to heaven.

^ — ^ Inserted from LXX.

2—2 So Luc. MT " Dagon."

[3 Dr. Skinner's MS had " me," " me," " my."— Ed.]

4 A foreign title {Seren), only used of the five leaders of the Philistines.

The ark of Yahweh was in the country of the Philistines
for seven months. Then the Philistines called together the
priests and soothsayers, and asked them to advise what was to
be done with the ark of Yahweh, and by what means it could be
sent back to its own place. They answered : " If you mean to
send away the ark of the God of Israel, you must not send it
empty ; you must undoubtedly present it with an expiatory
offering : then you will be healed, and it wiU be made clear to
you why his hand does not remove from you." When asked
what sort of expiation they should make to it, the priests and
soothsayers replied as follows : " It should be, in accordance
with the number of the Tyrants of the Philistines, five golden
tumours and five golden mice ; for it is one calamity that
affects °you° all and your Tyrants. Make, therefore, models
of your tumours and of the mice that infest the land, and give
honour to the God of Israel ; it may be he will relax his hand from
you, your god and your land. Why should you harden your
hearts, like the Egyptians and Pharaoh .? Is it not known that
it was only when he had made a laughing-stock of them that
they let °Israel° depart ? In the next place, you must make
a new cart, and take two milch cows that have never borne a
yoke, and harness them to the cart, taking their calves from them
and keeping them at home. You will set the ark of Yahweh
on the cart, putting the golden emblems which you present
as an expiation in a box at its side ; then release it and let it
go. Mark well what happens : if it goes up in the homeward
direction towards Bethshemesh, it is Yahweh^ who has sent this
great evil upon us ; if not, we may conclude that it was
not his hand that smote us, but some accident that has
befallen us."

Accordingly this was done. The men took two milch cows,
yoked them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home.
They placed the ark of Yahweh on the cart, with the box
containing the golden mice and the models of the tumours.
And sure enough the cows made straight for Bethshemesh,
keeping to one road, lowing as they went, but never deviating
to the right or left, and followed by the Tyrants of the
Philistines as far as the boundary of Bethshemesh.

[I Dr. Skinner's MS had " he."— Ed.]

Now the people of Bethshemesh were busy with the wheat
harvest in the plain, and when they looked up and saw the ark
they ran joyfully ^towards it.^ The cart meanwhile had come
to the field of Joshua the Bethshemeshite and there it stopped :
a great stone marks the spot. Then they split up the wood of
the cart, and offered the two cows as a burnt-offering to Yahweh.
[ p. Having seen this the five Tyrants of the Philistines

returned to Ekron the same day. [ ]3. The great

stone'^ on which they placed the ark of Yahweh stands to this
day 5as a witness^ in the field of Joshua the Bethshemeshite.

^But because the sons of Jechoniah did not rejoice*^ with the
men of Bethsehmesh ^when they beheld the ark of Yahweh,''
he struck down ^seventy men^ among them^. And the people
mourned because Yahweh had made such a slaughter among
the people. " Who can stand before Yahweh this holy God ? "
cried the men of Bethshemesh, '" Who will take him off our
hands ? " They sent messengers to the people of Kirjath-
jearim, telling them that the Philistines had sent back the ark
of Yahweh, and imploring them to come down and take it away
with them. So the men of Kirjath-jearim came and brought
up the ark of Yahweh, and lodged it in the house of Abinadab
on the hiU ; consecrating his son Eleazar as its custodian.

I— I So LXX, MT "at the sight."

^ The following notice stands in MT : "The Levites lifted down the ark
of Yahweh (and the box that came with it containing the golden emblems)
and set it on the great stone, while the men of Bethshemesh ofiFered burnt-
offerings and sacrifices to Yahweh that day " (v. 15). The passage obviously
breaks the connection, and has been added because in later times only the
Levites were allowed to handle the ark.

3 The connection is again broken in MT by a belated notice : " Now
these are the golden tumours which the Philistines presented to Yahweh
as an expiatory offering : one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon,
one for Gath, one for Ekron. But the golden mice were according to the
number (?) of all the Philistine cities under the five Tyrants, from fortified
towns to unwalled villages " (yv.iy, i8a).

4 So LXX, etc. MT has " meadow (?)."

5 — 5 An emendation based on LXX, etc. MT is untranslatable.
^ — " An addition of LXX, without which the sense is incomplete.
7 — 7 Or, " but gazed irreverently on the ark of Yahweh."
8—8 MT " 5,070 men " !
9 LXX.

5- Samuel as Judge of Israel (vii. 2-17).

The ark remained a long time at Kirjath-jearim. It had
been there twenty years when the whole nation of Israel began
to seek Yahweh with mourning. Samuel said to them : " If
you will sincerely return to Yahweh, put away the foreign gods
that are among you [and the Astartes], and fix your minds on
Yahweh to worship him alone ; then he will deliver you from
the hand of the Philistines." So the Israelites put away the
Baals and the Astartes, and worshipped Yahweh alone.

Samuel then convoked an assembly of all Israel at Mizpah,
that he might plead with Yahweh on their behalf. They
assembled accordingly at Mizpah, where they drew water and
poured it out before Yahweh, and fasted all that day, confessing
° ° their sins against Yahweh. And Samuel dispensed
justice to all Israel in Mizpah.

But the Philistines were informed that the Israelites were
gathered at Mizpah, and the Philistine Tyrants^ took the field
against Israel. When the Israelites heard of this they were
overcome with fear of the Philistines, and said to Samuel :
" Do not turn a deaf ear to us, nor cease calling on Yahweh our
God to save us from the hand of the Philistines." Then Samuel
took a sucking lamb and offered it as a holocaust^ to Yahweh,
while he cried to Yahweh on behalf of Israel. And Yahweh
answered him. For even as Samuel was offering the burnt-
sacrifice, the Philistines advanced to give battle to Israel.
But Yahweh thundered that day against the Philistines with a
mighty noise, putting them in a panic, so that they gave way
before Israel. Then the men of Israel, issuing from Mizpah,
pursued the Philistines with great slaughter to a point below
Bethcar. And Samuel took a stone and set it up between
Mizpah and Jeshanah^ and named it Ebenezer (Stone of Help),
saying : " Thus far has Yahweh helped us." The Philistines
were so thoroughly subdued that they never invaded Israelite
territory again ; and Yahweh's hand was against the Philistines
all the days of Samuel. Thus the cities which the Philistines
had taken from Israel were restored, from Ekron to Gath, as
well as the districts surrounding them, which Israel freed from

^ See on v. 8, p. iq, «. 3.

[* That is, an offering of which the whole was burnt on the altar. — Ed.]
3 Read so with LXX, etc. (cf. 2 Chr. xiii. 19), instead of MT, " the clifi."

the dominion of the Philistines. There was peace also between
Israel and the Amorites.

Samuel judged Israel as ^ong as he lived. He went on circuit
year by year, visiting Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpah, and adminis-
tering justice at all these sanctuaries. But he always finished
his circuit at Ramah, where his house was ; there he dispensed
justice to Israel, and there he built an altar to Yahweh.

6. The Election of Saul as King of Israel : The War of
Liberation against the Philistines (viii.-xiv.).

The institution of the monarchy in Israel is the subject of
two distinct and easily separable narratives in the first book
of Samuel. The first {A) is contained in ix. i-x.i6; xi.;
xiii. l-ya, l5b-23 ; xiv. The second (B) is the continuation
of ch. vii., and is found in viii. ; x. 17-24 ; xii. It gives fio
account of the war of liberation, because it has already stated
(vii. 13) that the Philistines did not again invade Israel
during SamueVs lifetime. — We begin with the older and
historically more valuable account of A.

A. The First Account (ix. i-x. 16 ; xi. ; xiii, i-ya, i5b-23 ;
xiv.).

(i) The Secret Anointing of Saul by Samuel (ix, i-x. 16),

There was in those days a well-to-do yeoman of ^Gibeah in^
Benjamin, whose name was Kish, a son of Abiel, son of Zeror,
son of Bechorath, son of Aphiah, of the tribe of Benjamin.
This man had a son named Saul, a strikingly handsome young
man ; there was not a better looking man in Israel than he,
standing as he did head and shoulders taller than all the
rest of the people.

It happened one day that some she-asses belonging to Kish,
Saul's father, went astray, and he bade his son Saul take one of
the servants and go in search of the asses. So the two searched
through the hill country of Ephraim, and through the district
of Shalisha, without finding them ; then through the region of
Shaalbim,^ still to no purpose ; and then through the territory

^ — ^ Accidentally omitted in MT and Versions,
^ MT " Shaalim " — unknown,

of Benjamin ; but nowhere could they find any trace of the
asses. At last, when they came to the district of Zuph, Saul
said to the servant who accompanied him :

" We had better go back, or my father will be more concerned
about us than about the asses."

" Stay ! " said the servant : " In the city over there, there is a
man of God, a man of great repute, whose every word comes
true. Let us go there, and perhaps he will direct us in the
journey on which we have started."

" Well ! " said Saul, " but suppose we went, what could we
offer the man .? The bread in our wallets is all done, and there
is nothing we could bring to the man of God as a gratuity.
What have we ? "

" That's all right ! " he answered. " Here is a silver groat^
which I happen to have on me ; °give° that to the man of God,
and he will show us our way."

" Very good ! " said Saul. " Come along ! We will

go-" [ ?

So they went towards the city where the man of God dwelt.

And as they were going up the ascent that led to the city they

met some girls coming out to draw water, and asked them if the

seer was at home. The girls replied :

" Yes, he is ! The seer ^has gone on before you. He has
just this moment^ entered the city, for the people have a sacrifice
to-day at the high-place. As you go in to the city you will
find him, before he goes up to the high-place to dine. The
people, you know, will not eat till he comes, because it is he who
blesses the sacrifice, and after that the guests fall to. But go
up at once ; °now° is the very time to find him."

They went up to the city ; and just as they passed through
the gateway Samuel was coming out in the opposite direction,
to go up to the high-place. Now, the day before Saul arrived,
Yahweh had disclosed his will to Samuel in the following

^ J shekel, at the present value of sterling worth about jd.

^ The omitted verse is a misplaced explanatory gloss on the word "seer,"
which first occurs a couple of verses later. It reads : " In former time in
Israel, when any one went to consult the deity, he would say, ' Come, let
us go to the Seer.' For he who now-a-days is called a Prophet, used formerly
to be called a Seer."

3—3 Following LXX.

orsLcle : " To-morrow about this time I will send you a man from
the land of Benjamin ; him you will anoint to be prince over
my people Israel ; and he shall deliver my people from the
might of the Philistines. For I have seen Hhe misery of^ my
people, whose cry has reached me." As soon, then, as Samuel
saw Saul, Yahweh prompted him, saying, " This is the man of
whom I said to you that he should govern my people."

At this point Saul came up to Samuel in the gateway and
said : " Tell me, pray, which is the seer's house." Samuel
answered : " I am the seer ! Go on in front of me up to the
high-place, and you shall both dine with me to-day ; and
to-morrow morning, before I let you go, I will tell you all that
is in your mind. As for the asses that were lost to you three
days ago, you need not trouble yourself about them ; they have
been found. And to whom belongs all that is most precious
in Israel, if not to you and all your father's house f " Saul
answered : " I am but a man of Benjamin, the smallest of the
tribes of Israel ; and my clan is the least influential of all the
clans of Benjamin ; why should you thus address me ? "

When they reached the high-place, Samuel took Saul and
his servant, and brought them into the guest-chamber, and gave
them a place at the head of the guests, who numbered about
thirty men. Then he called to the cook, " Serve up the joint
I gave you — the one I told you to set apart." So the cook
took up the shoulder ^and the fat tail,^ and set them before Saul ;
And Samuel said : " See ! 3\\Tiat is set before you is a specially
reserved portion. Eat ! for it is to a feast in your honour that
I have invited the people. "3 So Saul dined with Samuel that
day. Then they came down from the high-place to the city,
^here a bed was made ready for Saul'^ on the roof, and he
^retired to rest. 5

At daybreak Samuel called to Saul on the roof : " Rise up,
and I will see you on your way." So Saul got up, and he and
Samuel went out into the street together. And as they were

^— I Added widi LXX, etc.

^ — ^ A probable emendation.

3 — 3 A bold guess at the meaning of an impossible text !

^—^ LXX 5 MT " and he talked with Saul."

5—5 LXX.

25'

going down, at the lower end of the city, Samuel said to Saul,
" Bid the servant walk on before us ° ° ; but you stand here
a moment while I make known to you a word of God." Samuel
then took out a vial of oil, which he poured on Saul's head, and
kissing him said : " This means Hhat Yahweh anoints you prince
over his people Israel : it is you who shall govern Yahweh's
people, and you who shall deliver them from the hand of all
their foes. And these are the signs by which you shall know^
that Yahweh has thus anointed you to be prince over his
heritage : When you part from me to-day you will meet two
men near Rachel's grave in the territory of Benjamin at
Zelzach ; they will tell you that the asses you set out to seek
have been found, and that your father has lost all interest in
the affair of the asses in his anxiety for you, and cries, ' What
shall I do for my son ? ' Passing on from there, you will come
to the oak of Tabor, where there will meet you three men
going up to God at Bethel, the first carrying three kids, the
second three loaves of bread, and the third a skin of wine :
they will salute you and offer you two loaves, which you will
accept at their hands. After that you will come to Gibeah,
°the Hill° of Godj where the Philistine commandant dwells ;
and as you enter the city there you will encounter a band of
dervish-prophets marching down from the high-place, to the
music of harp, tambourine, flute and lyre, and they themselves
raving in prophetic frenzy ; the spirit of Yahweh will come
upon you, and you will rave like a prophet among them, and
be changed into a new man. And when these signs have
come to pass, you must act as occasion may serve ; for God
is with you." [ ].^

And as Saul turned his back to leave Samuel, God wrought
a change of heart in him ; and all these signs came true that
day. 3 ^. Going on °thence° to Gibeah, they were met

^ — ^ A long omission in MT, due to the eye of a scribe having slipped from
the first to the second occurrence of the same expression. The LXX
preserves the original connection.

^ " And go down to Gilgal before me ; I will follow you to offer burnt-
offerings and peace oflerings. Seven days you must wait till I come and
tell you what to do." The verse anticipates xiii. yb-i^a, both being late
additions to the narrative (see pp. 41, 42).

3 — 3 The fulfilment of the first two signs is omitted, perhaps accidentally.

by a. band of prophets, and the spirit of God came on Saul so
that he raved among them. When those who had known him
of old saw him raving among the prophets they were amazed,
and the people said to one another : " What can have come
over the son of Kish ? Is Saul also among the prophets ? "
But one of the neighbours answered : "And who then is their
father ? " Hence arose the common saying : " Is Saul also
among the prophets ? "

When Saul's ecstasy was over and he had gone into the
house,^ his uncle asked him and his servant where they had gone.
" To look for the asses," said Saul ; " and when we saw that it
was no use we came to Samuel." "And what said Samuel to
you ? " asked the uncle ; " tell me that." " Why, he told us
that the asses were found." But as to the matter of the
kingship Saul maintained a discreet silence. * ^

(2) SauVs Victory over the Ammonites : his Election as King
(x. zyb-xi. 15).

3lt was about a month after this-'^ that Nahash the Ammonite
came up and laid siege to Jabesh in Gilead. The citizens of
Jabesh offered to become subject to Nahash, provided he made
a binding treaty with them. To this Nahash replied, " On one
condition I will make 3a treaty^ with you : that every man of
you has his right eye put out. I will make this a disgrace to all
Israel." The elders of Jabesh then asked for a seven days'
armistice, while they sent messengers through the length and
breadth of Israel ; promising Nahash that if no succour came to
them they would surrender to him.

When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and laid their
story before the people, the whole community broke into loud
weeping. Just then Saul came in from the fields driving his
oxen before him, and inquired what was the matter with the
people that they were weeping so. They told him the message
from the men of Jabesh. When Saul heard these tidings the Spirit
of God came upon him ; and in a blaze of indignation he took
a pair of oxen, dismembered them, and sent them by couriers
throughout all Israel, with the proclamation : " He who does

^ MT " high-place " — wrongly.

2—2 MT " what Samuel had said," omitted with LXX.

3 — 3 LXX and Versions.

not come out after Saul ^ ^ — this is what shall be done to
his cattle ! " The terror of Yahweh fell on the people, and they
came out as one man ; and when Saul mustered them in Bezek
they numbered 300,000 Israelites and 30,000 Judeans.

Then '^he° said to the messengers who had come from Jabesh,
" Carry this answer to the men of Jabesh in Gilead : ' To-morrow
by the time the sun is hot, deliverance will come to you.' "
When the messengers returned with this report to the people
of Jabesh they were glad, and sent word to the Ammonites
that they would surrender on the morrow. "Then," they said,
" you may do to us whatever you please."

Accordingly, on the following morning Saul divided his force
into three companies ; and they stormed the camp in the
morning watch. And the slaughter of the Ammonites went on
until the heat of the day, and the survivors were dispersed so
that no two of them were left together anywhere.

[And the people said to Samuel, " Where are the men
who say, ' Shall Saul reign over us ? ' Hand over the men
that we may put them to death." But Saul (? Samuel)
said : " No man shall be put to death this day ; for to-day
Yahweh has worked deliverance in Israel." And Samuel
said to the people, " Come ! Let us go to Gilgal, and there
renew the kingdom. "p
The whole people then went to Gilgal ; and there, in Gilgal,
they crowned Saul as king before Yahweh, and sacrificed peace-
offerings before Yahweh. It was a joyous occasion to Saul
and to all the men of Israel.

(3) ^he Outbreak of War with the Philistines (xiii. 2-7a, l5b-23).

3 3 Saul picked out 3,000 men of Israel : of these 2,000
were with Saul himself in Michmash and the hill of Bethel,
and 1,000 with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin ; the rest of
the people he had dismissed to their homes. Jonathan now

' — ' MT " and after Samuel " — probably an error.

* Cf. X. zja. There is no room for such an incident in either (A or B)
account of Saul's election,unless we suppose that B originally had a notice of
some signal deliverance similar to that of ch. vii. More probably the verses
were inserted by a scribe to harmonise the two narratives.

3 — 3 xiii. I should be omitted with LXX. MT reads : " Saul was . . .
years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years over Israel."

slew- the Philistine commandant who resided in Gibeah^ ; and
the report reached the Philistines ^that the Hebrews had
revolted.3 Saul meanwhile had sent a trumpet-call through the
whole land^ ; all Israel had heard that Saul had slain the
Philistine officer, and Israel was in bad odour with the
Philistines ; and the people were called out to follow Saul
* A The Philistines, too, had already mobilised for war
with Israel : 3,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and common
soldiers innumerable as the sand on the sea-shore ; and they
came up and encamped at Michmash to the east of Bethaven.
The Israelites now saw that they were in a desperate plight —
for the people were oppressed — and hid themselves in caves
and dens, in rock-crevices, in tombs^ and cisterns ; while ^a
great number^ crossed the Jordan to the land of Gnd and
Gilead. ^ 7^ ^The rest of the people followed SauP to
Geba9 of Benjamin, where Saul mustered the force at his
disposal, numbering about 600 men.

Saul and his son Jonathan and the people that were with them
were now lying in Geba of Benjamin, while the Philistines were
encamped in Michmash. But the raiders had been sent out
from the Philistine camp in three columns ; of which one took
the direction of Ophrah to the district of Shual, another toward
Beth-horon, and the third the direction of the °hill° overlooking
the ravine of the Hyaenas towards the desert. ^°. At the

I So LXX, etc. ; MT " Geba " ; but see x. 5.

^ — ^ Transposing clauses.

3 LXX; MT "heard."

4—4 ? MT "to Gilgal."

5 Or " cellars."

6—6 MT " Hebrews "—corrupt.

7 — 7 For Vv. yb-i^a; see pp. 41-42.

8 — ^ Following LXX in part.

9 MT " Gibeah. "

^° Vv. 19-22 are very corrupt and form no part of the original (text.
They read somewhat as follows : " Now no blacksmith was to be found
in all the land of Israel ; for the Philistines feared that the Hebrews might
make themselves swords and spears. So all Israel had to go dovm to the
Philistines to get a plough-share or hoe or axe or ox-goad sharpened. . . .
Thus it came about that on the day of the battle of Michmash neither
sword nor spear was found in the hands of the people with Saul and Jonathan ;
only Saul and Jonathan possessed such weapons."

same time an outpost of the Philistines was pushed forward
to the Pass of Michmash.

(4) Jonathan's Brilliant Exploit (xiv. 1-15).

One day Jonathan, Saul's son, without letting his father
know, proposed to the lad who carried his weapons that they
should cross over to the outpost of the Philistines on the
opposite side. Saul in fact was then at the further end of Geba,^
under the pomegranate tree that grows by ^the threshing-
floor.^ The people with him numbered about 600 men ;
Ahijah the son of Ahitub, the brother of Ichabod, the son of
Phinehas, the son of Eli the priest of Yahweh at Shiloh, being
there in charge of an ephod. None of the people were aware
that Jonathan had gone.

Now between the passes through which Jonathan meant to
cross over to the Philistine outpost, there are two steep cliffs,
one on either side ; one is called Bozez and the other Seneh.
One cliff is ° ° on the north side in front of Michmash,
the other on the south side in front of Geba.

Jonathan then said to his armour-bearer, " Let us cross
over to the outpost of these uncircumcised dogs ; it may be
that Yahweh will do something for us ; for there is no limit to
Yahweh's power to save, whether by many or by few." " Do
whatever you have a mind to," answered the lad, " I am your
man ! °My mind° is the same as yours." " Listen, then ! "
said Jonathan, " As we are crossing over to these men, we must
show ourselves ; if they say to us, ' Stand still till we reach you,'
we will stop where we are, and not go up to them ; but if they
say, ' Come up to us,' then up we will go ; for Yahweh will
have delivered them into our hand. This shall be the sign for
us." So when the two showed themselves to the Philistines of
the outpost, they said, " Ha ! Here are some Hebrews creeping
out of the holes in which they have hidden themselves." Then
the men of the post called out to Jonathan and his armour-
bearer, " Come up to us, and we will show you a thing or two ! "
" Up after me ! " said Jonathan to his armour-bearer ; '' Yahweh

I MT "Gibeah."

i MT "Migron."

has "delivered them into the hand of Israel," So Jonathan
climbed up on his hands and knees, the armour-bearer following
him; and °thc Philistines" took to flight before Jonathan, 'who
cut them down,^ while the armour-bearer came behind him
despatching the wounded.

This first exploit by Jonathan and his armour-bearer resulted
in the slaughter of about twenty men ^* * * *^. Then a tremor
of fear fell on the camp, 3 °and° on the men in the fields ; ° °
all the army, the outpost as well as the raiding column, were
terror-stricken also ; and to crown all there was an earthquake,
which brought upon all an unearthly panic.

(5) The Philistine Dehncle (xiv. 16-233).

Now Saul's watchmen at Geba* in Benjamin, looking across
the valley, saw the ^men in the camp' rushing about 3in all
directions^ ; and Saul gave orders to the people that were
with him to hold a roll-call, and see which of them was missing.
When this was done it was found that Jonathan and his armour-
bearer had gone away. Saul then said to Ahijah — ^'ix. was he
who at this time carried the ephod before^ Israel — " Bring
^the ephod^ here." But even as Saul spoke to the priest the
noise in the Philistine camp grew louder and louder ; and Saul
bade the priest withdraw his hand. Saul then called out his
men ; and when they entered the camp,'' they found every man
with his sword drawn against his neighbour, in the utmost
confusion. Those Hebrews, moreover, °who° for some time
back had sided with the Philistines °and°had come up with them
to the camp — they too deserted^ to join the Israelites under
Saul and Jonathan. And all the Israelites who were hiding in
the hill-country of Ephraim, when they heard that the

I— I LXX addition.

^ — ^ An unintelligible clause.

3—3 LXX.

4 MT " Gibeah."

5—5 So LXX.

6—6 So LXX 5 MT "the ark of God." Seep. 13.

7 MT "battle."

8 LXX and Syr.

Philistines were in flight, came likewise and hung on their rear
fighting. Thus did Yahweh give victory to Israel that day.

(6) Incidents of the Pursuit (xiv. 23b-35).

The battle had now passed beyond Beth-horon^ ; *the whole
nation was with Saul, about 10,000 men, and the fighting was
general all over the hill-country of Ephraim. But Saul
committed a grave indiscretion^ that day, in °imposing° the
following oath on the people : " Cursed be the man who takes
food till evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies."
So none of the people had tasted food. ^JsJow there was honey-
comb3 on the open field ; and when the people came to it they
found that *the honey was flowing from it* ; yet no man put
his hand to his mouth, because the people feared the oath.
But Jonathan, who had not heard when his father imposed the
oath on the people, put out the staff he had in his hand, dipped
the end of it in the honey-comb, and brought his hand to his
mouth ; and immediately his ^spirits revived. 5 Then one of the
people spoke up and said : " Your father took an oath of the
people in these terms : 'Cursed be the man who tastes food this
day.' " Jonathan answered, " My father's act is disastrous to
the country ! Why, look how my ^spirit revived^ when I tasted
this little drop of honey ! How much more, then, if the people
had but eaten to-day from the spoil of their enemies ! — but ^now
the slaughter among the Philistines is of no great account.^"

They fought the Philistines that day from Michmash to
Aijalon, and the people were quite exhausted. In their hunger
they ''threw themselves^ on the spoil ; and seizing sheep and
oxen and calves, they slew them on the ground, and ate the
flesh with the blood. But when it was reported to Saul that the

I So Luc, etc. ; MT " Bethaven."

^ — * Inserted from LXX.

3—3 So LXX.

4—4 So MT, slightly altered. But LXX, suggests "its bees had left it,"
which may be right.

5 — 5 Lit. " eyes brightened."

^ — ^ So MT ; LXX omits " not," rendering " in that case the
slaughter among the Philistines would have been much greater."

7 — 7 So Luc. and Versions.

people were sinning against Yahweh by eating with the blood,
he said, *' You transgress ! Roll me a great stone hither^"
Then he gave the order, " Go about among the people, and
make them bring every one his ox or sheep to me, and slay it
here, and eat, that they may not sin against Yahweh by eating
with the blood." So every one brought ^what he had^ 3to
Yahweh, 3 and slaughtered it there. Thus Saul set up an altar
to Yahweh ; it was the first of the altars which he erected to
Yahweh.

(7) The Pursuit arrested in consequence of Saul's Rash Oath (xiv.
36-46, 52).

Saul then said : " Let us follow down after the Philistines
by night, and harry them till daybreak ; and not leave a man
of them alive ! " When the people consented, "^he said to the
priest,* " Let us draw near here to God." So Saul inquired of
God : " Shall I go down after the Philistines ? Wilt thou
deliver them into the hand of Israel ? " but no answer was made
that day. He then said, " Draw near hither, all you who are
leaders of the people, and inquire and see °by whom° this sin
has been committed to-day. For, by the life of Yahweh, the
deliverer of Israel, were it by my son Jonathan he should
assuredly die." And none of all the people answered him. Then
addressing all Israel he said : " You shall be one party, and I
and Jonathan my son the other." The people signified their
assent. Saul, then, speaking to Y'ahweh, said, " O God of
Israel ! sWhy hast thou not answered thy servant this day ?
If on me or my son Jonathan this guilt lies, O Yahweh, God of
Israel, then give Urim ; but if on thy people Israel, then^
give Thummim." The lot fell on Jonathan and Saul, and the
people were acquitted. " Now cast the lot between me and
my son Jonathan," said Saul. ^This was done^ and Jonathan

I LXX ; MT " to-day."

2-^ LXX ; MT " his ox in his hand."

3—3 Conjectured for MT " that night " ; LXX omits.

4 — ♦ MT " the priest said."

5 — ^5 LXX, etc., supply the long omission in MT, caused by the recurrence
of the word " Israel " before and at the end of the omitted passage.

^ — ^ Here again LXX has a lengthy addition, but its originality is not so
obvious.

was taken. " Tell me what you have done," said Saul to
Jonathan ; and Jonathan told him ; " It is true I tasted a little
honey on the top of the staff in my hand. Here I am ! I am
ready to die." Saul said, " God help me, Jonathan, but die
you must ! " But here the people interposed and said to Saul,
" What ? Jonathan die ! He who has achieved this great
victory in Israel ? God forbid ! By the life of Yahweh, not
a hair of his head shall fall to the ground ; for he has wrought
with God this day." So the people ransomed Jonathan, and he
had not to die. But Saul drew off from the pursuit of the
Philistines, and the Philistines retired to their own country.
The war with the Philistines, however, continued acute all
the days of Saul. And whenever Saul saw a brave and warlike
man, he took him into his service.

(8) .4 List of SauPs Wars, and his Family Connections (xiv. 47-5 1)^
When Saul obtained the kingdom over Israel he waged
war on all sides against his enemies — against Moab, and
the Ammonites, and Edom ; against the kings of Zobah
and against the Philistines ; and wherever he turned his
arms he ^was successful.^ He acted valiantly, and crushed
Amalek, and delivered Israel from the hands of its spoilers.
The sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishjo,3 and Malkishua ;
the names of his two daughters were Merab, the elder, and
Michal, the younger. His wife was Ahinoam, the daughter
of Ahimaaz ; and the name of his commander-in-chief
was Abner, the son of Ner, Saul's uncle. Both Kish, Saul's
father, and Ner, the father of Abner, were sons of Abiel.

B. Saul's Election : Second Account (viii. ; x. 17-24 ;
xii. ; X. 25-27a).

n) The Israelites demand a King (viii.).

Now when Samuel grew old he appointed his sons as judges
over Israel. His first-born was named Joel, and his second

^ Vv. 47-51 were inserted here by an editor, breaking the connection
between v. 46 and v. 52.

2 — 2 So LXX ; MT would mean " he was worsted."

3 That is : " Man of Yahweh " ; originally perhaps " Eshbaal " (man of
Baal) ; see 2 Sam. ii. 8, etc. MT reads here " Ishvi."

Abij^ ; these acted as judges in Beer-sheba. His sons, how-
ever, did not walk in his ways, but looked after their own
interest, accepting bribes and perverting justice. Then all the
elders of Israel met together, and came to Samuel at Ramah,
and said to him : " You are now old, and your sons do not
walk in your ways ; we would therefore have you now to set
us up a king to judge us, like all other nations." This request
for a king to judge them was very displeasing to Samuel ; but
when he prayed to Yahweh about it, Yahweh answered :
" Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you ;
for it is not you that they reject, but me, by refusing to have
me as king over them. It is in keeping with their whole
behaviour from the time when I brought them up from Egypt
to this day — their forsaking me and worshipping other gods —
that they now treat you thus. Comply, therefore, with their
wish ; only warn them well, and show them the kind of govern-
ment that will be exercised by the king who shall rule over
them."

These words of Yahweh Samuel reported to the people who
were asking for a king, and continued : " This will be the way
in which the king will rule over you : Your sons he will take as
his charioteers and horsemen, and as runners before his chariot ;
he will make them officers of regiments and companies ; he
will set them to plough his fields, reap his harvest, and make his
weapons and chariot-gear. Your daughters he will take into
his service as perfumers, cooks and bakers. The best of your
fields and vineyards he will confiscate, and bestow on his
courtiers. On your arable land and vineyards he v^ll levy a
tithe, and give it to his eunuchs and retainers ; your slaves, male
and female, the best of your cattle^ and asses he will take and
use for his husbandry ; of your flocks he will take a tithe ; you
will be completely enslaved by him. The day will come when
you will complain of the king you have chosen ; but in that day
Yahweh will not answer you."

But the people refused to listen to Samuel's warning. " No ! "

they said, " we must have a king over us. We would be like

all other nations, having our own king to judge us, and be our

leader, and fight our battles." So Samuel, having heard all

that the people had to say, reported it to Yahweh. Yahweh
_____

answered, " Give them their desire ; appoint a king over them."
Samuel then bade the men of Israel go home, each one to his
city.

(2) Saul elected King by Lot (x. 17-24).

In due time Samuel summoned the people before Yahweh to
Mizpah, and addressed them as follows :

" Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel : ' I brought up Israel
from Egypt and delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians,
and of all the kings^ that oppressed you.' But you have this
day rejected your God who was a saviour to you in all your
distresses and dangers ; You have said, ' No !^ but you must
set a king over us.' Very well ! Present yourselves now before
Yahweh, by your tribes and by your townships."

So Samuel marshalled all the tribes of Israel, and the tribe of
Benjamin was chosen. Then he marshalled the tribe of
Benjamin clan by clan, and the clan of Matri was chosen. ^Then
he marshalled the clan of Matri man by man^ ; and Saul the
son of Kish was chosen. But when they looked for him he was
not to be found ; and they again consulted the oracle of Yahweh :
" Has the man come here at all ? " The answer was "Yes, he
is hiding himself among the baggage." So they ran and
dragged him forth ; and as he stepped forward in the midst of
the people he towered above them all from his shoulders upwards.
And Samuel said to all the people : " You see the man whom
Yahweh has chosen, that there is none like him among all the
people ! " And all the people shouted : " Long live the
king ! "

(3) Samuel's Valedictory Address (xii. ; x. 2^-2j2i).
Samuel then addressed all Israel as follows :

" I have now, as you see, fully complied with your request
by setting a king over you. Henceforth, therefore, you have
the king to look to. And I am now old and gray-headed, with
sons among you ; and I have lived my life openly before you
from my youth to this day. Here I stand ! Bear witness
against me before Yahweh and his anointed °king.° Is there

1 MT "kingdoms."

2 So LXX and Versions.

3—3 To be inserted with LXX.

any one whose ox or ass I have taken ? Any whom I have
defrauded or oppressed ? any from whom I have accepted a
bribe *to wink at wrong ? Testify against rae,^ and I will make
amends to yon." They answered : " You have neither
defrauded nor oppressed us, nor have you received anything
from any man's hand." He said to them : " Then Yahweh is
witness, and his anointed king is witness, against you this day,
that you have found nothing amiss in my conduct ? " And
°they ° answered, " That is so." And Samuel repealed before
all the people : *' Yahweh ^is witness,^ who raised up Moses and
Aaron, and brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt."

*' And now stand still, while I reason with you in Yahweh's
presence, ^and rehearse to you^ all the righteous dealings of
Yahweh with you and your fathers. When Jacob ^and his sons^
came to Egypt, ^and the Egyptians afflicted them,^ your fathers
cried to Yahweh, and he sent Moses and Aaron, who brought
them out of Egypt, and °he° established them in this place.
But they forgot Yahweh, their God, and he gave them over into
the hand of Sisera the general of ^king Jabin of^ Hazor, and
into the hand of the Philistines, and of the king of Moab, who
made war upon them. \\'Tien they cried to Yahweh and said :
' We have sinned in forsaking Yahweh and worshipping the
Baals and Astartes ; but now do thou deliver us from our foes
and we will serve thee ' — then Yahweh sent men like Jerubbaal,
Barak,3 Jephthah and Samuel,'^ and he delivered you from the
hand of your enemies around you, so that you dwelt in security.
But when you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites
threatened you, you said to me : ' This cannot go on ; we must
have a king to reign over us ; ' although Yahweh your God is
your king. And now you see the king whom you have chosen
^ ^ : Yahweh has set a king over you. If you will fear
Yahweh, and serve him, obeying his voice and not rebelling
against him, if you and your king who reigns over you will follow
after Yahweh your God, °it will be well with you.° But if you

^ — ^ LXX reads : " even as much as a pair of sandals ? Testify against
me." I retain the last three words, although they are not in MT.

2-^ So LXX.

3 So LXX, Syr. ; MT " Bedan " !

4 Luc. and Syr. read " Samson."

do not obey the voice of Yahweh, but rebel against him, then
Yahweh's hand will be against you ^to destroy you and your
Hng.^

" Now stand still, and see the great thing that Yahweh is
about to do before your eyes. It is now wheat-harvest, is it
not ? Well ! I will call on Yahweh to send thunder and
rain ; then you will know and understand how great in the
sight of Yahweh is the evil you have done in asking for a king."
So Samuel called on Yahweh, and Yahweh sent thunder and rain
that day ; and the people were seized with a great fear of
Yahweh and of Samuel, and said to Samuel : " Pray to Yahweh
your God for us, your servants, lest we die, because to all our
other sins we have added this wickedness of asking for a king."
But Samuel reassured the people and said : " You need not fear.
You have indeed done all this evil ; only do not turn aside from
following Yahweh, but serve him wdth undivided allegiance.
Do not turn away after unreal gods, who are good for nothing
and cannot save you, because they are unrealities. For Yahweh
will not cast off his people for his great name's sake ; seeing it
has been his good pleasure to make you his people. As for me,
God forbid that I should sin against Yahweh by ceasing to pray
for you, and to instruct you in the good and straight way. Only
fear Yahweh, and serve him loyally with all your heart, consider-
ing how great a thing he has done among you. On the other
hand, if you do evil, both you and your king shall perish."

Samuel then recited to the people the constitution of the
kingdom, which he wrote in a book and deposited before
Yahweh. Having done this he dismissed the people to their
several homes. Saul likewise went home to Gibeah, and with
him went the valiant °men° whose heart God had touched.
But certain churlish fellows said : " How should this man
deliver us ? " and they showed their contempt for him by
bringing him no present.

7. The Breach between Samuel and Saul at Gilgal.

Two versions of this incident have been preserved : one
in ch. XV. {an independent narrative)^ and the other in •nW.
jb-i^a, closely and cleverly dovetailed into the older story

I— ^ LXX ; MT " and your fathers."

3«

--o/ SavFs kingship {A) {see x. 8). Of these the first connects
it with Saul's failure to execute the ban on the AmalekiteSy
and is obviously the earlier of the two. The second^ which
traces it to an act of disobedience on the part of Saul, is of
later origin, although it must have been incorporated in A
before the amalgamation of A and B.

(i) Saul commanded to exterminate the Amalekites (xv.).

Samuel said to Saul one day : " It was I whom Yahweh
commissioned to anoint you king over his people Israel ; now,
therefore, listen to the voice of ° ° Yahweh. Thus has
Yahweh Zebaoth spoken ! ' I am resolved to punish the
Amalekites for their conduct towards Israel, inasmuch as they
resisted its advance when it came up from Egypt.' Go, there-
fore and smite the Amalekites, and put the ban on °them and°
all that they possess, sparing none, but slaying man and woman,
infant and suckling, sheep and ox, camel and ass."

So Saul called up the people, and mustered them in Telam^
[200,000 footmen and 10,000 horsemen^], and came to the chief
city of the Amalekites. There he set an ambush in the water-
course, while he sent a message to the Kenites to clear out
from among the Amalekites : " else," he said, " I may exterminate
you along with them ; although you showed friendship to
• ° the Israelites when they came up from Egypt." The
Kenites accordingly withdrew from among the Amalekites,
whom Saul then routed from Telam^ all the way to Shur, which
lies to the east of Egypt. He captured Agag the king of Amalek
alive, but all the people he put to the ban with the sword. But
Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and
cattle, the fatlings and calves, and everything of value, being
unwilling to destroy them ; but all worthless and useless stuff
they put to the ban.

Thereupon the word of Yahweh came to Samuel : " I regret
having made Saul king, because he has turned away from me,
and has not carried out my command." Samuel was so troubled
by this that he cried to Yahweh the whole night ; and next

' MT " Telaim " ; see Josh. xv. 24.

^ ? MT " 10,000 men of Judah."

3 MT " Havilah " (see Gen. xxv. 18).

morning early he rose and went to meet Saul, but was told
that Saul had come to Carmel, and after erecting a monument
had turned and moved on down to Gilgal.

When Samuel came to Saul, Saul hailed him with " Welcome
in the name of Yahweh ! I have carried out the command of
Yahweh." But Samuel answered, " What then is this bleating
of sheep that strikes my ear ? And this lowing of oxen that I
hear ? " " These," said Saul, " have been brought home from
Amalek. The people have spared the best of the sheep and cattle
to sacrifice to Yahweh your God. The rest we have put to the
ban." Then Samuel said to Saul : " Say no more ! I must tell
you what Yahweh spoke to me last night." He answered,
" Say on 1 " Samuel continued :

^" Is it not true that, little as you may be in your
own estimation, you are the head of the tribes of Israel ?
for Yahweh anointed you king over Israel. And Yahweh
sent you on a particular errand, and said to you ' Go and
put the ban on those sinners the Amalekites, making war
upon them till °you have° exterminated °them.° ' Why,
then, have you not obeyed Yahweh's command, but
pounced on the spoil, and done a thing displeasing to
Yahweh ? " Saul replied : " °I did° obey the command
of Yahweh ; I went the way which Yahweh sent me ; I
brought back Agag the king of the Amalekites, and put
the ban on Amalek. But the people took part of the spoil,
sheep and oxen, the best of what fell under the ban, to
sacrifice to Yahweh your God in Gilgal." Samuel answered :

" Less pleasing to Yahweh is holocaust^ and sacrifice

Than obedience to Yahweh's voice.
Yea, to obey is better than sacrifice, —

To hearken than fat of rams.
For contumacy is sin like witchcraft.

And presumption a crime like idols.
Since you have rejected the word of Yahweh,

He rejects you as king 3of Israel^."

^ The verses retracted in the margin are probably a later expansion of
the narrative.

P See note on p. 22.]
3—3 Added by LXX, etc.

Saul said to Samuel, " I have sinned ! I have
transgressed against the command of Yahweh and against
your word, because I was afraid of the people and yielded
to their will. But now, I pray you, forgive my sin, and
turn back with me that I may worship Yahweh." But
Samuel refused to turn back with him.

" Inasmuch as you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has
rejected you as king over Israel." Then, as Samuel turned to
go, Saul seized the corner of his mantle, and it tore off in his
hand. " Thus," said Samuel, " does Yahweh tear the kingdom
of Israel from you this day, and give it to another, a better man
than you. Nor does the God^ of Israel ever lie or repent, for
he is not a man that he should repent." " I have sinned ! "
said Saul, " Yet now show me respect before the elders of my
people and before Israel : turn back with me, that I may worship
Yahweh your God." Samuel then turned back with Saul, and
Saul worshipped Yahweh.

Then Samuel ordered Agag the king of the Amalekites to be
brought to him. As Agag, ^all of a tremble,^ came forward
to him, he said, " Truly the bitterness of death is past ! " But
Samuel answered :

" As your sword has women made childless.
So your mother 'mong women be childless ; "

and so saying he cut Agag in pieces before Yahweh in Gilgal
After this Samuel departed to Ramah, while Saul went up
to his house at Gibeah of Saul. Samuel never saw Saul again
to the day of his death, but he mourned for Saul, because Yahweh
repented of having made him king over Israel.

(2) SauVs Disobedience costs him the Kingdom (xiii. jb-l^a).

Saul was still in Gilgal, while all the people forsook him in
terror. °He waited® seven days till the time "appointed by°
Samuel ; but when Samuel failed to appear at Gilgal, and the
people "dropped away° from him, Saul ordered the burnt-
offering and the peace-offerings to be brought to him, and he
offered the burnt -offering. No sooner had he done so than

[^ This word was accidentally omitted in MT. — Ed.]
^ — ^ A slight emendation.

Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to meet him and welcome him.
Samuel asked him, "What have you done ? " and Saul answered,
" When I saw that the people were deserting me, and you had
not kept your appointment, and that the Philistines were massing
in Michmash, I thought to myself, ' Now the Philistines will
be down upon me to Gilgal before I have secured the good-will
of Yahweh ,' so I took my courage in both hands and offered the
burnt-offering." "You have acted foolishly," replied Samuel.
" °If° you had but kept the injunction which Yahweh your
God laid upon you, Yahweh would have confirmed your
kingdom over Israel for ever. But now your kingdom shall not
stand ; Yahweh has looked out a man after his own heart and
appointed him prince over his people, because you have
disobeyed Yahweh's commandment." With this Samuel rose
up, left Gilgal, and ^went his way.^

I— I Added from LXX.

II. SAUL AND DAVID.

(i Sam. xvi.-2 Sam. i.)

I. The Secret Anointing of David by Samuel (i Sam.
xvi. 1-13).

This passage seems to have been inserted by an editor as a

counterpart to the anointing of Saul in ch. x. It records an

incident which was evidently unknown to the writers of the

following sections {see especially xvii. I3f, 28 ; 2 Sam. ii. 4).

Yahweh said to Samuel : " Why do you go on mourning for
Saul, when you know that I have counted him unworthy to
reign over Israel .? Fill your horn with oil and go ; I wdll send
you to Jesse the Bethlehemite ; for I have seen in one of his
sons a king to my mind." But Samuel answered, " How can
I go ? If Saul heard of it he would kill me." To this Yahweh
replied : " Take a young cow with you, and say you have come
to sacrifice to Yahweh. You will invite Jesse to the sacrifice,
and then I will show you what to do, and you vdll anoint him
whom I name to you."

So Samuel did as Yahweh directed. When he came to
Bethlehem the elders of the city met him in some trepidation
and asked, " Is this an auspicious visit ? " He answered,
" Assuredly ! I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Sanctify
yourselves, therefore, and come with me to the sacrifice." He
also sanctified Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the
sacrifice. When they were come, he looked at Eliab, and
thought, " ^Surely this is Yahweh's captain^ — his anointed ! "
But Yahweh said to Samuel, " Do not judge by his looks, or his
tall stature, for I count him unfit. What man sees is ^not what
God sees.* Man looks on appearances, but Yahweh looks on
the heart." Jesse then called on Abinadad, and paraded him
before Samuel ; but he said, "Neither is this Yahweh's choice."
Jesse next presented Shammah, and Samuel said, " Nor this
either." And when Jesse had thus paraded his seven sons before

^ ^ A slight emendation ; MT would read, " Surely before Yahweh is
his anointed."

2—2 Added from LXX.

Samuel, Samuel said to him, " Yahweh has not chosen any of
these."

Samuel then asked Jesse, " Are these all the lads you have ? "
and he said, " There is still ° ° the youngest. You see, he is
looking after the sheep." " Send for him at once," said Samuel.
" We will not sit down to eat until he comes." So he sent and
fetched him — a fair-haired boy, with beautiful eyes, and good-
looking. Yahweh said, " Quick, anoint him ! This is the one."
Samuel accordingly took the horn of oil and anointed him in the
presence of his brothers ; and the spirit of Yahweh descended
on David from that time onward. And Samuel got up and
returned to Ramah.

2. David's Introduction to Saul's Court (xvi. 14-23).

Saul being now forsaken by the spirit of Yahweh, was
tormented by an evil spirit sent from Yahweh. His courtiers
said to him, " It is plain that some evil demon^ is tormenting
you. Let our lord say the word, and we your servants before
you will look for a man who can play on the harp, so that when
the demon is on you he may play with his hand, and you will
get relief." " Do so," said Saul to his courtiers. " Seek me
out some one who is a skilled harp-player, and bring him to
me." One of the pages here put in his word and said : " Why,
I know a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who can play the harp —
[a brave and soldierly man, toop tactful in speech, and good-
looking — a man befriended by Yahweh." Accordingly Saul
sent messengers to Jesse with a request that he would send him
his son David [who was with the sheep].^ So Jesse took five'^
loaves, a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them with David
his son to Saul. David came and presented himself before
Saul, and Saul conceived a great liking for him, and made him
an armour-bearer. He sent a message to Jesse to say, " Let
David enter my service, for he pleases me greatly." So whenever

' " Spirit of God," i.e., superhuman spirit.

^ The phrase is hardly consistent with what follows : an experienced
soldier would not be reduced to the rank of an armour-bearer.

3 Probably an addition.

4 MT "an ass."

the dtfmon came on Saul David would take his harp, and play,
and Saul was soothed and cheered, and the evil spirit left him.

3. David's Encounter with Goliath (xvii. i-xviii. 5).

The extensive omissions in the Greek text of the original
LXX, as compared with the Hebrew^ enable us to disentangle
two narratives in this passage. The portions common to
the MT and {original) hXK form a complete narrative {A)
tvhich is at least consistent with the view that David was
already a member of SauVs court, as recorded above. Putting
together the sections omitted by LXX we obtain another
account (B), fragmentary indeed, but obviously independent
of A. It begins by introducing David to the reader, and
ends with his introduction to Saul.

A. (xvii. i-ii; 32-40; 42-48^; 49; 51-54).

About this time the Philistines called out their forces for war,
and concentrated in Shochoh, which belongs to Judah, forming
a camp between Shochoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim (.?).
Saul and the men of Israel also assembled, encamping in the
valley of Elah,^ and drew up in battle order against the
Philistines. The Philistines were posted on the heights on
one side, and the Israelites on the other side, with a ravine
between them.

There stepped forth from the °ranks° of the Philistines the
champion,^ by name Goliath of Gath, whose height was nine
feet^ and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and
wore a corslet of scale armour which weighed 220 pounds'*
in bronze. He had bronze greaves on his legs, and carried
a bronze javelin between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear
was like a weaver's beam, and its iron head was 26 pounds^ in
weight. His shield-bearer walked before him. Standing thus
he cried to the Israelite ranks, " Why do you come out and draw
up for battle ? Am not I the Philistine and you servants of

I " The Terebinth-tree."

^ The meaning of the word is uncertain.

3 Six cubits.

* 5,000 shekels.

5 600 shekels.

Saul ? °Choose° your man, and let him come down to me !
If he is able to fight and kill me, we will be slaves to you ; but
if I overcome and kill him, then you shall be subject to us and
serve us." " I flout the armies of Israel this day," said the
Philistine, " Give me a man, and let us fight one another."

As Saul and all Israel listened to these words of the Philistine,
whey were smitten with abject fear. But David said to Saul,
" ^Do not lose courage, my lord^ ; I your servant will go and
fight with this Philistine." Saul answered, " You cannot go
against this Philistine and fight with him. You are but a
youth, and he a trained soldier from his youth." David
answered, " Whien your servant used to be a shepherd to his
father, a lion or a bear would often come and carry off a sheep
from the flock ; and I have gone out after him and struck him,
and rescued the sheep from his mouth. And if the brute
attacked me, I would seize him by the beard,^ and kill him
outright. Both lion and bear has your servant killed ; and this
uncircumcised Philistine, who has flouted the armies of the
living God, shall suffer the same fate as they. Yahweh," said
David, " who delivered me from the clutches of the lion and
the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
Then Saul said to David, " Go, then ; and Yahweh be with
you ! " So Saul put his soldier's tunic on David, and a bronze
helmet on his head, 3 3 and girded David with his sword

over the tunic. But David '^had difficulty'^ in walking, because
he had not tried it ; and he said to Saul, " I cannot go in this
gear, for I am not used to it." So °they° took °the armour°
off him. Then, taking his staff in his hand, he picked five smooth
stones from the bed of the stream, and put them in his wallet,^
and with his sling in his hand he advanced towards the
Philistine.

When the Philistine looked up and saw David, he regarded

' — ^ LXX ; MT " Let no man lose courage."

^ So MT, although neither the Hon nor the bear has a beard. LXX
"throat."

3 — 3 MT adds : " and clothed him in a coat of mail " ; LXX omits.

4—4 LXX.

5 The Hebrew word occurs only here. The preceeding phrase, " (he
shepherd's bag which he had," was probably inserted to explain it.

him with contempt, for he was but a lad [a fair-haired, handsome
youth]^ " Am I a dog," he cried to David, " that you attack
me with a stick ? " and he cursed David by his gods. " Come
here to me," he went on, " and I will give your flesh to the birds
of heaven, and the beasts of the field." But David answered
the Philistine, " You come against me with sword and spear
and javelin ; but / come against you in the name of Yahweh
Zebaoth, the God of the battle -ranks of Israel, which you have
flouted. This day Yahweh will deliver you into my hand ;
I will kill you and take off your head, and give ^your^ dead body
^and those of^ the PhiHstine army this day to the birds of the
air and the wild beasts of the earth ; and all the world shall
know that there is a God °in° Israel. °Yes !° all assembled
here to-day shall know that not v^dth sword or spear °is victory
gained,° but Yahweh decides the issue of battle ; and he will
deliver you all into our hands."

Then when the Philistine got up and came towards David,
° ° David put his hand into the bag, took thence a stone,
and slung it, hitting the Philistine with such force that the
stone sunk into his forehead, and he fell prone on his face to the
ground. David, then ran forward, and, standing over the
Philistine, took his sword 3 3 and killed him outright, and
cut off his head with it. The Philistines, seeing that their hero
was dead, took to flight ; and the men of Israel and Judah sprang
to arms and raised the battle-shout, and pursued the Philistines
as far as GatM and the very gates of Ekron ; the Philistine dead
falling in the way °from Shaaraim° to Gath and Ekron. Then
the Israelites turned back from the pursuit of the Philistines
and looted their camp. [Da'vid took the head of the Philistine
and brought it to Jerusalem, but his armour he put in his own
tent.p

B. (xvii. 12-31 ; 41 ; 48^ ; 50 ; 55-58 ; sr^dii. 1-5.)

David was a son of °an° Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah

^ Perhaps inserted from xvi. 12.

2—2 LXX.

3—3 MT " and drew it from the scabbard " ; LXX omits.

4 So LXX ; MT " the valley."

5 This statement is unhistorical, since Jerusalem was not then in the
possession of the Israelites.

named Jesse [who had eight sons]^ The man himself ^was too
old for military service in the days of Saul,^ but his °three°
oldest sons had followed Saul to the war. The names of the
three who had thus gone to the war were : Eliab the oldest,
Abinadab the second, and Shammah the third : David was the
youngest [and the three older had followed Saul]\ [David
was going and coming between being with Saul and keeping
his father's sheep at Bethlehem. The Philistine drew near
and took his stand morning and evening for forty days]'^.

So Jesse said to his son David one day, " Take this bushel of
parched corn for your brothers, and these ten loaves, and carry
them quickly to your brothers at the camp. And these ten milk
cheeses you will bring to the commander of their regiment ;
and see how your brothers are getting on, and take a token from
them." Now Saul and they, with all the men of Israel, were
in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.

Next morning David rose early, handed over the flock to a
keeper, and loaded up and went as his father Jesse had bidden
him. He came to the entrenchment just as the army was
marching out in order of battle, and raising the war-cry ; so
that Israel and the Philistines were drawn up opposite to each
other. So David put down his stuff in charge of the baggage -
keeper, and ran to the front, and came and asked after the
welfare of his brothers. As he was speaking with them, up
came the champion — the Philistine, Goliath by name, from
Gath — from the ranks of the Philistines, with his usual harangue,
and David heard it. But all the Israelites at sight of the man
fled before him in great fear. A man of Israel was heard to
say, " Have you seen this man who is coming up ? It is to flout
Israel that he comes up ! And the man who kills him the king
will endow with great riches, and give him his daughter in
marriage, and enfranchise his family in Israel." David said to
the men standing near him, " What shall be done to the man
who kills yon Philistine, and wipes out an affront from Israel ?

' Probably inserted from ch. xvi. 12.

^ — ^ This Ingenious emendation seems to give the simplest remedy for an
unintelligible text.

3 Superfluous.

* The first sentence has been added to account for David's being at
Bethlehem, after xvi. zif ; the second is out of place here.

Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should flout the
armies of the living God ? " The people answered in the
same terms : " Such and such will be done to the man who
kills him." But Eliab his oldest brother heard him talk with
the men, and said angrily to David, " What in the world brings
you down here ? On whom have you thrown the care of those
few sheep in the desert ? I know your saucy and petulant
temper ! It is to see the battle that you have come down,"
" What have I done now ? " said David. " Surely I may speak
a word ! " He turned away from him to another, and put the
same question ; and the people answered him as before.

But David's words found a hearing, and were reported in the
presence of Saul. °They° took him ***** *i

* * * *

As the PhiHstine drew nearer and nearer [to David],^ with
his shield-bearer marching before him, David ran quickly
°from° the ranks to meet him. ****** j^^id David
overcame the Philistine with a sling and a stone : he hit and

killed the Philistine, although David had no sword in his hand.

******

* * * *

Now when Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he
said to Abner his commander-in-chief, " Whose son is that
stripling, Abner f " " Upon your life, king," said Abner,
*' I do not know." " Find out, then, whose son the youth is,"
said the king. So when David returned after killing the
Philistine, Abner took him and introduced him to Saul, with
the Philistine's head in his hand. Saul asked him, " Whose
son are you, my lad ? " and David answered, " I am the son
of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem." ******

At the end of David's conversation with Saul, Jonathan's
heart was knit to David's, with a love equal to his love for
himself. And Saul took him into his service that very day,
and would not let him go back to his father's house. Jonathan

^ What immediately followed in this narrative, it is difficult to conjecture.
Luc. proceeds : " and brought him to Saul." But if Saul had had an
interview with David before the fight, would he have let him go without
inquiring who he was, as in v. 55 ?

* Better omitted ; the following words show that in this account David
had not yet left the ranks.

made a covenant with David, because he loved him even as
he loved himself ; he took off the mantle which he wore and
gave it to David ; also his tunic, his sword, his bow and his
girdle. And David went forth : every task which Saul imposed
upon him he executed successfully ; so that Saul set him over
the men of war ; and he became a favourite with all the people,
and even with the courtiers of Saul.

4. Saul's Jealousy of David, and Attempts on His Life
(xviii. 6-xx. la).

In this and following sections we have a mixed collection
of incidents drawn from various sources. Partly with the
help of the LXX, and partly from internal indications^ we
can isolate a main narrative^ into which secondary fragments
have been inserted. In the translation secondary passages
are printed with an inlet in the margin, so that the leading
narrative may he read consecutively. Sections marked by
the asterisk (*) are not in the original LXX.

xviii. 6-9. [As they came home on David's return from
killing the Philistine]^ the women from all the cities of Israel
came out °in dances° to meet David^ with tambourines and
merry-making and cymbals. And the refrain of the ° °
women's song was

" Saul has slain his thousands ;
David his tens of thousands."
[Saul was very angry at this, and]^ The affair annoyed Saul ;
for, said he, " They give David the tens of thousands, and to
me only the thousands " [now he wants nothing but the
kingdom]^ ! And Saul kept a spiteful eye on David from that
time onward.

*xviii. 10, II. The next day an evil demon took
possession of Saul, and he went raving mad inside the house,
while David was playing on the harp, as was his daily
custom. Saul had a spear in his hand, and suddenly he
poised the spear, meaning to pin David to the wall with it.
But David evaded it twice.

^ Wanting in LXX. The incident really belongs to a later stage of
David's career.

2 So LXX; MT "King Saul."

xviii. 1 2-16. Saul then, being afraid of David [ — for Yahweh
was wdth him, while he had forsaken Saul — ]' removed him from
his presence, giving him the command of a regiment. Thus he
went out and in at the head of the people. And David was
successful in all his undertakings, because Yahweh was with
him ; and Saul, observing his great good fortune, stood in awe
of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David, as he went out
and in at their head.

*xviii. 17-19. One day Saul said to David, "There is
my elder daughter Merab ! I would give her to you for
a wife ; only you must show yourself a man of mettle in
fighting the battles of Yahweh." — Saul said this hoping
that David might meet his death at the hands of the
Philistines rather than at his. — But David answered, " What
am I, and what are ^ ^ my father's folk in Israel, that I
should aspire to be the king's son-in-law ? " However,
when the time came for Merab, Saul's daughter, to be given
in marriage to David, she was given to another man —
Adriel of Meholah.

xviii. 20-29^. Now Michal, Saul's daughter, fell in love with
David, and when Saul was told of it, he thought it a good thing,
saying to himself, " I will let him have her, and she will be the
means of bringing him into the hands of the Philistines."
3 3 So Saul ordered his courtiers to sound David privately
by talking thus : " Look here ! You stand high in the king's
favour ; all his court like you ; why not become the king's
son-in-law ? " But when the courtiers talked in this strain in
David's hearing, he answered, " Does it seem to you such an
easy thing to be the king's son-in-law — for a poor and low-born
man like me f " The courtiers reported David's words to
Saul ; and Saul replied, " Tell David that the king has no desire
for any purchase price, other than a hundred Philistines' fore-
skins, by way of taking vengeance on the king's enemies." —
But Saul reckoned on David's falling by the hands of the
Philistines. — The courtiers accordingly took this message to

I Wanting in LXX.
2—2 MT " my clan " (?).

3 — 3 MT inserts a sentence not in LXX which seems to mean " And Saul
said to David, ' You may now become my son-in-law twice over. ' "

David, and then it seemed to him an excellent way of becoming
the king's son-in-law. ^ .^ So he set about it, and went

out with his men, killed one hundred^ of the Philistines, brought
their foreskins, 3and counted them out in full tale3 to the king,
that so he might become his son-in-law. Saul then gave him
his daughter Michal in marriage. But Saul saw that Yahweh
was with David, and that ^all Israel"^ loved him ; and he was
more afraid of David than ever.

*xviii. 29b, 30. Saul now cherished unremitting enmity
to David. But as often as the Philistine generals took the
field, David scored greater successes than all the rest of
Saul's servants, and his reputation stood very high.

xix. I -10. Saul now talked with Jonathan and his whole
court of having David put to death. Now Jonathan, Saul's
son, had a strong affection for David ;

So Jonathan told David that his father Saul meant to
kill him, and said, " Be on your guard in the morning, and
5keep yourself closely hidden. 5 I on my part will come
out and stand at my father's side in the fields where you
are. I will speak of you with my father, and if I note
anything suspicious I will let you know."^

And he spoke well of him to Saul his father, and said, " Let the
king beware of wronging his servant David, for he has never
wronged you, and his actions have been greatlyto your advantage.
For he took his life in his hand that time when he slew the
Philistine, whereby Yahweh wrought a great victory for all
Israel ; you saw it yourself and rejoiced. Why, then, should
you incur the guilt of innocent blood, by killing David for no
reason at all ? " So Saul yielded to Jonathan's remonstrance,
and swore an oath by the life of Yahweh that he should not be
put to death. Jonathan then sent for David, and told him

^ — ^ MT inserts " and the time had not expired " ; not in LXX.
2 LXX ; MT 200.
3 — 3 Luc, etc.

4— ♦ LXX ; MT " his daughter Michal."
5—5 So LXX.

^ The preceding verses appear to have been inserted from another
document.

evefything ; he brought him to Saul, and he was in the royal
presence as of old.

But as the war was renewed David led an expedition against
the Philistines and defeated them with great slaughter, putting
them to flight. Then an evil spirit from Yahweh came on Saul,
as he sat in his house, spear in hand. While David was playing
on the harp, Saul tried to pin him to the wall with the spear.
But David jumped aside before Saul, so that he stuck the spear
into the wall ; while David saved himself by flight. ° °

xix. 1 1 -1 7. ^That night^ Saul sent agents to watch
David's house, meaning to kill him in the morning. Michal
his wife told David of this and said, " Unless you make good
your escape this night, to-morrow you will be a dead man."
So she let him down through the window, and David fled
and got clear away. Michal then took the household
idol,^ and laid it on the bed, wdth a fly-net (?)3 of goats'
hair at its head, and covered it v^th a garment ; and when
Saul sent messengers to seize David, she told them that he
was sick. Saul sent the messengers back to see David,
with orders to bring him, bed and all, that he might kill
him. The messengers came, and lo ! there was the idol
on the bed, and the fly-net of goats' hair at its head ! Saul
said to Michal, " Why have you deceived me thus, letting
my enemy go and make his escape ? " Michal answered,
" It was he who made me let him go, for he threatened to
kill me."

xix. 18-XX. la. David with Samuel at Ramah. — When
David had made his escape, he came to Samuel at Ramah,
and told him all that Saul had done to him ; and he and
Samuel went and stayed in the ^prophets' quarters.'^
When Saul was informed that David was there, he sent
emissaries to apprehend him. But when °they° saw the
group of prophets in ecstatic frenzy, wdth Samuel presiding
over them, the spirit of God came on Saul's messengers,

I— I So LXX, etc.

2 Heb. " Teraphim."

3 The meaning of the word is uncertain.

^~~^ Heb. " Naioth," which may be a proper name ; though Ramah was
hardly large enough to have another locality within it.

and they too were seized with the ecstasy. Saul, hearing of
this, sent other messengers ; and they were taken in
the same way. Yet a third time he sent messengers ; and
they were seized also. At last he himself set out for Ramah,
and coming to the cistern of the ^threshing-floor on the
knoU,^ he inquired where Samuel and David were ; and
was told, "Why, in the prophets' quarters in Ramah."
But as he went on °from° there, the spirit of God came on
him too, and he walked along in an ecstasy till he reached
the prophets' quarters in Ramah. There he threw off his
clothes like the rest, and raved before Samuel, till he fell
down in a swoon, and lay naked all that day and all the
next night. Hence arose the saying, " Is Saul also among
the prophets ? "

David then fled from the prophets' quarters in Ramah,
and came ******

5. David's Flight from Saul's Court (xx. i^-xxi. 15).

(i) Jonathan warns David of his Da?iger (xx. 1^-4.2).

The beginning of this narrative seems to have been lost in
the process of compilation. David and Jonathan are alone
together ; and David —

* * * asked Jonathan to his face : " What have I done ?
What wrong or fault does your father think I have committed,
that he seeks my life ? " He replied, " Impossible ! Your
life is in no danger. Just consider ! My father does nothing,
great or small, but he takes me into his confidence : why should
he hide a thing like this from me ? There is nothing in this."
But David still protested and said, " Your father is well aware
that you are on friendly terms with me, and naturally he has
said to himself, ' Jonathan must not know of this, or it would
grieve him.' But as surely as Yahweh lives, and you are alive,
there is just a step between me and death." Jonathan then
offered to do anything that David might suggest ; and David
made the following proposal : " You know," he said, " that it
is New Moon to-morrow, when I ought to dine with the king.
Let me go, then, and hide myself outside the town till the

So LXX, etc.

evening ' ^ If your father misses me at all, you can say,
* David got leave from me to pay a flying visit to Bethlehem,
his own city, where the annual sacrifice is to take place for all
the clan.' If he then expresses himself as satisfied, I am in no
danger ; but if he flares up in a passion, you may be sure that he
is bent on my destruction. Do me this favour, seeing you have
entered into a ^solemn covenant^ with your servant. Or, if
any guilt lies on me, kill me yourself ; but don't give me over
to your father." " Heaven forbid ! " exclaimed Jonathan : " If
I should discover that my father is bent on destroying you, I
will certainly inform you of that." " But," said David, " who
will bring me word, °in the event° of your father giving you
a harsh answer ? "

{vv, II-17. From another Source.) * * * Jonathan said
to David, *' Come, let us go out into the country." So
they went out together. Jonathan then spoke to David
as follows : " Yahweh, God of Israel, ^be witness^ ! When
I sound my father about this time to-morrow, ^ ^ ii
I find him well disposed to David, I will certainly send
for you then, and make it known to you. If on the other
hand my father has made up his mind to destroy you,
then may God's^ heaviest curse light on Jonathan, if I do
not disclose it you, and let you go away in safety. And
may Yahweh be with you, as he has been with my father !
^Only, I ask^ that as long as I am alive you will show me
the kindness of Yahweh ; and that if I die you will never
withdraw your kindness from my house. And when
Yahweh shall have cut off from the ground David's
enemies to the last man, should Jonathan's °name° be
cut off from the house of David, may Yahweh exact
vengeance for it at the hand of '^ 7 David ! " And

I— I MT " of the third day," rightly omitted by LXX.

^ — ^ Lit. " covenant of Yahweh."

3 — 3 Inserted from Syr.

4—4 MT " the third day."

5 So LXX preserving the usual formula 5 MT " Yahweh'

^ ^ Following LXX. The constniction is very involved.

'' 7 MT " the enemies of."

:>b

Jonathan again ^swore to David^ by his love for him ; for
he loved him as his own life.

Jonathan replied, " To-morrow being New Moon, you will
be missed when your seat is seen to be empty. On the third
day, when you will have ^been very much missed,^ come to the
place where you hid yourself on the day of the Action,^ and
remain beside '^yonder mound. I will then on the third day^
shoot arrows by the side of it, as if shooting at a mark ; and
will send my lad to find the arrow.5 Then if I say to the
youth, " See, the arrow^ is on this side of you ; take it up ! "
you may come, for all is well with you ; there is nothing to
fear, as Yahweh lives. But if I say to the youth, " See the arrow
is beyond you," then go ; for Yahweh sends you away. And
as for the word which you and I have spoken to each other,
Yahweh is °the witness" between you and me for ever." So
David went into hiding in the open country.

When the New Moon came, the king took his seat at table to
eat. The king sat in his usual place on the seat by the wall.
Jonathan ^sat facing^ him, and Abner at Saul's side, while
David's place was vacant. Saul made no remark that day ;
for he thought something might have happened to David to
make him unclean, and he had not been able to purify himself.
But the next day, the second day of the New Moon, when he
noticed David's place still empty, Saul said to his son Jonathan,
" Why has the son of Jesse not come to table either yesterday
or to-day ? " Jonathan answered, " David asked leave of me
to go as far as Bethlehem. He said, ' Do let me go, for we have
a clan sacrifice in the city, and my brothers °have invited me.°
So, if you hold me dear, let me off to see my brothers.' That
is why he does not come to the royal table." Then Saul burst
out in anger against Jonathan, and said, " Son of a strumpet^

^— I LXX ; MT " made David swear."

2—2 LXX.

3 An allusion to some unknown episode in David's career.

4 — * After LXX, etc. ; MT unintelligible.

5 MT " arrows."

6—6 LXX.

7 Or, " a run-away slave girl."

that y6u are ! Do I not know that you are ^in league^ with
the son of Jesse, to your own shame and the shame of your
mother's womb ? For so long as the son of Jesse lives above the
ground, neither you nor your kingship is secure. Send for him
at once and bring him to me ; for he is deserving of death."
Jonathan answered his father by asking, " Why should he be
put to death ? What has he done ? " Then Saul hurled his
spear at him to strike him. But when Jonathan saw that
David's death was fully resolved on by his father, he rose from
the table in hot wrath, having eaten nothing on that second day
of the New Moon ; for he was heart-sore for David, because
his father had maligned him.

Next morning Jonathan went out into the country, to the
place arranged with David, taking a young lad wdth him. He
said to the lad, " Run, now, and find the arrow° which I shall
shoot ! " And as the lad ran, he shot the arrow so as to fly
beyond him. When the lad came to where the arrow lay that
Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after him, " Isn't the arrow
beyond you ? " And again he cried after him, " Quick !
Hurry up ! Don't stand there ! " So Jonathan's lad picked
up the arrow and °brought it° to his master. But the lad knew
nothing ; only Jonathan and David knew what it meant.
° ° David then rose and went away, while Jonathan returned
to the city.

^Jonathan then handed his weapons to his lad, and bade
him go and take them to the city. When the boy was gone
David rose up from the side of the °mound,° prostrated
himself, and bowed three times to the earth. They kissed
each other, and wept on each other, °and David wept
longest" (.?). At last Jonathan said, " Go in peace, seeing
we two have sworn by the name of Yahweh, that Yahweh
will be °witness° between you and me, and between your
descendants and mine for evermore ! "

[2) David's Visit to Ahimelech at Nob (xxi. 1-9).

David then came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech
was alarmed by David's arrival, and said, " Why are you alone

I— I LXX.

^ These verses (40-423) miss the whole point of Jonathan's signal to
[David, and must have been added later.

and unattended ? " David answered, " The king has entrusted
me with a certain mission, and said that no one must know
anything of the errand on which he has sent me or the business
he has charged me with ; so I have ^made an appointment with^
my men to meet me at a place I must not name. But now,
°ii° you have five loaves of bread to spare, give them to me, or
whatever you can lay your hands on." The priest replied,
" There is no common bread in my possession, but there is
sacred bread ; have your young men at least kept themselves
from women ? " ^^ O certainly ! " said David, in answer to
the priest. " Women had been taboo to us for some days when
I came away, so that the men's equipment was holy, although
this is no sacred expedition ; much more are they holy in their
equipment to-day (?)."^ Then the priest gave him sacred
bread ; for there was no bread there except the shew-bread,
which is taken from Yahweh's presence to be replaced by fresh
bread on the day when it is removed.

But there was present that day one of Saul's servants, who
was under restraint before Yahweh : his name was Doeg, — an
Edomite, the °most stalwart of Saul's runners° (.?).

David then said to Ahimelech, " Have you no spear or sword
at hand here .? I came away without my sword or weapons ;
the king's command was so urgent." The priest answered,
" There is the sword of Goliath the Philistine whom you slew
in the valley of Elah ; it is wrapped in a covering behind the
ephod3. If you care to take that you may have it ; there is
nothing else here." " There is none like it ! " said David ;
" Give me it."

(3) David at Gath (xxi. 10- 15).^

David set out that day on his flight from Saul, and came
to Achish, king of Gath. The courtiers of Achish said to
him, " Why ! this is David, the king of the country —
he of whom they used to sing, ' Saul has slain his thousands :
David his tens of thousands ! ' " When David realised the
import of these words he was very much afraid of Achish

'—I LXX.

^ — ^ The interpretation of David's answer is extremely precarious.

3 See p. 13, n. 2*.

4 This episode, in view of xxvii. zff, can hardly be historical.

"the king of Gath. So he feigned insanity °before° them,
and behaved Hke a madman in their hands, °banging° on
the doors of the gates, and letting his sahva run down his
beard. Achish said to his courtiers, " Look ! You see the
man is a lunatic ; why do you bring him to me ? Have /
any lack of lunatics, that you have brought me this one to
pester me with his mad antics ? Would you have this
man enter my house f "

6. David's Adventures as an Outlaw, hunted by Saul
(xxii.-xxvi.),

(1) David in Adullam and Moab (xxii. 1-5).

Departing thence, David made his escape to the mountain-
fastness^ of Adullam ; and when his brothers and all his family
connections heard of this they came dovm to him there. There
gathered round him also all sorts of men in distress, men who
were in debt, discontented men ; and he became their captain.
He had thus about 400 men under him.

From there he went to [Mizpeh in] Moab, and requested the
king of Moab that his father and mother might °remain° with
them till he should see what God would do for him. So he
left them at the court of the king of Moab, and they stayed
with him as long as David was in the fastness. But Gad the
prophet said to David, " You must not stay in the fastness, but
leave it and betake yourself to the land of Judah." So David
left, and came to the forest of Hereth.

(2) T^he Massacre of the Priests of Nob (xxii. 6-23).

In due time Saul learned that David and his men had been
discovered. Now Saul was at the time holding court at Gibeah,
sitting spear in hand under the tamarisk-tree ^on the high-
place,^ with all his courtiers round him. Addressing the courtiers
as they stood round him, Saul said, " Men of Benjamin, listen
to me ! Will the son of Jesse give all of you farms and vineyards,
and make all of you commanders of regiments and companies

^ MT " cave."

2—2 LXX ; MT " in Ramah," or " on the height (?)."

that [you have all conspired against me, and that no one let me
know when my son entered into a covenant with the son of Jesse,
and]^ that none of you ^had the kindness^ to inform me that my son
had set up my servant as a rival3 to me, as is now plainly the case f "
Here Doeg the Edomite, who was standing near the courtiers
of Saul, spoke out and said, " I saw the son of Jesse come to
Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, who consulted Yahweh
for him, and supplied him with provisions, and gave him the
sword of Goliath the Philistine." Thereupon the king sent
and summoned Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, the priest, and
all his brethren the priesthood of Nob. When they had all
come to the king, Saul said, " Hear me, son of Ahitub ! "
Ahimelech answered, " At your service, my lord ! " Saul
continued, " Why have you conspired against me with the son
of Jesse, giving him food and a sword, and consulting God for
him, in order that he might rise up as a rivals to me, as clearly
appears to-day .? " Ahimelech said in answer to the king,
" Who then of all your servants was so much to be trusted as
David — the king's son-in-law, the captain of your bodyguard,
and honoured in your house ? Or is this the first time I have
consulted God for him .? I repel the charge ! Let the king
lay no imputation on his servant [or his father's house] ; for
your servant has no knowledge whatever of all this." But the
king replied, " You must die, Ahimelech, you and all your
brethren." Then the king gave an order to his runners who
were standing by him ; " Come forward, and slay the priests
of Yahweh ; because they too are hand-in-glove with David,
for when they knew that he was fleeing from me they did not
let me know," But the king's servants refused to lift a hand to
strike down the priests of Yahweh. Then the king turned to
Doeg with the order to come forward and strike down the
priests. So Doeg the Edomite came forward and he fell on
the priests, kilHng that day eighty-five men who wore the linen
ephod.4 In Nob also, the city of the priests, he (Saul ?) put to
the sword men and women, children and sucklings, cattle, asses
and sheep.

^ — ^ These words arc perhaps a variant reading of the following clause.
*— 2 LXX.

3 LXX.

4 See p. 13.

Biit one son of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub escaped : namely
Abiathar, who fled after David, and told him that Saul had
slain the priests of Yahweh. David said, " I knew at the time,
when I saw Doeg the Edomite there, that he would be sure to
tell Saul. I ^am responsible^ for the lives of all your father's
house. But do you remain with me, and have no fear ; for
the man who seeks your life seeks mine also. With me you are
in safe keeping."

(3) David relitves Keilah from the Philistines (xxiii. I- 13).

Information then reached David that the Philistines were
besieging Keilah and pillaging the threshing-floors. Thereupon
he consulted Yahweh : " Shall I go and attack these Philistines ? "
and the answer was : " Go, and you uill defeat the PhiHstines
and relieve Keilah." But David's men objected and said, " We
are in constant fear here [in Judah ?] ; how much more if we
go to Keilah against the forces of the Philistines ! " So David
again consulted Yahweh, who answered, " Rise, and go down to
Keilah, for I v\ill deliver the Philistines into your hand." David
then went with his men to Keilah, and fought the Philistines,
and carried off their cattle, inflicting a severe defeat upon them.
Thus David reHeved the people of Keilah.

\Mien Saul was told that David had come to Keilah, he said,
" God has °dehvered° him into my hand ; he has cut off his
escape by entering a city with gates and bars." So Saul called
out all the people for war, meaning to go down to Keilah and
besiege David and his men. ^Now when Abiathar the son of
Ahimelech had fled to David, he came down to Keilah with the
ephod.^ So when Da\'id perceived that Saul was scheming
mischief against him, he said to Abiathar, " Bring the ephod
here ! " Then he prayed, " O Yahweh, God of Israel, thy servant
has heard that Saul intends to come to Keilah, to destroy the
city on my account. 3 3 And now, will Saul come down as
thy servant has heard ? Yahweh, God of Israel, make it known
to thy servant." Yahweh answered, " He wiU." David then

I— I LXX.

^ ^ Transposed from the beginning of the paragraph. See p. 13.

3 — 3 MT inserts wrongly " \^'ill the citizens of Keilah surrender me to
him ? " (See next verse.) LXX omits.

asked, " Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men
to Saul ? " Answer : " They will." On this David got up,
and marched out of Keilah with his troop — about 600^ men —
and they went roving about wherever they could. And when
Saul learned that David had escaped from Keilah he broke off
the expedition.

(4) David in Ziph and Maon (xxiii. 14-29).

After this David remained in the wilderness in hill-fastnesses,
keeping to the mountainous country [in the wilderness of
Ziph] ; and though Saul sought him continually God did not
give him into his power.

But David was afraid, knowing that Saul was out after
his life — he was at this time at Horesh in the wilderness of
Ziph, But Jonathan, Saul's son, set out and went to David
in Horesh, and encouraged him in the name of God, saying
to him, " Have no fear ! The hand of Saul my father
shall never reach you ; you shall yet be king over Israel,
and I shall be second to you ; and that my father Saul
knows right well." And they two made a covenant before
Yahweh. And David remained in Horesh, while Jonathan
returned home.

Certain Ziphites, however, went up to Saul at Gibeah, and
said, " Do you know that David is hiding in fastnesses near us
in Horesh [in the hill of Hachilah, south of the Desolation ]3 f
So, whenever it is your pleasure, O King, to come down to us,
come ; and we will see to it that he is delivered into the king's
hands." Saul answered, " The blessing of Yahweh be on you,
since you show kindly feeling for me ! Go, then, and take
further measures : find out °quickly° the place where his foot
rests ; for they tell me he is very wily. Find this out every
lurking-place where he hides himself, and come back to me
without fail'' ; and I will go with you. If he is in the country
at all I will ferret him out from all the townships of Judah."

I LXX 400.

* Probably borrowed from xxvi. i.

3 Heb. " Jeshimon " — virtually a proper name.

4 A variant of the preceding sentence, wanting in LXX [but probably
scribal error in MT — Ed.],

ScTthey departed and went on before Saul to Ziph. But David
and his men were now in the wilderness of Maon, in the steppes
to the south of the Desolation.

When Saul and his men set out to seek him, David, being
informed of it, went down to the cliff 'that is^ in the wilderness
of Maon ; and Saul, as soon as he heard this, followed David
into the wilderness of Maon. Saul ^and his men^ went by one
side of the mountain ; David and his men by the other :
David hurrying to get away from Saul, while Saul and his men
were on the point of surrounding David and his men, and
capturing them. Just then a messenger brought Saul the
tidings that the Philistines had invaded the country, urging
him to come with all speed. So Saul left off the pursuit of
David and marched against the Philistines. Hence that place
gets the name of " Separation Cliff." David then went up
from there, and made his abode in the fastnesses above Engedi.

(5) At Engedi : David spares SaiiVs Life (xxiv. 1-22),

When Saul returned from his campaign against the
Philistines, he was told that David was in the wilderness of
Engedi. Then he took 3,000 picked men out of all Israel and
set out in search of ^David. While his men were on the east
of the Chamois Rocks, Saul himself^^ came to the sheepfolds
on the wayside ; where there is a cave into which he entered to
relieve himself, not knowing that David and his men were
lurking in the recesses of the cave. David's men said to him,
" See ! This is the day that Yahweh foretold when he said,
' I will put your enemy in your power, to do to him as you
like.'" 4But David answered, " God keep me from doing such
a thing to my lord, the anointed of Yahweh, or laying hands on
him, seeing he is Yahweh's anointed ! " Thus David sharply
rebuked his followers, and would not allow them to do Saul
any harm. ^Then he rose and secretly cut off the edge of the
mantle that Saul was wearing. But afterwards David's

^— I So LXX.
2—2 LXX, etc.

3 3 Or (following the punctuation of MT) " David and his men on the
east of the Chamois Rocks ; and."

4 Vv 5^*, 6 transposed to follow 8a.

conscience smote him for having cut off the edge of Saul's
°mantle.°

So when Saul had risen and left the cave and gone along
the road, David rose after him, and stepping out of the cave
called after Saul, " My lord king ! " Saul looked behind him,
and David bowed in homage with his face to the ground, and
spoke thus to Saul : " Why do you listen to the talk of those who
say that David wants to harm you ? You have seen this day
with your own eyes how when Yahweh put it in my power
° ° to kill you in the cave ^I refused to do it. ^ I spared you
and said, ' I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is
the anointed of Yahweh.' See, my father ! Here is a piece
of your mantle in my hand. Since I cut off the edge of your
mantle when I might have killed you, you may know for certain
that there is neither malice nor treason in my heart ; I have
never wronged you, although you are watching your opportunity
to take my life. Let Yahweh judge between you and me ;
let Yahweh avenge me upon you ; but my hand shall not be
against you. ^ ^ And, after all, on whom is the king of

Israel making war ? Whom are you hunting ? A dead dog !
A solitary flea ! May Yahweh be judge and decide between us !
May he see to it, and maintain my cause, and vindicate my right
against you ! "

When David stopped speaking thus to Saul [Saul said, " Is
that your voice, David, my son ? "]3 Saul wept aloud, and
said to David, " You are in the right, and I in the wrong ; for
you have done a good turn to me, while I have done you harm.
And you have this day ^put the crown on alH your goodness
to me, by refraining from killing me, when Yahweh had put me
in your power. When a man has his enemy at his mercy, does
he send him safely on his way ? May Yahweh reward you
richly for what you have done to me to-day ! And now I
know that you will undoubtedly be king, and that through you

^— ^ So LXX.

* — 2 " As the old proverb has it : From the wicked proceeds wickedness,
but my hand shall not be against you." The verse has been inserted by a
scribe who thought he knew the old saying quoted in David's last words.

3 Taken from xxvi. 17.

4—4 MT "declared."

the realm of Israel will be strengthened. Swear to mc, there-
fore, by Yahweh, that you will not root out my offspring after
me, nor efface my name from my father's house." David
swore thus to Saul ; and Saul went home ; but David and
his men went up to the fastness.

(6) David spares SauVs Life at the Hill oj Hachilah (xxvi.) — a
parallel narrative to (5).

The Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah with the news that
David was hiding ^near them^ [in the hill of Hachilah,
facing the Desolation]. So Saul went down at once to
the wilderness of Ziph, taking with him 3,000 picked men
of Israel, to hunt for David in the wilderness of Ziph.
Saul encamped on the hill of Hachilah, facing the
Desolation, on the road, while David kept to the wilderness.
And seeing that Saul had followed him to the vdlderness,
David sent out spies, and ascertained beyond doubt that
Saul had come. Thereupon David got up and came to
the place ^[where Saul was encamped ; and having seen
the place]^ where Saul was lying asleep with Abner the
son of Ner, his commander-in-chief — Saul was lying
within the entrenchment, and the troops camping around
him — he spoke to Ahimelech the Hittite, and Abishai the
son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and said, " Which of you
will go down with me to Saul in the camp ? " Abishai
answered, " I will." So David and Abishai came to the
army by night ; and there was Saul lying asleep within
the entrenchment, with his spear stuck in the ground at
his head, and Abner and the men sleeping around him.
Said Abishai to David, " God has given your enemy into
your hand this day ! I will just pin him to the earth with
his own spear — a single stroke ; no more ! " David answered
Abishai, " You must not murder him ; for who ever
laid hands on Yahweh's anointed and was held guiltless ?
By the life of Yahweh, no ! " he continued. " Either
Yahweh will smite him, or he wiU die a natural death,
or he wall fall in battle ; but the Lord forbid that / should

•—I LXX.

«— 2 Omitted by LXX.

put forth my hand against the anointed of Yahweh !
Meanwhile, take the spear that is at his head and the
water-jug, and let us be off." So they °took° the spear
and the jug from Saul's head and came away. And no
one saw or heard or woke up ; for they were all plunged
in a deep slumber caused by Yahweh.

David then crossed to the opposite side of the valley,
and standing at a distance on the top of the hill, so that a
great space lay between, he shouted to the people and to
Abner the son of Ner : " Why don't you answer, Abner ? "
Abner called back, " Who are you, calling up the king ? "
David answered, " You are a fine man ! The like of you
is not in Israel ! Why then have you not kept watch over
your lord the king ? Why ! one of the people has come
through to murder the king, your master. It is not a
very soldierlike thing, this that you have done ! By the
life of Yahweh, but you all deserve death for not guarding
your master, the anointed of Yahweh. Look now where
the king's spear is, and where the water-jug, that were at
his head."

But Saul now recognised David's voice, and said, " Is
that your voice, David my son ? " " It is, my lord king J "
answered David. " Why," he went on, " does my lord
pursue his servant ? What have I done ? What evil
is there in my hands ? Let the king, then, listen to what
his servant has to say : If it be Yahweh who has incited
you against me, let him be appeased by an offering ; but
if it be men who have done it, may they be accursed before
Yahweh ; for they have expelled me this day from the
fellowship of Yahweh's people, and said in effect, ' Away !
serve other gods.' But now, let not my blood be spilt
on the earth far from the presence of Yahweh ; for the
king of Israel has come out to hunt ^for my life, as the
hawk^ hunts the partridge in the mountains." Saul said :
*' I have sinned ! Come back, my son David ; I will not
harm you any more, since you have prized my life highly
this day. Oh, I have acted foolishly, and gone very far
astray ! " David said in reply, " Here is the king's spear :

I— I So LXX ; MT " a single flea, as one."

let one of the young men come over and fetch it. And
Yahweh will reward every man according to his rectitude
and his fidehty ; when Yahweh put you in my power this
day, I would not lay my hand on the anointed of Yahweli.
As precious as your life was to me this day, so precious may
mint be to Yahweh, and may he rescue me from every
danger ! " Saul said to David, " God bless you, my son
David ! You will certainly succeed in all you undertake."
David then went his way, and Saul returned home.

(7) David and Nabal (xxv.).

[About this time Samuel died, and all Israel assembled
and mourned for him, and he was buried in his own liouse
at Ramah. David went down to the wilderness of Maon.']

Now in Maon there was a man who had a farm at Carmel
— a man of substance, owning (3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats —
and for the time he was at the sheep-shearing in Carmel. The
man's name was Nabal, and his wife's name Abigail ; the woman
was sensible and good-looking, but the man was rude and
ill-natured — a regular Calebite.

David, then, having heard in the wilderness that Nabal was
shearing his sheep, sent ten young men with the following
instructions : " Go up to Carmel ; get an interview with Nabal,
and give him my compliments. ^Address him as my brother,^
and say, ' Good luck to you, and good luck to your household,
and to all that is yours ! I have just heard that you are engaged
in sheep-shearing. Now your shepherds have been in our
neighbourhood, and we have not ill-used them, nor have they
lost anything aU the time they have been in Carmel. Ask
your servants, and they will tell you that it is so. Look kindly
therefore, on these young men — all the more that we come at a
festive season — and give whatever you can lay your hand on
3to your servants, and^ to your son David.' " David's men came
and delivered this message to Nabal in David's name, and
paused for his reply. But all the answer they got from Nabal
was, " Who is David .? Who is the son of Jesse ? There are

I LXX ; MT " Paran."

^ — ^ An obscure expression.

3 — 3 Some texts of LXX omit these words.

many servants now-a-days who break loose from their master?.
And I, forsooth, must take my bread and wine/ and the besots
I have slaughtered for my own 'shearers, and give them to men
as to whom I do not know where on earth they have come irom. ! "
Upon this David's men took their way back to David, md told
him all that had happened. David then gave the order to his
men, " Every man gird on his sword ! " So they all girt on
their swords, and David did the same ; and they marched out
after David some 400 strong, while 200 remained with the
baggage.

In the meantime one of the servants had told Abigail, Nabal's
wife : " Look here ! David has sent messengers from the
wilderness to salute our master, and he has fallen out with them.
And really the men were very good to us ; we were not molested,
nor did we miss anything all the time we were in their company
while we were on the moors. They were like a wall round us
by day and by night as long as we were near them tending the
flocks. Now consider and see what is to be done ; for ruin
threatens our master and all his household. As for him, he
is such a fiend that there is no speaking to him."

Abigail then hurriedly got together 200 loaves of bread, two
skins of wine, five sheep ready for cooking, five pecks^ of parched
corn, 100 bunches of raisins and 200 fig-cakes, and put them on
asses, telling the servants to go on before her, and she would
follow. But to her husband Nabal she said not a word.

As she was riding down on her ass under cover of the hill,
David and his men were marching down opposite to her, so
that she came upon them suddenly. Now David had been
thinking, " For nothing at all I have guarded the whole of this
man's property in the wilderness, so that nothing belonging to
him was lost ; and now he returns evil for my good. May
God's heaviest vengeance light on 3 3 David, if I leave a
single male of his by morning light ! "

Now when Abigail saw David, she dismounted quickly from
her ass, and fell ^on her face before him'^ in humble deference.

1 LXX ; MT " waters."

2 " Scahs " (one-third of an Ephah).

3 — 3 MT wrongly inserts " the enemies of," omitted by LXX.
LXX.

Throwing herself at his feet she said, " On me alone, my lord,
be the guilt ! Let your handmaid speak to you freely, and
pray hear what she has to say. My lord should pay no heed
to this vile creature Nabal, who is just what his name says —
Nabal (churl) he is by name, and churl by nature — and I, your
handmaid, did not see the young men whom my lord sent.
[Truly, my lord, as surely as Yahweh lives, ° ° who has kept
you from incurring bloodguilt and taking your revenge into
your own hanJ., I could wish that your enemies and those who
seek to injure my lord might be as Nabal. ]^ And now, this
present which your maidservant has brought for my lord — let
it be given to the young men who accompany my lord. Forgive
your handmaid her offence ; for Yahweh will assuredly build
for my lord a lasting dynasty, because you are fighting the
battles of Yahweh, and no wickedness will be found in you all
your days. And °should a man arise° to persecute you and
seek your life, may my lord's soul be bound up in the bundle of
life with Yahweh your God, while he slings away the souls of
your enemies as from the pouch of a sling ! Then — ^when Yahweh
brings to pass all the good which he has promised you, and
appoints you prince over Israel — then my lord's conscience will
be clear of the compunction and remorse that would follow
shedding blood unnecessarily, and seeking redress ^by his own
hand.^ And when Yahweh brings good fortune to my lord,
think of your handmaid."

David replied to Abigail, " All praise to Yahweh the God of
Israel, for sending you to meet me this day ! Blessings also on
your good sense and on yourself, who have kept me back this
day from the guilt of bloodshed, and from taking my revenge
into my own hand ! But truly, by the life of Yahweh the God
of Israel, who has kept me from doing you harm, if you had not
come so promptly to meet me, there would not have been left
a single male of NabaPs by morning light." David then
accepted the present she had brought for him, saying to herself,
" Go home in peace ! See, I yield to your request, and have
treated you with respect."

When Abigail got back to Nabal, she found him feasting like

^ This sentence comes in prematurely.
^ — ' Inserted from LXX.

a king in his house, and in a very jovial mood ; but as he was
very drunk she said nothing to him till the next day. In the
morning, when Nabal had slept off his debauch, and his wife
told him what had happened, ^he had an apoplectic fit,^ and lay
like a stone. About ten days later, Yahweh sent a stroke on
Nabal, and he died.

On hearing of Nabal's death David exclaimed, " Blessed be
Yahweh who has avenged the insult done to me by Nabal, and
held back his servant from doing wrong ; but has caused Nabal's
wickedness to recoil on his own head ! " Then he sent and
paid his addresses to Abigail with a view to marriage. And
when David's men came to Abigail at Carmel, and told her that
David had sent them to take her home as his wife, she rose,
bowed her face to the ground, and said, " Why ! Your hand-
maid is ready to be a slave-girl to wash the feet of my lord's
servants." So she rose quickly, and, riding on an ass, accompanied
by her five maids on foot, she followed David's messengers,
and became his wife.

Now David had already married Ahinoam of Jezreel, so he
had them both for wives. But Saul had given his daughter
Michal, whom David had married, to Palti the son of Laish,
from Gallim.

7. David among the Philistines (i Sam. xxvii.-2 Sam. i.).
(i) David becomes a Vassal of Achish of Gath (xxvii,).

David at last came to the conclusion that sooner or later he
must fall into the hands of Saul. " The best I can do," he said
to himself, " is to make my escape to the Phihstine territory ;
then Saul in despair will abandon the search for me within the
borders of Israel, and I shall escape from his power." David
set out accordingly, and with his 600^ men went over to Achish
the son of Maoch, king of Gath. So David and his men resided
with Achish in Gath ; each man with his family, and David
with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail the widow
of Nabal of Carmel. And Saul, being informed of David's
flight to Gath, searched for him no more.

^ — ^ Or, " all spirit died out of him, and he lay . . .," ; lit., " his
heart died within him."
2 I.XX, etc., " 400."

After a time David said to Achish, " If you arc pleased with
me, let me have quarters assigned to me in one of the provincial
towns, where I may settle : why should your servant live so
near you in the capital of the kingdom ? " So Achish gave him
Ziklag at that time ; hence Ziklag belongs to the kings of Judah
to this day.

The whole time that David spent in Philistine territory was
a year and four months. During this period he and his men
went out and raided the ^ 'Gizrites and Amalekites, these

being the peoples inhabiting the region that extends Hrom
Telam^ towards Shur, as far as the land of Egypt. And every
time that David raided their land he left neither man nor woman
alive, but carried off sheep and cattle, asses and camels, and
clothing ; and returned with them to Achish. If Achish then
asked, " °\Vhere° have you made a raid to-day .? " David would
answer, " On the Negeb of Judah," or, " On the Negeb of the
Jerahmeelites," or, " On the Negeb of the Kenites." David's
reason for sparing neither man nor woman to bring home to
Achish was his fear that they might give information against
him and his men. °Thus David acted,° and this was his custom
all the time he stayed in the country of the Philistines. So
Achish trusted David, thinking " He has brought himself into
disfavour with his countrymen of Israel ; now he will remain
my vassal for ever."

(2) David narrowly escapes having to fight against his own
Country (xxviii. 1,2; xxix).

At this time the Philistines mustered their forces for war
against Israel. Achish said to David, " You understand that
you and your men take the field with me in the army." " Quite
so ! " replied David, " °now° you shall see what your servant
can do." " Good ! " said Achish, " for this I make you 3head
of my bodyguard3 permanently."

So the Philistines brought their whole force together at
Aphek, while the Israelites encamped at the well in Jezreel.
Now as the Tyrants'^ of the Philistines marched past with their

^ — ^ MT " Geshurites and the."

2—2 So MSS of LXX ; MT " from of old."

3 — 3 Lit. " keeper of my head."

4 See note 4, p. 19.

companies and regiments, David and his men bringing up the
rear under Achish, the Philistine officers said, " What are these
Hebrews doing here ? " Achish answered them, " Why, this
is David, the servant of Saul, king of Israel, who has been with
me for a year or °two° ; and I have found nothing amiss in him
from the day he joined °me° till now." But the Philistine
officers got angry with him, and said, " Send the man back !
Let him return to the quarters you have assigned to him ; but
he shall not go into battle with us, or he will ^play the traitor
to us^ in the battle. What better way could such a man find
to ingratiate himself with his sovereign than with the heads of
these men of ours ? Do you forget that this is the David of
whom they used to sing in dances :

* Saul has slain his thousands,

David his tens of thousands ' ? "

So Achish called David, and said to him, " As Yahweh lives,
I believe in your honour, and it would please me well if you
could go in and out with me in the camp ; for I have found no
fault in you from the time you came to me to this day. But
you are not in favour with the Tyrants. So now turn back,
and go away peaceably, and do not give offence to the Tyrants of
the Philistines." David said to Achish, " But what have I
done ? What have you found in your servant from the day I
entered your service tiU now, that I may not come with you
and fight against the enemies of your majesty ? " Achish
answered, " °You° know that in my eyes you are good as the
Angel of God ! Only, the Philistine officers have said that you
must not go into battle with them. So now you wiU get up
early in the morning, you and the servants of your sovereign
who have come with you, ^and go to the place I have assigned
to you. Cherish no ill-will in your heart — for I esteem you
highly* — but just rise in the morning as soon as it is light, and
go away." So David and his men rose early in the morning,
to depart for the land of the Philistines ; while the Philistines
moved up to Jezreel.

^— ^ Lit. "be a Satan to us."
* — * Inserted from LXX, etc.

(3) David punishes the Amalekites jor the Sack of Ziklag{x.xx.).

By the time David and his men reached Ziklag on the third
day, the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negcb [and Ziklag],
and had sacked Ziklag and burned it. They had made captives
of the women ^and all' who were in it, young and old, not killing
any of them, but carrying them off when they departed. So
David and his men came to the city, only to find it burned to
the ground, and their wives, sons and daughters carried into
captivity ; and they broke into loud lamentations, and wept
till they could weep no more. [David's two wives had been
taken captive — Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of
Nabal the Carmelite.] David now found himself in a very
difficult position ; for his followers spoke of stoning him, in
the bitterness of their grief for their sons and daughters. But
David kept his courageous trust in Yahweh his God ; and said
to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, '* Bring the ephod*
to me here ! " When Abiathar had done so, David put the
question to Yahweh, " Shall I pursue this horde ? Can I
overtake them f " Yahweh answered, " Pursue them ; for
you will certainly overtake them and recover your property."

So David set out with the 600 men he had, and came to the
watercourse of Besor ° °. Thence he continued the
pursuit with 400 men, leaving behind [200 who were too
exhausted to cross the watercourse. Then they found an
Egyptian lying on the plain and brought him to David. They
gave him some bread and water and a piece of fig-cake 3and two
bunches of raisins^ ; and when he had eaten he revived ; for he
had been without food or water for three days and three nights.
David then asked him, " To whom do you belong, and where
do you come from .? " and he answered, " I am an Egyptian
youth, the slave of an Amalekite, and my master abandoned me
because I was taken ill three days ago. We had made an
incursion into the Negeb of the Crethi [and that which belongs
to Judah], and the Negeb of the Calebites ; and we burned down
Ziklag." David said to him, " Will you guide me to these
robbers ? " He answered, " If you will swear to me by God

I— I So LXX.

* See p. 13.

3—3 Omitted in LXX.

that you will neither kill me nor give me up to my master, I
will guide you to them."

When he had guided him down to them, there they were,
spread over the whole country-side, eating and drinking and
merrymaking, on account of the huge spoil they had taken from
the land of the Phihstines and Judah. So David routed them
from dawn to evening, °and put them to the ban° ; so that
none escaped except 400 young men who were mounted on
camels and fled. Thus David recovered all that the Amalekites
had taken [also he recovered his two wives] ; and nothing was
missing whether of the spoil or the sons and daughters, or
anything they had taken — it was all brought back by David.
°They° took all the sheep and cattle, ^and drove them before
him,^ crying, " This is David's booty."

When David returned to the 200 men who had been left
behind at the watercourse of Besor because they were too
exhausted to follow him, they came out to meet David and his
company, and ^as they drew near the army they saluted them.^
But all the ill-disposed and worthless men among those who
had gone with David spoke up and said, " Since these men did
not go with us we will not give them any of the spoil we have
recovered, except to each his wife and children ; let them take
these and go ! " But David said, " You shall not act so, 3after3
Yahweh has given us so much, and preserved us, and delivered
into our hand the horde that attacked us. Who would agree
with you in this ? No ! The share of him who goes into
battle shall be the same as his who remains to guard the baggage :
they shall divide equally ! " And so it has been ever since :
he made it law and custom in Israel to this day.

When David came to Ziklag he sent part of the spoil to the
elders of Judah °and° to his friends, with the message, " A
present for you from the spoil of Yahweh's enemies 1 " He
did so to those in ^Bethuel,^ in °Ramah° of the Negeb, in Jattir,

^ — ^ MT " they drove them before those cattle."

2 — 2 So LXX partly ; MT " David drew near the people with a friendly
greeting."

3—3 LXX.

'J— 4 See I Chr. iv. 30 ; MT " Bethel."

in ^Arara' (?), in Siphemoth, in Eshtemoa, in *Carmel,^ in the
cities of the Jerahmeehtes and Kenites, in Hormah, in Bor-ashan,
in Athach, and in Hebron — and to all the places where David
and his men had sojourned.

(4) Siiul and the Witch of Endor (xxviii. 3-25).

This passage interrupts the natural connection between
xxviii. 2 and xxix. i ; and must be derived from a different
source.

By this time Samuel had died ; all Israel had gone into
mourning for him, and had buried him in his city of Ramah.
[Saul, moreover, had suppressed the necromancers and
soothsayers throughout the land.p

The Philistines now assembled their forces and entered
the land, and encamped in Shunem ; while Saul called all
Israel together and pitched his camp on Gilboa, But
when Saul saw the camp of the Philistines his heart trembled
with fear. He tried to consult Yahweh, but Yahweh gave
him no answer, either by dream or by priestly oracle, or
by prophet. Saul then commanded his servants to seek
out a woman who could conjure up the dead, that he might
go and consult her. His servants said to him, " There is
such a woman at Endor."

Saul then, having disguised himself and put on other
clothes, set out with two attendants, and came to the
woman by night, and said to her, " Conjure for me by
your ghost, and bring up some one whom I shall name."
But the woman answered, " Surely you know what Saul
has done — how he has hunted down the necromancers and
soothsayers in the land ! Why do you lay a trap for me, to
bring about my death ? " Saul then swore to her : " As
Yahweh lives, there shall no punishment fall on you in
this case." The woman then asked, " Whom do you wish
me to call up ? " and Saul answered, " Call me up Samuel."
But when the woman saw '^Samueh she screamed out and

^ — ^ See Josh. xv. 22.

2—2 So LXX ; MT " Rachal.

3 Perhaps added by an editor in view of v. 9.

4—4 Some read " Saul," with a few MSS of LXX.

said to Saul, " Why have you deceived me, when you are
Saul himself ? " The king answered, " Do not be afraid !
What have you seen ? " She said, " I saw a spirit^ rising
out of the earth." " What is he Hke ? " " It is an old
man coming up, wrapped in a mantle." Then Saul knew
that it was Samuel, and bowed with his face to the ground
in reverence.

Samuel said, addressing Saul, *' Why have you disturbed
me by calling me up ? " Saul replied, " I am in sore
distress ! The Philistines are attacking me ; God has
thrown me off, and no longer answers me, either by
prophet or by dream. Therefore I have called you, hoping
you would show me what I should do." . Samuel said,
" But why do you ask me, when Yahweh has forsaken you
and become your °enemy° ? Yahweh has done to °you°
what he threatened through me : he has torn the kingdom
from you and given it to another, to David. Because you
disobeyed the command of Yahweh, and failed to execute
his fierce wrath on Amalek, therefore has Yahweh done
this to you to-day. [And Yahweh will deliver Israel
also, as well as you, into the hand of the Philistines ; and]
To-morrow you and your sons will be with me ; Yahweh
will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the
Philistines." At this Saul, ^in utter despair,^ fell full
length on the ground, completely terrified by the words
of Samuel ; and indeed he had no strength in him, for he
had eaten nothing all that day and all night.

Then the woman approached Saul, and seeing that he
was quite unmanned, she said to him : " Listen ! Your
handmaid has complied with your request : I have risked
my life in obeying the command you laid upon me ; now
do you be prevailed on by me, and let me tempt you with
a morsel of food, that you may eat, and have strength to
resume your journey." But he refused and said, " I will
not eat." But when urged by his servants, as well as the
woman, he yielded to their persuasion, and rose from the
ground, and seated himself on the bed. Now the woman

^ Lit. " a god."

2—2 LXX ; MT " hastily."

Had a stall-fed calf in the house, and she hastily killed it ;
then she got some meal and kneaded it, and baked unleavened
cakes. This she set before Saul and his attendants ; and
after they had eaten they rose and went their way the same
night.

(5) Saul's Last Battle (xxxi.).

Meanwhile^ the Philistines °had joined® battle with Israel ;
the Israelites had been put to flight by the Philistines ; and
the slain lay thick on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines pressed
hard on Saul and his sons ; they killed Jonathan, Abinadab,
and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. Fiercely the battle raged
against Saul, till the archers ° ° found him, and %e was
wounded in the abdomen.^ Then Saul said to his armour-
bearer, " Draw your sword and run me through with it, lest
these uncircumcised dogs come °and° make sport of me." But
the armour-bearer was too much afraid to do it, and refused ;
so Saul took his own sword and threw himself upon it. When
the armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also threw himself
on his sword, and died by his side. Thus died Saul and his
three sons and his armour-bearer 3 3 together on the same
day. And when the Israelites ^in the cities'* of the valley (of
Jezreel), and *in those"* on the Jordan saw that the army of
Israel had fled, and Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook
the cities and fled ; and the Philistines came and occupied
them.

On the morrow the Philistines came to strip the slain, and
found Saul and his three sons lying on Mount Gilboa. They
cut off his head and stripped off his armour ; and sent them
round the Philistine territory, to carry the good news to 5 5
their idols and their people. They put Saul's armour in the
temple of Astarte ; and his body they °hung° on the wall of
Bethshean.

But when the citizens of Jabesh in Gilead heard what the
Philistines had done to Saul, they arose, every fighting man of

' Referring back to ch. xxx.

^ — ^ So LXX ; MT " he was in anguish from the archers."

3—3 MT " also all his men " ; not in LXX.

+ — ♦ MT " on the other side " (twice) ; omitted in i Chron. x. 7).

■^ — 5 So LXX, etc. (see i Chron. x. 9) ; MT inserts " the temple of."

them, and after marching all night they took down the bodies ot
Saul and his sons from the wall of Bethshean, and ^brought
them^ to Jabesh ; ^and burned them there.^ Then they took
their bones and buried them under the tamarisk-tree^ in Jabesh ;
and fasted seven days.

(6) How David received the Tidings oJSauVs Death (2 Sam. i. 1-16).

In these verses two narratives seem to he mixed up, of which
thefirst{invv. 1-4, 11, 12) gives an account of the battle quite
consistent with the preceding chapter. The second gives an
entirely different account of SauPs death {vv. 6-10), {agreeing,
however, with 2 Sam. iv. 9, 10) ; and as there is no hint
that the story told by the Amalekite is a lie, we must suppose
that it embodies another tradition regarding the manner of
SauVs death. We may divide them as follows : —

A. i. {vv. 1-4 ; II, 12).

On the third day after Saul's death, when David had returned
from his defeat of the Amalekites, and had spent two days in
Ziklag, there came a man from the camp [from Saul], with his
clothes torn and earth on his head. When he came to David,
he threw himself on the ground and did homage to him. David
said to him, " Where have you come from ? " and he answered,
" I am a fugitive from the camp of Israel." " How have things
gone ? " asked David, " Tell me, pray." He said, " Our
people have fled from the battle-field ; many of the soldiers
have fallen ; Saul also and his son Jonathan are dead." Then
David took hold of his clothes and tore them, as did all the men
that were with him. And they wailed and wept and fasted till
the evening, for Saul and his son Jonathan, and the people of
Yahweh * ^ because they had fallen by the sword.

B. ii. {:uv. 5-10; 13-16).

# # # * j)^yi(j g^i(j ^Q ^}^e young man who had brought
the news, " How do you know that Saul and his son
Jonathan are dead ? " The youth replied, " By mere

I— I So I Chron. x. 12 ; LXX, etc.

2 — 2 Omitted in i Chr. x. Some would read " and wailed for them there."

3 I Chr. X. 12 " terebinth."

MT adds " and the house of Israel."

'chance I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and there I
found Saul leaning on his spear, while the chariots and
" ° horsemen pressed closely on him. Turning round
and seeing me, he called me ; and I answered, 'What is
it f ' He then asked me who I was, and I said, ' I am
an Amalekite.' Then he said, ' Stand over me, and kill
me outright ; for the death-throes are on me, although
my soul is still whole within me.' So I stood over him
and despatched him ; for I knew that he could not survive
his fall. And I took the diadem from his head, and the
armlet from his arm, and have brought them here to my
lord.'"

David then asked the young man who had brought the
news, " Where do you come from ? " to which he answered,
" I am an Amalekite — the son of a protected guest." Said
David, " What ? Were you not afraid to raise your hand
to slay the anointed of Yahweh ? " Then, calling on one
of his soldiers, he said, " Here ! Strike him down ! " So
the soldier struck him dead. David said to him, "Your
blood be on your own head ; for your own mouth gave
evidence against you when you said, ' It was I who killed
the anointed of Yahweh.' "

(7) David's Lament over Saul and Jonathan (i. 17-27).

David composed the following elegy on Saul and his son
Jonathan — [it is contained in the Book of Jashar, that the
sons of Judah might learn it].^ He said : —

°Alas° for thy chivalry, Israel !

On thy heights it lies slain.
How are the heroes fallen

2 In the thick of the battle 1^

Make it not known in Gath,

Nor tell it in Ashkelon's streets ;
Lest Philistia's daughters rejoice —

The girls of the heathen 3 make merry !

^ Transposing the order of clauses, and (with LXX) omitting the word
" bow."

^ — ^ A line added from v. 25.

3 Strictly " uncircumcised."

Ye hills of Gilboa ! Nor dew descend,

Nor rain fall on you, ye fields of death !^

For there was the heroes' shield defiled — ^
3The weapons of one anointed^ with oil —

With the blood of the slain, the fat of the mighty!

Bow of Jonathan ne'er turned back,

Nor sword of Saul came empty home.

Saul and Jonathan ! The loved and the lovely !
In death, as in life, unsevered :

Than eagles more swift, than lions more strong !

Ye daughters of Israel ! Weep for Saul,

Who clothed you in purple and °silk° ;
Who braided your raiment with gold.

How are the heroes fallen

In the thick of the fight !
^Jonathan on thy heights is slain !'^

I am grieved for thee, O Jonathan, brother !

Right dear wert thou to me.
Thy love to me was wonderful.

More than the love of woman.

How are the heroes fallen, —

Perished the weapons of war !

^ — ^ Or, " ye fields of deceit " ; both being emendation! of MT.

»— 2 MT adds " the shield of Saul."

3 — 3 MT has a negative particle (a difference of one letter), i.e., "of one
not anointed."

4 — 4 Text uncertain. Luc, etc., read "Jonathan, thou art wounded to
death " ; which might easily be emended to " Jonathan, I grieve for thy
death," — -a possible variant of the next line.

III. DAVID.

(2 Sam. ii.-xxiv.)

I. David as King of Judah (ii. i-v. 5).

(i) His Anointing in Hebron (ii. 1-7).

After this David inquired of Yahweh : " Shall I go up into one
of the cities of Judah ? " Yahweh's response being favourable,
David asked, " To which city ? " and the answer was " To
Hebron." To Hebron accordingly David went up, with his
two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal
the Carmelite. The men of his company he brought up also,
each with his family ; and they settled in the cities round
Hebron. Then the men of Judah came and anointed David
there as king over the house of Judah.

On hearing that the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead had buried
Saul, David sent envoys to the rulers^ of that city with this
message : " The blessing of Yahweh be on you for this gracious
service you have rendered to your master Saul by burying him !
May Yahweh show you constant favour ; and I on my part
will requite you with benefits °for° having done this thing.
Now then, take courage, and be brave men ; though your master
Saul is dead, the house of Judah have anointed me as king over
them."

(2) The Contest between David and, Eshbaal (ii. 8-iv. 12).

{a) ii. 8-11. Eshbaal crowned at Mahanaim.

Now Abner the son of Ner, Saul's commander-in-chief, had
taken Eshbaal,^ Saul's son, and brought him over to Mahanaim,
where he made him king over Gilead and Asher,^ Jezreel,
Ephraim and Benjamin : that is to say over all Israel ; * ♦
only the house of Judah acknowledged David. 5 5

I LXX; MT "men."

* MT " Ishbosheth " ; and so throughout. The original name is preserved
in I Chr. viii. 39. For the word Baal, on account of its heathenish associa-
tions, the scribes substituted a word meaning " shameful thing."

3 MT " the Ashurites."

4 — ♦ V. \oa : " Forty years old was Eshbaal, Saul's son, when he became
King over Israel ; and he reigned two years."

5 — 5 y. II : "The time that David reigned over the house of Judah in
Hebron was seven years and six months."

{b) ii. l2-iii. i. 7hg Battle of Giheon.

Then Abner the son of Ner set out from Mahanaim with the
soldiers of Eshbaal, Saul's son, °and came° to Gibeon ; while
Joab the son of Zeruiah with David's men marched out ^from
Hebron/ The two armies met at the pool of Gibeon ° ° and
halted, one on this side of the pool and the other on that.
Said Abner to Joab, " Let the lads stand up, and show us some
warlike sport." " Agreed ! " said Joab. So there stood up
and were told off by number twelve from Benjamin, belonging
to Eshbaal the son of Saul, and twelve of David's men. Then
each man seized his opponent by the hair of his head ^ith one
hand,^ and with the other plunged his sword in his opponent's
side, so that they fell dead together. Hence that place was
named " The field of Sides3 " (?), which is at Gibeon.

In the fierce battle that ensued that day, Abner and the
men of Israel were worsted by David's soldiers. Now there
were three sons of Zeruiah, Joab, Abishai and Asahel ; and
Asahel was fleet-footed as any gazelle in the wilds. Asahel,
then, pursued Abner, never swerving from his track to right
or left. So Abner turned round and said, " Are you Asahel ? "
He answered, " I am." Abner then said, " Turn off to the
right or left, and seize one of the fighting men, and take his
arms." But Asahel would not give up the pursuit. Again
Abner spoke to him, " Leave off following me ; else I will
strike you to the ground ; and how could I then look your
brother Joab in the face ,? " As he still refused to draw off,
Abner dealt him °a backward stroke° through the abdomen, so
that the spear came out behind ; and Asahel fell and died on
the spot. [And all who came up to the place where Asahel
had fallen and died stood still,]

Joab and Abishai now took up the pursuit of Abner. But
at sunset, as they reached the hill of Ammah, on the east ° °
of the road in the wilderness of Geba"*, the Benjamites closed
in behind Abner, forming a solid body, and halted on the top of

^ — ^ Inserted with Luc, etc.
2—2 Added with LXX.

3 An uncertain word. MT "of rocks" (or "flints").

4 MT " Gibeon."

'the hill of Ammah.'' Thence Abner called to Joab, " Must
the sword devour for ever f Do you not know that the
after-taste will be bitter f Will you not at last call off the
people from pursuing their brothers ? " Joab answered, " As
Yahweh* lives, but for this word of yours, morning should have
dawned before the people had desisted from the pursuit of
their brothers." So Joab then blew a trumpet, and his whole
army halted, and did not pursue the Israelites further, or renew
the fight. But Abner and his men marched through the
Jordan-valley all that night, crossing the Jordan and traversing
the whole length of -"^the Gorge\ till they reached Mahanaim.
And Joab, having abandoned the pursuit of Abner, gathered
his forces together, when it was found that of David's soldiers
nineteen men were missing, besides Asahel ; while they had
slain of the Benjamites and the people of Abner 360 men.
° ° Then, taking up the body of Asahel (which they
afterwards buried in his father's grave at Bethlehem), Joab and
his men marched the whole night, and entered Hebron just as
morning broke.

But the war between Saul's house and ° ° David lasted
a long time ; David growing constantly stronger, and Saul's
house weaker. "^ *

Now during the war between the house of Saul and the house of
David, Abner was constantly gaining influence in the house of
Saul. But there was a former concubine of Saul's, named Rizpah,
the daughter of Aiah ; and with reference to her, Eshbaal^ said to
Abner, "What do you mean by cohabiting with my father's
concubine ? " Abner was greatly incensed by this question of
Eshbaal's,and retorted, "Am I then a dog's head [of Judah]^ ? — I
who this day am showing my good-will to the house of Saul, and to
his relatives and friends, and have kept you from falling into the

' — ^ MT " a certain hill " (perhaps rightly).
* So LXX, etc. MT " God."
3 — 3 " Bithron " — found only here.
^ — ♦ Vv. 2-5, on p. 87.

5 LXX, etc.

6 Not in LXX.

hand of David ? You would rake up against me a scandal
about a woman at this time of day ! May God do his worst
to Abner if I do not bring about for David ^this day^ what
Yahweh has sworn to him — to transfer the kingdom from the
house of Saul, and establish the throne of David over Israel
and Judah from Dan to Beersheba ! " Eshbaal dared not say
another word to Abner ; so much did he fear him.

{d) iii. 12-21. Negotiations between Abner and David.

Abner sent messengers forthwith to David ^at Hebron^ to
say, [" Whose is the land ? " saying] " Make an agreement with
me, and my influence is at your disposal to bring all Israel round
to you." David answered, " Very good ! I will make an
agreement with you ; only, one condition I impose on you :
you shall not see my face unless 3you bring3 Michal, Saul's
daughter, with you when you come to see me." At the same
time David sent messengers to Eshbaal, Saul's son, to say,
" Give up my wife Michal, whom I betrothed at the price of
a hundred Philistine foreskins." So Eshbaal sent and took
her from °her° husband Paltiel, the son of Laish. Her husband
accompanied her as far as Bahurim, weeping all the way ; but
there Abner ordered him back, and he returned.

Meanwhile Abner had conferred with the elders of Israel,
and put the situation before them thus : " For a long time
back you have been desirous of having David as king over you.
Now then, carry it out ; for Yahweh has given this promise
to David, ' By my servant David °I° will deliver my people
Israel from the Philistines and from all their enemies.' " He
also spoke in the same sense to the Benjamites. Finally, he
set out for Hebron to acquaint David personally with the wish
of the Israelites and of the whole house of Benjamin. So
Abner came to David at Hebron, accompanied by twenty men ;
and David made a banquet for them. At the close Abner
said to David, " I will now set about gathering all Israel to
my lord the king. They will enter into a covenant with you ;
and you shall reign as widely as your heart could wish." David
then dismissed Abner, and he departed in safety.

I— ^ LXX.

^ — ^ So Luc. MT "instead of him," or " where he was,"

3—3 LXX.

(^) iii. 22-39. '^^^ Death of Abner.

Just then David's men under Joab came in from a foray,
bringing much spoil with them. Abner was no longer with
David in Hebron, but had been dismissed by David, and had
gone away safely. So when Joab and the troop that was with
him came in, Joab was told that Abner the son of Ner had been
to the king, who had let him go unharmed. Joab went straight
to the king and said, " What is this you have done ? Abner
has come to you, has he ? Why have you let him get ^safely
away ? Do you not^ know Abner the son of Ner — that he only
came to deceive you, to find out your going and coming, and
spy out all you are doing .? "

Joab then went out from David's presence, and sent messengers
after Abner, and brought him back from the ^cistern of Sirah^,
without David's knowledge. So Abner came back to Hebron,
and Joab led him apart to the side^ of the gateway, as if to
speak with him quietly ; and there he stabbed him fatally in the
abdomen, in revenge for the blood of his brother Asahel. When
David heard of this afterwards he exclaimed, " I and my kingdom
are for ever guiltless before Yahweh of the blood of Abner, the
son of Ner. May it recoil on the head of Joab, and all his
father's house ! May there never fail from Joab's house one
that suffers from flux or leprosy, or cleans on a crutch*, or falls
by the sword, or is in want of bread ! " [Joab and Abishai
5had lain in wait for^ Abner, because he had slain Asahel their
brother, in the battle at Gibeon.]

David then commanded Joab and all the people about him
to tear their clothes and put on sackcloth, and wail before
Abner ; while king David himself walked behind the bier.
Thus they buried Abner in Hebron, the king weeping aloud over
his grave ; and all the people wept likewise. The king chanted
the funeral dirge for Abner, as follows :

^-i So LXX.

2—2 Or Bor-Sirah.

3 LXX ; MT " middle."

*— 4 LXX; MT "holds the distaff" (?).

5—5 LXX ; MT " killed."

Should Abner have died the death of a fool ?

Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put in fetters !

As one falls before knaves thou'rt fallen !

And again the whole assembly wept. And when all the people
came to urge David to eat in the daytime, David swore, " May
God punish me if before sundown I taste bread or food of any
kind ! " When all the people took note of this they were
pleased ; indeed, all that the king had done made a good
impression on the people. For thus [all the people and] all
Israel understood that day that it was not with the king's will
that Abner, the son of Ner, had met his death. To his courtiers,
moreover, the king said, " Know you that ^a great chieftain^
in Israel has fallen to-day ? And I, though an anointed king,
am broken-hearted this day ; but these men, the sons of Zeruiah,
are too cruel for me. May Yahweh requite him who has
committed the crime as his crime deserves ! "

(/) iv. The Assassination of Eshbaal.

When °Eshbaal° the son of Saul heard of Abner's death in
Hebron, he lost all courage, and all Israel was dismayed. Now
°Eshbaal° had two men who were leaders of guerilla-bands ;
one named Baanah, and the other Rechab, both sons of Rimmon
of Beeroth, of the Benjamites. (For Beeroth used to be reckoned
as Benjamite ; but the Beerothites fled to Girtaim, where they
have dwelt as protected guests to this day. ^ ^) These sons
of Rimmon of Beeroth, then, Rechab and Baanah, came to
Eshbaal's house at the hottest time of the day, when he was
taking his noontide siesta. 3And finding that the woman who
kept the gate of the house (who had been sifting wheat) had
fallen fast asleep over her task,'' Rechab and Baanah his brother
slipped past, and entered the house where Eshbaal lay asleep
on his bed in the bedchamber. So they attacked and killed him,
and cut off his head, and took it with them. Then, travelling
all night by the way of the Jordan-valley, they brought
Eshbaal's head to David at Hebron, and said to the king, " Here
is the head of Eshbaal, Saul's son, your enemy who sought your

^— ^ So LXX.

* — ^ V. 4 out of place here, probably belongs to ch. ix. See p. 95.
3 — 3 So LXX ; MT givci no sense.

life ; Yahweh has wrought vengeance for my lord the king
this day on Saul and his offspring." But David answered
Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon of Beeroth,
" As Yahweh lives, who has saved my life from every danger,
when a man announced to me that Saul was dead, thinking
that he brought me welcome tidings, I seized and slew him in
Ziklag, as my reward for his good news ! How, then, should I
act when ruthless men have murdered an honest man in his
own house on his bed ? Should I not require his blood at
your hands, and destroy you from the earth ? " David then
gave the order to his men, who slew them, cut off their hands
and feet, and hung them up by the pool in Hebron. But the
head of Eshbaal they took and buried in Abner's grave in
Hebron.

(3) David anointed King of Israel (v. 1-5).

Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and
said, " Look ! We are of your bone and flesh. Long ago,
when Saul was our king, it was you who used to lead out Israel
to battle and bring it home again. And Yahweh has given you
this promise, ' It is you who shall shepherd my people Israel,
and you who shall be prince over Israel.' " So all the elders
of Israel came to the king at Hebron ; and king David made a
covenant with them before Yahweh. Then they anointed
David king of Israel.

[David was thirty years old at his accession, and reigned
forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven
years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-
three years over both Israel and Judah.]

A list of David's sons born in Hebron (iii. 2-5). The
following sons were born to David in Hebron : his firstborn
Amnon, to Ahinoam of Jezreel ; his second Chileab, to
Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite; the third
Absalom, son of Maachah, daughter of Talmai the king of
Geshur ; the fourth Adonijah, son of Haggith ; the fifth
Shephatiah, son of Abital ; and the sixth Jithream, to Eglah,
wife of * * *^ (.?). These were born to David in Hebron.

^ ATT inserts " David " 5 but it is probable that the name of a former
husband of Eglah stood here originally.

2. David as King of all Israel (v. 6-viii. 17).

(i) David captures Jerusalem and makes it his Residence
(v. 6-12).

The king then marched with his men to Jerusalem against
the Jebusites, the native inhabitants of the land. Some one
said to David, " You cannot get in there ^except you remove
the blind and the lame^ (?) " ; meaning, " David cannot get
in there ! " Nevertheless David captured the fort of Zion
[which became the city of David]. On that day David said,
" Everyone who smites a Jebusite 2 » # # » 2 ^^^ ^j^g j^j^g
and the blind, who are heartily hated by David." Hence the
maxim that no blind man or cripple may enter the house of
Yahweh. David then took up his residence in the citadel,
and named it the " City of David," building 3the city^ proper
round it from the Millo inwards (?). David's power steadily
increased, and Yahweh, God of Zebaoth, was with him. Hiram,
the king of Tyre, sent ambassadors to David, and along with
them cedar-wood, carpenters, and stone-masons'^ ; and they
built a palace for David. Thus David perceived that Yahweh
had confirmed his kingship over Israel, and had exalted his
realm for his people Israel's sake.

David^s sons born in Jerusalem (v. 13-16). David took
other concubines and wives in Jerusalem after he had come
thither from Hebron, and had sons and daughters born to
him. The names of the sons born to him in Jerusalem are
these : Shammua, Shohab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar,
Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

(2) Victories over the Philistines (v. 17-25).

When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed
king over °air Israel, they came up in full force to seize David ;
and David, hearing of this, went down to the fastness. When
the Philistines came, they spread themselves over the plain of

^ ' Or, " but the blind and the lame will remove you." Neither rendering
givei an intelligible sense.

* * The omitted words are utterly obscure, and the whole context presents
insoluble difficulties.

3—3 So LXX, and i Chr. xi. 8 ; MT " David."

^ MT here inserts the word "wall " (not in LXX). Sec i Chr. xiv. i.

Rephaim ; and David inquired of Yahweli, " Sliall I advance
against the Philistines ? Wilt thou deliver them into my
hand ? " Yahweh answered, " Yes ! I will certainly deliver
the Philistines into your hand." So David came to BaaK
Perazim, and defeated them there. Then he exclaimed,
*' Yahweh has burst through my enemies before me, like the
bursting of water through a dam " ; hence the place is called
Baal-Perazim (= " Lord of Burstings "). There, too, the
Philistines left their idols, ^ which David and his men carried off.
Once again the Philistines came up, and spread themselves
over the plain of Rephaim. But when David inquired of
Yahweh as before, the answer was, " Do not ^attack them in
front*, but make a circuit to their rear, and attack them opposite
the balsam-trees. When you hear a sound of marching in the
tops of the balsam-trees, then charge quickly ; for Yahweh
will have gone forth before you to make havoc in the camp of
the Philistines." David acted in accordance with these
instructions of Yahweh, and routed the Philistines from Gibeon^
to near Gezer.

(3) The Removal of the Ark to Jerusalem (vi.).

David [again] °assembled° all the fighting men of Israel, to
the number of 30,000 ; and he and all his people set out °for°
Baalah in Judah, in order to bring up thence the ark of God,
which bears the name of Yahweh Zebaoth, who sits enthroned
upon the cherubim. Setting the ark of God on a new cart,
they bore it from the house of Abinadab on the hill. Uzza
and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, guided the cart, ^Uzza walking^
beside the ark, while Ahio went in front of it. David and all
the house of Israel were dancing before Yahweh with all ^their
might, and singing^ to the accompaniment of guitars, harps,
tambourines, bells (.?) and cymbals. But when they reached

' LXX and i Chr. xiv, 12, " gods."

* — * Inserting a word with LXX.

3 So LXX and i Chr. xiv. 16 ; MT " Geba."

* — * These two words have been displaced in MT by a senseless repetition
which is not in LXX.

5 — 5 So I Chr. xiii. 8 ; MT " cypms-trees."

the threshing-floor of Nachon/ Uzza put out %is hand^ and
took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen were restive. 3
Then Yahweh's wrath was kindled against Uzza ; and there
God smote him ^for laying his hand on the aik'^ ; and he died
on the spot beside the ark of God. David was °greatly
troubled® because of Yahweh's outbreak on Uzza, and he called
the place Perez-Uzza (=" Outbreak on Uzza ") — the name it
bears to this day. Such fear of Yahweh fell on David that day
that he said, " How can the ark of Yahweh come to me ? "
So, being unwilling to remove the ark of Yahweh into the city
of David, he left it in the house of Obed-Edom of Gath. Thus
the ark of Yahweh remained for three months in the house of
Obed-Edom of Gath, and Yahweh blessed Obed-Edom and all
his family.

When king David heard that Yahweh had blessed the
household and all the possessions of Obed-Edom for the sake of
the ark of God, he went and brought up the ark from the house
of Obed-Edom to David's city amid great rejoicings. When
the bearers of the ark had advanced six paces, he sacrificed an
ox and a fattened calf. David kept dancing before Yahweh
round and round, with all his might, clad only inalinenephod.5
Thus David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of
Yahweh, with shouting and blowing of trumpets. And as the
ark of Yahweh entered the city of David, Michal, Saul's daughter,
looking from the window, saw king David leaping and dancing
around before Yahweh, and secretly despised him. After they
had brought in the ark of Yahweh, and set it in its place in the
tent which David had prepared for it, David offered burnt-
offerings and peace-offerings before Yahweh ; and having
finished offering them he blessed the people in the name of
Yahweh Zebaoth. Afterwards he distributed to all the people
— to the whole multitude of Israel, men and women — to each
a cake of bread, a * * * (?), and a raisin-cake. Then all the
people went to their homes.

^ I Chr. xiii. 9 " Chldon."
* — ^ So Chron. and versions.
3 Meaning uncertain.
* — ♦ So I Chr. xiii. 10.
5 See p. 13.

When David came home to greet his family, Michal, Saul's
dauglitcr, came out to meet him with this for welcome : " Much
honour has the king of Israel gained to-day, exposing himself
before the slave-girls of his subjects, as any vulgar fellow might
expose himself ! " To this David answered, " 'I will dance^
before Yahweh, who chose me in preference to your father,
and all his house, by appointing me leader of Yahweh's people
Israel. And I will play before Yahweh ; and although I demean
myself still further, and become utterly contemptible in your^
eyes, yet by the slave-girls of whom you speak I shall be held
in honour." And Michal, Saul's daughter, had no child to
the day of her death.

(4) David^s Wish to build a Temple (vii.).

Now after the king had taken up his abode in his palace, 3when
Yahweh had given him rest from his enemies on every side,3
he said one day to Nathan the prophet, " Here am I sitting in a
cedar palace, while the ark of God remains under tent-curtains ! "
Nathan answered, " Carry out what you have in your mind ;
for Yahweh is with you."

But that night Yahweh's word came to Nathan as follows :
" Go and say to my servant David, ' Thus speaks Yahweh : Is
it for you to build a house for me to dwell in ? Nay ! I have
not dwelt in any house from the time when I brought up the
sons of Israel from Egypt to this day, but have moved about in
tent and tabernacle. Have I ever, in aU my wanderings among
the Israelites, spoken to any of the Judges'* of Israel whom I
appointed to shepherd my people° °, a word like this:

' Why have you not built me a house of cedar ? ' "

" 5Now, therefore, this is the word you must speak to my
servant David : Thus says Yahweh Zebaoth : ' I took you
from the pastures where you followed the flock to make
you leader of my people Israel. I have been with you in

' ^ Inserted from Luc.

2 LXX ; MT " my own."

3 3 These words are wanting in i Chr. xvii. i.

* So I Chr. xvii. 6 ; MT " tribes."

5 The remainder of the chapter bears marks of later style, and is probably
an expansion of the older narrative.

all that you have undertaken, and have cut off all your
enemies before you. I will make your name equal to that
of the greatest potentates on earth ; and will assign to my
people Israel a dwelling-place, planting it so that it shall
dwell there undisturbed, and no longer be oppressed by
cruel men as it has been ever since I appointed Judges over
my people Israel ; and will give °it° rest from all ^its°
enemies.' [And Yahweh ^will make you great ; for^ he
will build a house for you.] ' When your days are numbered
and you lie with your fathers, I will raise up your off-
spring, the issue of your body, after you, and establish their
kingdom. [He shall build a house for my name, and I
will confirm the throne of his kingdom for ever.p I will
be a father to them, and they shall be my sons, so that
when they transgress I will chastise them with humane
and lenient strokes ; but °I will not withdraw® my mercy
from them, as I did 3from your predecessor^ Saul. Your
house and kingdom shall be stedfast before me'^ for ever ;
your throne shall be established for all time.' " In accord-
ance with these words and this whole revelation, Nathan
spoke to David.

Then king David went in and seated himself before
Yahweh, and said : " Who am I, O Lord Yahweh, and
what is my house, that thou hast brought me thus far .?
And as if this were too little for thee. Lord Yahweh, thou
hast spoken even of thy servant's house in a distant future,
and hast ^let me see many generations of men 5, O Lord
Yahweh ! What more can David say to thee ? Thou
knowest thy servant, O Lord Yahweh ! For thy servant's^
sake hast thou acted according to thy mind, °in revealing
to thy servant all this greatness. ° Therefore art thou

^ — ^ A slight emendation ; MT " will tell you that."

* F. 13 is at least a parenthesis, and most likely a later insertion.

3 — 3 So I Chr. xvii. 13 ; MT "from Saul whom I removed from before
you."

* LXX, etc.; MT "you."

5 — 5 Emended partly after i Chr. xvii. 17; MT "this is the law for
men " (?).

^ LXX and i Chr. xvii. 19; MT "word's."

great, O °Lord Yahweh°, for there is none like thee, nor
is there a God besides thee, from all that our ears have
heard. And what other^ nation is there on earth like thy
people Israel, whom a God has gone forth to redeem as a
people for himself, and to make himself a name, by per-
forming for °them great° and terrible deeds, °driving out°
before °his° people ^ ^ another nation with its gods ?
And thou hast established Israel as thy people for ever ;
and thou, Yahweh, art become their God.

And now, °Lord Yahweh°, the promise which thou hast
made concerning thy servant and his house, do thou fulfil
for all time, and do as thou hast spoken. Then shall thy
name — ^Yahweh 2^baoth, God over Israel — be for ever
glorious ; and the house of thy servant David shall stand
before thee. For thou, Yahweh Zebaoth, God of Israel,
hast revealed to thy servant that thou wilt build him a
house ; wherefore thy servant has found courage to offer
this prayer unto thee.

Now, therefore, O Lord Yahweh, thou art God, and thy
words shall come true, and thou hast spoken concerning
thy servant this good thing. Be pleased now to bless thy
servant's house, that it may stand for ever before thee.
For thou. Lord Yahweh, hast spoken ; and through thy
blessing shall the house of thy servant be blessed for ever."

(5) Summary of David's Wars, and List of his Officials (viii.).

After this David defeated and subjugated the Philistines,
and wrested the supremacy3 from their hands. He also
defeated the Moabites ; and making the prisoners lie
down on the ground he measured them off with a line :
two-thirds of them to be put to death, and one full third
to be spared ; and Moab became subject and tributary to
David. Then he defeated Hadadezer, the son of Rehob,
king of Zobah, when he went to '^set up^^ his monument at
the River Euphrates. David captured 1,700 horsemen

^ LXX; MT "one."

^ — ^ MT adds " which thou hast redeemed for thyself from Egypt."
3 Lit. " the bridle of the mother-city."
LXX, etc.

from him and 20,000 footmen : he hamstrung all the
chariot horses, reserving only 100. And when the Arameans
of Damascus came to the help of Hadadezer, king of
Zobah, David killed 22,000 men of the Arameans. He
then appointed lieutenant-governors in Aram of Damascus ;
and the Arameans became tributary subjects of David.
Thus Yahweh gave victory to David wherever he went.

David took the golden shields which Hadadezer's men
had worn, and brought them to Jerusalem. From ^Tebah^
also and Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, king David obtained
a great quantity of bronze. And when Tou, the king of
Hamath, heard that David had routed the entire army of
Hadadezer, he sent Hadoram^ his son to king David to
salute him, and congratulate him on his victorious battle
with Hadadezer — for Hadadezer had been at war with
Tou — sending with him articles of silver, gold and bronze.
These also king David dedicated to Yahweh, along with
the silver and the gold which he had dedicated, taken from
all the nations he had conquered — from Edom^, Moab,
the Ammonites, the Philistines, the Amalekites, and from
the spoil of Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

Thus David made himself a famous name. °And° as he
returned from the defeat of the Arameans, ^he slew of the
Edomites'^ in the Salt -valley 18,000 men. He set up
lieutenant-governors in Edom, ° ° and all Edom became
subject to David. [Yahweh gave victory to David wherever
he went.]

So David reigned over all Israel, dispensing right and
justice to all his subjects. Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was
at the head of the army ; and Jehoshaphat, the son of
Ahilud, was the chancellor. ^Abiathar, the son of
Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, and Zadoks were priests ;
and Seraiah (?) was secretary of State. Benaiah, the son

I I Chr. xviii. 8 ; MT " Betah."
^ I Chr. xviii. 10; MT " Joram."
3 LXX, etc. ; MT " Aram."
^ — ♦ A necessary addition.

5- — 5 Rearranging clauses and emending after Syr.

of Jehoiada, was ^over^ the Crethi and Plethi.^ David's
sons were priests.

3. A History of David's Court (ix.-xx.).

These chapters form a continuous narrative {continued in
I Kings i., ii.) of the highest value both from a historical and a
literary point of view. The writer* s knowledge of David"* s
affairs is based on first-hand information^ and his graphic
pen enables us to follow the covrse of events with engrossing
interest.

(i) David and Meribaal (ix.).

" Is there no one left of Saul's house," said David one day,
" to whom I might show kindness for Jonathan's sake ? " Now
there was a servant of Saul's house named Ziba ; and him they
summoned before David. The king asked him, " Are you
Ziba ? " and he answered, " Your servant ! " Then the king
said, " Is there any man of Saul's house still living, to whom I
may show kindness in God's name ? " Ziba replied, " There is
still a son of Jonathan left, who is lame in both legs." 3This
son had been a child of five when the news of the death of Saul
and Jonathan came from Jezreel ; his nurse had taken him up
as she fled ; but in the hurry of her flight she let him fall, and
he was lamed. His name was Meribaal.'^-^ So the king asked
Ziba where he was, and Ziba said, " Why, he is in the house of
Machir, the son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar." King David sent
accordingly and fetched him from the house of Machir, the son
of Ammiel, in Lo-debar.

When Meribaal, the son of Jonathan, and grandson of Saul,
came to David, he fell on his face and did homage to him,
David said, " Meribaal ! " He answered, " Your servant is
before you." David said to him, "Do not be afraid ! I am to
treat you kindly for the sake of Jonathan your father, and give
you back all the estates of your grandfather Saul ; while you
yourself shall eat daily at my table." Meribaal bowed and said,

' — ^ So Versions and i Chr. xviii. 17.

^ Foreign mercenaries in David's service.

3 — 3 From iv. \b.

* MT " Mephibosheth " : and so throughout. See the note on
Eshbaal, p. 81. The original name in i Chr. viii. 34 ; ix. 40.

" What is your servant, that you should take notice of a dead
dog such as I am ? "

The king then called Ziba, Saul's steward, and said to him,
'* All that belonged to Saul and his whole family, I have given
to your master's son. You shall cultivate the fields for him,
along with your sons and slaves, and bring in the produce, so
that your master's family may have enough to eat. But
Meribaal, your master's son, shall eat regularly at my table." —
Ziba, by the way, had fifteen sons and twenty slaves. — Said
Ziba to the king, " Your servant will punctually carry out
your Majesty's order."

So Meribaal ate at ^the royal table^ as if he had been one
of the king's sons. He had a young son named Micah, and all
the inmates of Ziba's house were his slaves. [Thus Meribaal
lived in Jerusalem, eating regularly at the king's table ; he being
lame in both his legs.]

(2) War against the Ammonites and Arameans (x. i-xi. i).

Shortly after this the king of the Ammonites died, and was
succeeded by his son Hanun ; and David thought, " I will
make friendly advances to Hanun, the son of Nahash, in return
for the friendship which his father showed to me." So David
sent ambassadors to condole with Hanun on the loss of his
father. But when David's envoys came to the Ammonites'
country the Ammonite nobles said to Hanun their sovereign,
" Do you suppose that it is out of respect for your father that
David has sent messengers to condole with you ? No ! It is
to inspect the city and spy it out with a view to its overthrow
that he has sent his servants to you." Hanun then seized David's
servants, had half of their beards shaved off and the lower half
of their clothes cut away, and dismissed them. When David
was told of this outrage he sent to meet them — for the men were
overwhelmed with shame — with instructions to stay at Jericho
till their beards were grown, and then come home.

Meanwhile the Ammonites, knowing that they had incurred
David's deepest antipathy, sent and hired the Arameans of
Beth-Rehob, and of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers ; also the king of
Maachah with a thousand men, and from Tob 12,000 men. As
soon as David heard this he sent Joab with the whole army °and°

I— I So Luc. ; MT " my table."

the Guards^ against them. Then the Ammonites marched out
and drew up in battle order before the gate, while the Arameans
of Zobah and Rehob, the men of Tob and Maachah, formed a
separate army in the open field. Joab accordingly, seeing that
he was to be attacked both in front and from the rear, selected
the best of the fighting men of Israel, and drew up against the
Arameans. The rest of the people he placed under the
command of his brother Abishai, and posted them against the
Ammonites, saying, " If the Arameans are too strong for me,
you must lend me support ; but if the Ammonites are too strong
for you, then I will come to your help. Be of good courage,
and let us fight manfully for our people, and for the cities of
our God ! Then let Yahweh take the issue into his own hands ! "
Joab then advanced with his troops to join battle with the
Arameans, and put them to flight. And when the Ammonites
saw that the Arameans were fleeing, they also took to flight
before Abishai and re-entered the city. Joab, however,
abandoned the attack on the Ammonites and returned to
Jerusalem.

When the Arameans saw that they were beaten by the
Israelites, they rallied their forces ; and Hadadezer sent and
brought out the Arameans beyond the River (Euphrates).
They came to Helam, led by Shobach, Hadadezer's commander
in chief. This was reported to David, who mustered all Israel,
crossed the Jordan, and arrived at Helam. The Arameans drew
up against David, and joined battle with him, but were put to
flight before the Israelites ; and David slew 700 chariot -horses
and 40,000 ^men* of the Arameans, wounding Shobach their
commander, so that he died there. And when all the kings who
were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they were worsted by the
Israelites, they made peace with Israel, and became subject to
it, and the Arameans did not dare to give further assistance to
the Ammonites.

In the following year, at the season when °kings° usually take
the field,3 David sent out Joab with his soldiers and all Israel,

^ The Heb. word means " Heroes," but is used technically of the corps
d'elite which formed the standing nucleus of David's army.

^ — * MT "horsemen"; but i Chr. xix. 18 reads "footmen."

3 In the spring.

who laid waste the country of the Ammonites and laid siege
to Rabbah ; while David remained in Jerusalem.

(3) David and Bathsheba (xi. z-iyd).

It happened one evening that David, having risen from his
siesta, was walking on the roof of his palace, whence he caught
sight of a woman washing herself. The woman was very
beautiful ; and David learned on inquiry that she was Bathsheba,
the daughter of Eliam, married to Uriah the Hittite. David
then sent messengers to fetch her ; and when she came to him,
he slept with her ; she having just purified herself after her
uncleanness. Then she returned to her own house.

When the woman became pregnant she sent to inform David
of her condition. David forthwith despatched an order to
Joab to send him Uriah the Hittite ; and Joab did so. So
Uriah came, and David asked him how things went with Joab,
and the army, and the campaign. Then he said to Uriah,
" Go down to your house and wash your feet." But Uriah,
though he left the palace, followed by a present from the king,
slept at the palace door with ° ° his master's servants,
and did not go down to his house. When they told David that
Uriah had not gone down to his house, he said to him, " You
were just off a journey ; why did you not go to your house ? "
Uriah answered, " Israel and Judah, with the ark, are living in
tents ; my lord Joab and your majesty's servants are camping
on the bare ground ; how could I enter my house to eat and
drink and lie with my wife ? As °Yahweh° lives, and as you
live, that is a thing I cannot do ! " So David said, " Stay here
to-day, then ; and to-morrow I will let you go," and Uriah
stayed in Jerusalem that day. But the next morning David
invited him to eat and drink in his presence, and made him
drunk. And in the evening he went out and lay on his couch
with his master's servants ; but down to his house he did not

In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by
Uriah. This is what he wrote in the letter : " Set Uriah in
the front line where the fighting is fiercest ; then fall back from
him, so that he may be hit and killed." So Joab, examining
the city, assigned to Uriah a position where he knew that brave
men were stationed ; and when the men of the city made a

sally and fought with Joab, several of the people, David's soldiers,
fell ; and among the killed was Uriah the Hittite. Joab then
sent to David a full report of the battle ; and added the following
instruction to the messenger : " When you have finished giving
your account of the battle, if the king should get angry and
say, ' Why did you press the fighting so near the city ? Did
you not know that they would shoot from the wall ? Who
killed Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal^ ? Was it not a woman
who threw a millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in
Thebez ? Why did you venture so close to the wall ? ' — in that
case you will answer, ' Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead
also.' "

So the messenger departed, and came and told David all that
Joab had charged him to say, ^relating the whole course of the
battle. David was angry with Joab, and spoke to the messenger^
exactly as Joab had anticipated. The messenger answered,
" The enemy's men were too strong for us, and came out to meet
us in the open, ^and we were driven back no the opening of the
gate. There the archers shot at your servants from the wall
and several of your Majesty's servants — '^about eighteen men^ —
were killed ; and among the dead is your servant Uriah the
Hittite." David then said to the messenger, " Take this message
to Joab : ' Do not let this affair trouble you ; for the sword
cuts this way or that indiscriminately. Press vigorously your
assault on the city and destroy it.' Say this to encourage him."

When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she
chanted the funeral wail for him. But as soon as the funeral
rites were over, David sent and took her into his house ; and
she became his wife, and bore him a son.

(4) David and Nathan (xi. 27^-xii. 14).

But the thing that David had done displeased Yahweh ;
and he sent to David Nathan ^the prophet^. He went in to
him and said :

' MT " Jerubbesheth " ; see the note on Eshbaal, p. 81.
* — * These words are supplied from the LXX, which then repeats the
exact questions that Joab had prepared the messenger for,
3 — 3 Lit. " we were against (or upon) them " The expression is obscure.
^ — ♦ Luc. etc.
5—5 So LXX, etc.

" Two men lived in the same city, one'rich and the other
poor. The rich man had flocks and herds in abundance ; but
the poor man had nothing at all except one little ewe-lamb,
which he had bought and nourished. It grew up with him and
his children ; it shared bite and sup with him, and slept in his
bosom ; it was like a daughter to him. Well, there came one
on a visit to the rich man ; and because he grudged taking one
of his own sheep or oxen to kill for the traveller who had come
to him, he took the poor man's lamb, and prepared it for his
guest."

David's anger was roused against the man ; and he said to
Nathan, " As Yahweh lives, the man who has done this deserves
to die ! He must make ^seven-fold^ reparation for the lamb,
because he has done this thing, and showed no pity."

Nathan answered, " You are that man ! Thus speaks Yahweh,
the God of Israel ! ' I have anointed you king over Israel,
and delivered you out of the hand of Saul ; I have given you
the daughter^ of your master, and handed over his wives to
your embraces, and put the daughters^ of Israel and Judah at
your disposal. And if all this were not enough, I would confer
on you additional favours of the same kind.' Why then, have
you slighted ° ° Yahweh by doing what is abhorrent to
him .? Uriah the Hittite you have slain by the sword, and his
wife you have taken as your own, [and him you have murdered
by the sword of the Ammonites]. And now the sword shall
never cease from your house ; because you have slighted me
and taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite in marriage. This is
Yahweh's sentence : ' I will raise up trouble for you from your
own family, and take away your wives before your eyes and
give them to another, who will lie with them in the sight of
yonder sun. For whereas you have gone to work in secret, I
will carry out this threat before all Israel, and before the sun.' "

David then said to Nathan, " I have sinned against Yahweh."
Nathan answered, " Yahweh also on his part has forgiven your
sin : you shall not die. Nevertheless, seeing you have in this

I— I So LXX ; MT " fourfold."

2 MT " house."

3 So Syr. : MT " hou8e."

loo

matter set ^ ^ Yahweh at naught, the cliild that has been
born to you shall die."

(5) 7hg Death of the Child (xii. 15-25).

Nathan then went to his house ; and Yahweh struck down
the child whom Uriah's wife had borne to David with sickness.
Thereupon David sought God in the sanctuary on behalf of
the young child, fasting continuously, and going in and spending
the nights ^in sackcloth^ on the ground. And when the oldest
of his servants stood over him, and tried to make him rise from
the ground, he refused, and would not break bread with them.
On the seventh day the child died. The courtiers were afraid
to tell David that he was dead, for they said to one another,
" You saw how even while the child was alive he would not
listen to us when we spoke to him : we cannot mention the
death of the child, or he may do himself an injury." But David
noticed the courtiers whispering together, and, surmising that
the child was dead, he asked them if it were so : and they
answered " Yes ! " David then rose from the ground, washed
and anointed himself and changed his clothes, and went into
the house of Yahweh and prayed. Afterwards he entered the
palace and called for food, which was set before him, and he
partook of it. His courtiers, remarking on the strangeness of
his conduct, said, " °While° the child was °still° alive you fasted
and wept ; but no sooner is he dead than you rise and take
food ! " He answered, " As long as the child was alive, I
fasted and wept, because I thought, ' Who knows but Yahweh
will take pity on me, and spare the child's life ? ' But now
that he is dead why should I fast ? Should I be able to bring
him back again ? No ! I shall go to him, but he will never
return to me."

After this David consoled his wife Bathsheba, and renewed
conjugal intercourse with her. She bore a son whom he named
Solomon. And Yahweh loved him, and through Nathan the
prophet conferred on him the name Jedidiah^ in token of
Yahweh's °deHght in him.°

I — I ^I'p — «« (-jjg enemies of," taking the verb in a doubtful sense.

2—2 MT " and lay." The text varies in LXX.

[3 The name Jedidiah means " Yahweh's delight." — Ed.]

lOI

(6) The Capture of Rahbah (xii. 26-31).

Meanwhile Joab made an assault on Rabbah, the capital of
the Ammonites, and having taken the water'-city, he sent
messengers to David to say, " I have assaulted Rabbah, and
taken the water-city by storm. Now, then, gather the rest of
the people, and invest the city and capture it ; so that I may
not take it and have my name associated with its conquest."
So David assembled the whole of the people, marched to
Rabbah, and took it by assault. They took the crown from
the head of Milcom^ — it weighed 120 lbs. in gold, and contained^
a very costly gem — and David put it on his head ; and he carried
off much spoil from the city. "^Its population he brought out
and set °to forced labour° with saws and iron axes and picks ;
and made them work with brick-moulds.^ Having done the
same to all the Ammonite cities, David returned with all his
army to Jerusalem.

(7) Amnon and Thamar (xiii. 1-22).

It was after this that David's son Amnon fell in love with a
beautiful sister of Absalom, the son of David, whose name was
Thamar. So distracted was Amnon for his half-sister Thamar
that he made himself ill ; for she was a virgin, and it seemed to
Amnon very difficult to do anything to her. Now Amnon
had a friend named Jonadab, a son of Shimeah, David's brother.
This Jonadab, who was a very shrewd man, asked him, " How is
it, my dear prince, that I find you looking so poorly morning
after morning .? Will you not tell me ? " Amnon answered,
*' I am in love with Thamar, the sister of my brother
Absalom." Jonadab then advised him to take to his bed and
pretend to be sick, and when his father came to see him to say,
" Let my sister Thamar come and give me something to eat.
If she would prepare food in my presence, so that I could look
on, I would eat from her hand." Amnon accordingly kept his
bed, feigning sickness ; and the king visited him, when

* MT " royal " ; but see next verse.
« So LXX ; MT " their king."
3 So Versions, and i Chr. xx. 2.

The meaning is obscure. Some think that different kinds of torture
are described.

102

Amnon said to him, " Let Thamar my sister come and make a
couple of pancakes in my presence, so that I may eat from her
hand." So David sent for Thamar to the palace, and said,
** Go to the house of your brother Amnon, and prepare some-
thing for him to eat ; " and Thamar went to her brother
Amnon's house, where he was lying in bed. She took some
dough, kneaded it, and shaped it into pancakes in his presence,
and baked the cakes. Then she "called the attendant, who^
poured them out before him. But Amnon refused to eat, and
said, " Put every man out from me ! " When everyone had
gone out, Amnon said to Thamar, " Bring the food into the
bedchamber, and I will eat it from your hand." So Thamar
took the cakes which she had made, and brought them to Amnon
her brother in the bedchamber.

But when she handed it to him to eat he seized hold of her
and said, " Come and lie with me, my sister." She answered,
" Oh no, my brother ! you must not dishonour me ; for such
things are not done in Israel. Do not commit this outrage.
Where should / go to hide my shame ? And you would be
regarded as one of the most infamous scoundrels in Israel.
Speak to the king, rather ; he will not refuse to let you have me."
But he would not listen to her, but forced and ravished her.
Then he conceived an extreme aversion for her — an aversion
stronger than the love he had formerly had for her — and he
ordered her to rise and be gone. She answered, ^" No ! No !
my brother ! For this would be even a greater wrong than the
other^ which you have already done me, if you send me away
now." But he paid no heed to her, and called the servant who
waited on him, and said, " Put this woman away from me out
on the street, and bolt the door behind her."

3[She was wearing a long-sleeved garment, such as °from of
old° royal princesses wear while unmarried.] When the servant
had turned her out on the street and bolted the door behind
her, Thamar strewed ashes on her head, and tore the sleeved
garment that she was wearing ; and went away °screaming°
with her hand upon her head. Her brother Absalom said to

^ — ^ A conjectural reading : MT " took the pan (?) and . . ."
* * So Luc, etc. : MT is untranslatable.
3 An explanatory gloss on the following verse.

103

her, " Has Amnon your brother been with you ? Well, now,
my sister, just keep silent — after all he is your brother — and do
not take this matter to heart." So Thamar lived in seclusion
in the house of her brother Absalom.

When king David heard of all these things he was very
angry ; ^but he would not do anything to hurt the feelings of
Amnon his son, for he was fond of him, because he was his
first-born.^ As for Absalom, he spoke never a word to Amnon
good or bad ; he so hated Amnon for having violated his sister
Thamar.

(8) Absalom^ s Revenge (xiii. 23-38).

Two years passed, and Absalom had a sheep-shearing at
Baal-Hazor, near Ephron,^ to which he invited all the king's
sons. First he went in to the king and said, " You know that
your servant has a sheep-shearing soon ; may he be honoured
by the company of the king and his courtiers ? " The king
replied, " No, my son, we will not all go ; for that would cause
you inconvenience." Though Absalom "pressed him°, he
refused to go, but gave him his blessing. Then Absalom said,
" If that may not be, at least let Amnon my brother go with
us," The king answered, " Why should he go with you ? "
But when Absalom urged him, the king let Amnon go, with all
the other princes.

^So Absalom prepared a banquet fit for a king^ ; but gave
orders to his servants in these words : " Listen ! When
Amnon is in high spirits over his wine, and when I say to you,
' Down with Amnon ! ' then kill him without fear ; for I have
given the order. Be bold, and show yourselves men of mettle ! "
So Absalom's servants did to Amnon as their master had bidden
them. Then all the other princes rose up, mounted their
mules, and fled.

While they were on their way home, a rumour reached David
that Absalom had murdered all the king's sons, and not one of
them survived. The king rose up and tore his clothes, and lay
down on the ground ; while all his courtiers ^who stood round
him tore their clothes likewise. 3 But Jonadab the son of Shimeah,

^ — ^ Supplied from LXX and Versions.

2 MT " Ephraim " ; but texts of LXX differ.

3—3 So LXX, etc.

104

David's brother, put in his word and said, " Your Majesty
should not believe that all the young princes are slain. It is
only Amnon who is dead ; for there has been something grim
about Absalom's mouth ever since he violated his sister Thamar.
So your Majesty need not take it into his head that all the
princes are dead ; Amnon alone is dead." [And Absalom
fled.]^

Meanwhile the youth who was on the look-out descried a
large body of men ^coming down the slope on the Horonaim
road ; and came in and told the king, " I have seen men from
the road to Horonaim coming down^ by the side of the hill."
Jonadab said to the king, *' You see ? The princes are coming !
As your servant said, so it turns out ! " The words were hardly
out of his mouth when the king's sons came in, and wept aloud ;
the king also and all his courtiers broke into vehement weeping ;
3° ° and the king mourned for his son the whole time. 3

But Absalom had fled and gone to Thalmai, the son of
Ammihud, the king of Geshur, where he remained for three
years. [But Absalom had fled and gone to Geshur.]^

(9) Absalom restored to the King's Favour (xiii. 39-xiv. 33).

But ^the king's spirif^ longed to go forth to Absalom ; for
he was reconciled to the fact that Amnon was dead. Now when
Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's mind was
set on Absalom, he sent to Tekoa, and brought thence a wise
woman, and said to her, " Get yourself up as a mourner and put
on mourning weeds ; do not anoint yourself with oil ; and look
like a woman who has long mourned for a dead relative. Then
go in to the king, and speak to him as I now tell you ; " and
Joab primed her with the words he wished her to say.

So the woman from Tekoa went in to the king, and falling
on her face to the ground in reverence, cried out, " Help me,
O king ! 5Help me l^ " Said the king, " What is the matter
with you ? " She answered, " Truly, I am a widow ; my

^ Transcriptional error.
^ — ^ Inserted from Luc.
3 — 3 Transposing the clause.
^—^ So LXX (partly).
5—5 LXX.

lOs

husband is long dead. And your handmaid had two sons, and
they quarrelled in the field where there was no one to separate
them, and one of them struck the other and killed him. And
now the whole clan is up against your handmaid, demanding
that I should give up the murderer of his brother, that they
may put him to death for the life of his slain brother, and cut
off the heir also. Thus they would extinguish the one spark
that remains to me, leaving to my husband neither name nor
remnant above the ground." The king said to the woman,
" Go home ! I will give the necessary orders on your behalf."
The Tekoan woman answered, " On me and my family may the
guilt lie, O King, and the king and his throne be guiltless ! "
*' Whoever^ says a word to you," replied the king, " bring him
to me, and he shall give you no further trouble." The woman
said, " Would the king please to mention the name of Yahweh
his God, and swear that the blood-avenger shall not cause
further mischief, and that my son shall not be cut off .? " " By
the life of Yahweh," the king swore, " not a hair of his head
shall fall to the ground ! "

Then the woman said, " Might your handmaid speak a word
to your Majesty ? " The king answered, " Certainly ! " She
said, " Why should you cherish a purpose so injurious to the
people of God — for the king by what he has just said has
adjudged himself guilty — as to refuse to recall your banished
son ? We must all die, to be sure, and be like water spilt on
the ground which cannot be gathered up ; but God does not
cut short the life of him who devises means whereby one that is
banished shall not remain banished from him. Now then, I
came to tell my story to the king, because people frightened me,
and I said to myself,*! will speak to the king; perhaps the king
will take up the cause of his maid-servant. Yes, the king will
surely hear and deliver his maid-servant from the hand of the
man ^who is seeking^ to cut off me and my son together from the
people of °Yahweh°.' Your handmaid thought, ' Let the word
of my lord the king give me security ; for as the Angel of God
is my lord the king, in his discernment of right and wrong.'
May Yahweh your God be with you ! "

' LXX.

a— ^ So LXX., etc.

1 06

Then the king said in answer to the woman, " Hide nothing
from me ! 1 am going to ask you a question." She said,
" Speak on, your Majesty ! " He then asked, ** Has Joab had
a hand with you in all this ? " And the woman confessed :
" As sure as you live, my lord, it is impossible to give an evasive
answer to your Majesty's question. Yes ! It was your servant
Joab who put me up to this, and himself put all these words in
your handmaid's mouth. To present the matter in a new
light your servant Joab has done this. But my lord has the
wisdom of the Angel of God, and knows everything that happens
on earth."

The result was that the king said to Joab, " See ! I will do
as you wish. Go, then, and bring back the young man
Absalom." Joab bowed his face to the ground, and thanked
the king, and said, " To-day I know that I stand high in your
Majesty's favour ; since the king has granted his servant's
request." Joab set out for Geshur accordingly, and brought
Absalom to Jerusalem. But the king said, " Let him retire to
his own house ; he shall not see my face." So Absalom retired
to his house, and did not see the king's face.

Now in all Israel there was no man so admired for his
beauty as Absalom ; from head to foot there was no
blemish in him. And when he cut his hair — it was once
a year that he cut it, when it became too heavy for him — it
used to weigh over ^three and a half pounds' by the royal
standard. He had three sons born to him, and one daughter
whose name was Thamar^ — a very beautiful woman.

Thus Absalom lived two years in Jerusalem without seeing
the king's face. At last he sent for Joab, meaning to send him
to the king ; but Joab would not come. A second time he
sent for him ; and still Joab refused to come. Then Absalom
said to his servants, " You know that field of Joab's next to
mine, where he has a crop of barley .? Go and set it on fire."
The servants went accordingly and set fire to the field. Joab
now bestirred himself, came to Absalom in his house, and
asked him, " What does this mean f Your servants have set
fire to my field." " Well," said Absalom, " I sent for you to

' — ^ Or, according to Luc, etc., " a pound and three-quarters."
^ But Luc, etc, read " Maachah " (see i Kings xv. 2).

107

come here that you might take this message from me to the
king : ' To what purpose have I come home from Geshur ?
I might as well be there still ! But now I must see the king's
face, if any guilt lies on me, put me to death.' " Joab then
went and told this to the king, who thereupon called Absalom
into his presence. When Absalom came, he bowed with his
face to the ground before the king ; and the king kissed Absalom.

(lo) Absalom raises the Standard of Revolt (xv. I-12).

Soon after this Absalom set up a state-coach with horses,
and fifty men running before him. Every morning now found
Absalom standing betimes by the road leading to the gate,
where he would hail every man who came to submit a dispute
to the king's award, and say, " From what city do you come ? "
The man would answer, " From such and such a tribe in
Israel " ; and Absalom would say (after hearing his statement),
" Look you ! Your plea is absolutely good and sound ; but —
you will find no representative of the king to hear you." Or
again, Absalom would say, " If only I were appointed judge
in the land, and every one who had a dispute or lawsuit could
come to me J I would see him righted." And when any one
approached to pay his respects, Absalom would hold out his
hand, and embrace and kiss him. In this way Absalom used
to behave to all the Israelites who came to the king for justice ;
and thus he stole the affections of the men of Israel.

After four^ years Absalom said to the king, " I must go and
discharge a vow which I have made to Yahweh in Hebron.
For your servant, during his residence in Geshur in Aram, made
a vow that if Yahweh would bring me back to Jerusalem I
would worship Yahweh ^in Hebron.^" The king answered,
" Go, by all means ! " So he took his departure and went to
Hebron. At the same time Absalom sent secret emissaries
through all the tribes of Israel with the intimation : " When
you hear a trumpet blow, then shout, ' Absalom reigns in
Hebron ! ' " There went with Absalom from Jerusalem 200
men who were invited to the sacrificial feast, and went in all good
faith, knowing nothing. Moreover Absalom sent ^an invita-
tion^ to Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counsellor, to come

^ So Luc, etc.; MT "forty."
^ — ^ So Luc.

108

from his city of Giloh, and be present when he offered the
sacrifices. Thus the conspiracy gained strength, and more
and more people attached themselves to Absalom.

(ii) David leaves Jerusalem — Incidents of the Flight (xv. 13-
ivi. 14).

When the news was brought to David that the heart of the
Israelites had been won over to Absalom, he issued orders for
immediate flight to all the courtiers who were with him in
Jerusalem : " We must be up and flee ; there is no other way
of escape from Absalom. Make all haste to depart, lest he
come upon us suddenly and bring utter disaster on us, and put
the city to the sword ! " The courtiers answered, " It shall
be as your Majesty chooses : we are your servants." So the
king went out attended by all his household, except ten
concubines whom the king left behind to look after the palace.

So the king went out and all 'his servants^ followed him. At
the last house in the city he halted with his courtiers standing^
beside him, while the Crethi and Plethi^ and the '^men of Ittai
of Gath-^ — 600 men who had come with him from Gath —
marched past before the king. The king called to Ittai of Gath,
" Why should you go with us too ? Go back, and stay with the
new king ; for you are a foreigner and an exile from your native
land. It was but yesterday that you came ; and should I
to-day make you a wanderer with us, when I am going I know
not where ? Go back, and take your fellow-countrymen with
you ; 5and may Yahweh be^ gracious and true ^to you^ ! " But
Ittai replied to the king, " As Yahweh lives, and your Majesty
lives, I will not ! Where my lord the king is, be it for life or
for death, there will your servant be ! " David said, " Very
good, then ! Pass on ! " So Ittai of Gath marched past
with all his men and his camp-followers ; while the whole
region resounded with loud weeping as all the people went
past.

LXX, etc. ; MT " the people."
* MT " passing."
3 See p. 95.
4 — ♦ MT " Gittites."
5 — 5 Inserted from LXX.

109

In the Kidron valley the king again stopped'^, while all the
people passed *by him, making for the olive-tree on the verge
of the wilderness.* There too were Zadok -''and Abiathar 3
who bore the ark of '^ ^ God, which they had ^set down^
till the people from the city were all gone past. But the king
said to Zadok, " Take the ark of God back to the city ! If
Yahweh is gracious to me he will bring me back and let me
look on it and its abode. But if his mind is such that he has
no good-will towards me — so be it ! Let him do to me as he
sees right." The king said further to Zadok the priest, " Look !
You and Abiathar will return quietly to the city with your
son Ahimaaz and Jonathan the son of Abiathar — both your
sons are with you. Now mark ! I will tarry by the fords of
the wilderness until I receive a message from you to give me
information." So Zadok and Abiathar brought the ark of God
back to Jerusalem, and remained there.

David then went up the ascent of the mount of Olives,
weeping as he went, with his head muffled and walking barefoot ;
and all the people that were with him had covered their heads,
and wept continually as they made the ascent. Now David
°had been told° that Ahithophel was among the conspirators
with Absalom, and he had said, "Turn the counsel of Ahithophel
to foolishness, O Yahweh ! " And just as David reached the
top of the hill, where it is the custom to worship God, lo !
Hushai the Archite, ^David's friend,^ met him with coat torn
and earth on his head. So David said to him, " If you come
along with me you will only be an encumbrance to me. On the
other hand, if you go back to the city, and speak to Absalom
somewhat in this fashion : ' I would be your servant, O king !
I was your father's servant formerly, but now I am yours ' —
then you may be able to frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel in
my interest. You will find there Zadok and Abiathar the
priests ; everything you hear from the palace you will make

' MT "crossed."

* * So Luc. ; MT contains untranslatable expressions.

3 — 3 MT " and the Lcvites."

^ — * MT inserts " the covenant of."

5—5 MT " poured out " I

6—6 LXX.

known to them. And look ! Their two sons are with them
there, Zadok's son Ahimaaz and Abiathar's son Jonathan ;
through them you can send me word of all you hear." So
Hushai, David's friend, came to the city just as Absalom
entered Jerusalem.

When David had passed the summit a little way, Ziba,
Meribaal's servant, met him with a pair of asses saddled and
loaded with 200 loaves of bread, 100 raisin-cakes, lOO summer-
fruits, and a skin of wine. To the king's question, " What are
these for ? " Ziba answered, " The asses are for the king's
family to ride upon ; the bread and the fruit are for the young
men to eat ; and the wine is for any to drink who may faint
in the wilderness." The king then asked, " But where is
your master's son ? " " Oh ! " said Ziba, " he remains in
Jerusalem, for he thinks the time has come when the house of
Israel will restore to him the kingdom of his grandfather."
" I see ! " said the king. " Then all that belonged to Meribaal
is yours," to which Ziba replied, " I fall on my knees ! May
you always be gracious to me, your Majesty ! "

As king David reached Bahurim, a man was seen coming out
of that village, who was of the same clan as Saul's family, by
name Shimei, a son of Gera. He came out cursing all the
time, and throwing stones at David and all the courtiers ;
although all the people and the whole Guard^ were marching
to right and left of him. Shimei's cursing ran thus, " Out
with you ! Out with you ! You man of blood ! You son of
perdition ! Yahweh has brought on you all the blood of the
house of Saul, in whose stead you reigned, and has given the
kingship into the hand of your son Absalom ; and here you are
in your adversity, because you are a man of blood ! " Then
Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, " Why should your
Majesty be cursed by this dead cur ? Let me go across and
cut off his head." But the king answered, " Oh, you sons of
Zeruiah ! What can I make of you ? If he curses, and if
Yahweh has said to him, * Curse David,' who can find fault
with him for doing so ? " And speaking to the whole court,
as well as to Abishai, David said, " You see that my own son,
the fruit of my body, is seeking my life ; what wonder if this

^ See p. 97, n. i.

Ill

Benjamite does the same ? Leave him alone, and let him
curse; for Yahweh has bidden him. It may be that Yahweh
will look on my °affliction°, and requite me with good for the
curse which falls on me this day." So David and his men
went along the road, while Shimei walked alongside of him on
the hillside, cursing as he went, and flinging stones ° °
and dirt.

At last the king and all his followers arrived, faint and weary,
^at the fords of the wilderness^, where he refreshed himself.

(12) Absalom in Jerusalem (xvi. 15-xvii. 23).

By this time Absalom and ° ° all the men of Israel had
come to Jerusalem, Ahithophel also being with him. And
when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, came to Absalom
he cried to him, " Long live the king ! Long live the king ! "
Absalom said to Hushai, " Is this your loyalty to your friend .?
Why have you not gone with your friend ? " Hushai answered,
" No ! But to him whom Yahweh and this people and all
Israel have chosen, °to him° I belong, and with him I remain.
And besides ! Whom shall I be serving .? His son, of course !
As I served before your father, so will I serve before you."

Absalom then said to Ahithophel, "Give us your advice as
to what we should do." Ahithophel answered, "Go in to your
father's concubines, whom he left to look after the palace.
Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself obnoxious
to your father, and the courage of all your followers will be
strengthened." So they set up the bridal tent for Absalom
on the roof, and he went in to his father's concubines in the
view of all Israel. For the counsel given by Ahithophel in those
days was esteemed as highly as a divine oracle : such was the
authority of all Ahithophel's counsel both to David and to
Absalom.

Ahithophel then made a further proposal to Absalom : " Let
me choose 12,000 men, and I will start in pursuit of David
this night, and come upon him while he is weary and dis-
heartened ; I will thus put him in fright, and all the people
that arc with him will flee, so that I can kill the king alone.

^ — ^ Supplying conjecturally an accidental omiision in the text.

I 12

Then I will bring all the people round to you, ^as a bride turns
to her husband. It is but one man's life^ that you seek, °and®
the people as a whole will have peace." This advice seemed
very plausible to Absalom and all the elders of Israel. However,
Absalom said, " Call Hushai the Archite, and let us hear also
what he has to say." When Hushai came in Absalom told him
what Ahithophel had just said, and asked, " Shall we act on his
advice ? If you are of a different opinion, speak your mind ! "
Hushai answered to Absalom, " The counsel that Ahithophel
has given this time is not sound ! " " You know yourself,"
he continued, " that your father and his men are veterans, and
full of grim courage as a wild she-bear robbed of her cubs.
Moreover, your father is a wary soldier, who will not spend the
night with the army ; you may be sure that he is now hidden
in some ravine, or some other place. If now, on the first onset,
some of °ouT people® fall, those who hear of it will say, ' A defeat
has been inflicted on the adherents of Absalom ! ' Then will
even the bravest man, though he has the courage of a lion,
grow faint-hearted ; for all Israel knows that your father is a
hero and his companions brave men. My advice, therefore
is this : Let all Israel from Dan to Beersheba be gathered to
you, numerous as the sand by the sea-shore, and you in person
shall march *in their midst.^ Then when we come on him in
whatever place he is to be found, we shall light on him in
numbers like dewdrops falling on the earth ; and of him and
all the men that are with him not one shall be left. But if
it should be a city to which he has retired, in that case all
Israel will °bring° ropes to that city, and we will drag it into the
valley, till not a pebble remains there ! " Then Absalom and
all the Israelites said, " The counsel of Hushai the Archite is
better than that of Ahithophel ! " For Yahweh had so ordained
that the good counsel of Ahithophel should be frustrated, in
order that he might bring disaster on Absalom.

Hushai then told Zadok and Abiathar the priests what advice
Ahithophel had given to Absalom, and the elders of Israel, and
what he himself had advised, and said, " Send quickly, now, and
warn David not to pass this night by the fords of the wilderness,

I— I LXX ; MT unintelligible.

*— » LXX, etc. ; MT " in the battle."

11^

but by all means to cross (the Jordan), lest the king and all who
are with him be destroyed." Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz
were waiting at the well Rogel, and a maid went from time to
time and brought them news, which they would carry to king
David ; for they durst not let themselves be seen by entering
the city. On this occasion, however, a lad saw them, and
informed Absalom. The two of them, therefore, departed in
all haste, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had
a well in his courtyard. Into this they went down, and the
man's wife fetched a sheet and placed it over the mouth of the
well, and spread bruised corn over it, so that there was nothing
to excite curiosity. So when Absalom's servants came to the
house and asked the woman where Ahimaaz and Jonathan were,
she said, " They are gone on °from here° to the water," and
after a fruitless search they returned to Jerusalem. After they
had gone, Ahimaaz and Jonathan came up out of the well,
and went with their message to king David, and said to him,
" Be up, and cross the water instantly ; for so and so has
Ahithophel counselled with regard to you." Then David and
all the people that were with him got up and crossed the
Jordan ; and by morning light they were all over Jordan to
the last man.

But Ahithophel, seeing that his advice was not followed,
saddled his ass, and went home to his city. There, after settling
his affairs, he hanged himself and died, and was buried in his
father's grave.

(13) David in Mahanaim (xvii. 24-29).

David had already reached Mahanaim when Absalom crossed
the Jordan, accompanied by all the men of Israel. Instead of
Joab Absalom had appointed Amasa to command the army.
(This Amasa was the illegitimate^ son of an IshmaeHte^ named
Jithra ; his mother being Abigail, the daughter of Jesse,-^ the
sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother.) Israel and Absalom encamped
in the land of Gilead.

^ Not in our sense, however. He was probably the issue of an irregular
marriage, in which the usual purchase-price had not been paid to the father
of the bride.

* So I Chr. ii. 17, and a MS. of LXX ; MT " Israelite."

3 So Liic. ; compare i Chr. ii. 16; MT " Nahash."

When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash,
from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir the son of Ammiel,
from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite, from Rogelim,
^brought couches^ to lie on, rugs,* basins and earthen vessels.
They also brought wheat, barley, meal, parched corn, beans,
lentils, ° °, honey, curdled milk, sheep and . . (?) of
the herd ; these they brought to David and his followers to
eat, for they said, " The folks are hungry, tired and thirsty in
the wilderness."

(14) 7hg Battle in the Wood : the Death of Absalom {xw\\\.l-\%).

David then reviewed the forces at his disposal, and appointed
ofHcers for each regiment and company. The whole army he
^divided into three corps^ : the first under the command of
Joab, the second under Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's
brother, and the third under Ittai of Gath. The king further
announced to the people his intention to take the field with
them in person ; but the people answered, " That you shall
not do ! For if we should be put to flight they will not concern
themselves about us — even if half of us were killed they would
not care ; but °you° are worth ten thousand of the like of us.
Besides, it is better that you should be in readiness to send us
assistance from the city." The king said, " I submit to your
wish." So the king stood by the side of the gate, while the
troops marched out by companies and regiments. But the
king laid this charge on Joab, Abishai and Ittai : " Mind you
deal gently for my sake with young Absalom ! " All the people
heard the king give this command concerning Absalom to all
the generals.

The army then marched out to the open country against the
Israelites ; and the battle took place in the wood of 3Ephraim.3
There the Israelites were defeated by David's men ; and the
slaughter that day was frightful — as many as 20,000 men. The
battle extended over the whole surrounding country ; and the
wood accounted for the death of more men than perished by
the sword that day. In the confusion, Absalom came accident-
ally on the soldiers of David. He was riding on a mule, and

^ LXX.

*— 2 So Luc. : MT "sent."

3 — 5 Luc. reads " Mahanaim," which is possibly correct.

the mule ran under the branches of a great oak-tree,^ and his
head was caught fast in the oak, so that he was suspended^
between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him
ran on. Some man saw this and told Joab, " I saw Absalom
hanging in an oak ! " " You saw him ! " said Joab. " Why
did you not strike him down there and then f I should then
have had the pleasure of presenting you with ten silver crowns^
and a girdle." But the man answered Joab, " And if I had a
thousand silver crowns weighed into my hand, I would not lay
a hand on the king's son ; for in the hearing of us all the king
charged you and Abishai and Ittai in these words : ' Have a
care °for my sake° of young Absalom.' Ay, and if I had acted
treacherously at the risk of my life — for there is nothing that
the king will not discover ! — you would leave me in the lurch."
Joab said, ■♦" I cannot stand arguing with you all day ! "■♦ and,
taking three darts in his hand, he went and thrust them into
Absalom's heart. While he was still alive in the thick branches
of the oak, ten youths, armour-bearers of Joab, came up and
smote Absalom dead. Joab then sounded the trumpet, and
the people ceased pursuing the Israelites, for Joab held them
back. And they took Absalom and threw him into a great
hole in the wood, and erected a huge cairn of stones over him.
All the Israelites had meanwhile fled to their several homes.
[But Absalom had during his lifetime taken a stone and set
it up for himself as a monument in the King's Vale ; for he
thought to himself, " I have no son to keep my name in
remembrance." Hence he called the monument by his own
name, and it is known as Absalom's monument to this day.]

(15) How the News was brought to David (xviii. 19-32).

Now Ahimaaz the son of Zadok had said ^to Joab^, " Let me
run and carry to the king the good news that Yahweh has
freed him from the hand of his foes." But Joab answered,

^ Strictly " terebinth."

2 LXX, etc.

3 Lit. " ihekels."

* — ^ Or (following Luc, etc.), " So then / must make -i beginning before
70U 1 "

5—5 So Luc.

116

'* You are not the man to carry tidings to-day ; another time
you shall carry tidings, but not to-day, seeing the king's son is
dead." And Joab said to a Cushite, " Go and tell the king
what you have seen ; " and the Cushite, bowing low to Joab,
ran off. But Ahimaaz the son of Zadok again said to Joab,
" Come what may, let me run after the Cushite." *' Why
would you run, my son," answered Joab, " when no reward for
good news can be paid to you ? " ^He said% " All the same, I
wiU run ! " " Very well, then," said Joab, " run ! " So
Ahimaaz ran off, and taking the way of the Jordan Oval he outran
the Cushite.

David was sitting in the archway between the outer and inner
gates, when the watchman went to the roof of the gate on the
wall, and looking out saw a single man running. The watchman
called out and told the king, who replied, " If he is alone he
brings tidings." As the man drew nearer and nearer the
watchman saw another running, and called to the gate^, " I
see another^ man running alone." " Then he also brings
tidings," said the king. The watchman called, " The running
of the foremost looks to me like the running of Ahimaaz, Zadok's
son." " A good man ! " remarked the king. *' He will bring
good news." As Ahimaaz ^drew near3 he called to the king,
" All's well ! " and throwing himself on his face to the ground
before the king he said, " All praise to Yahweh your God, who
has delivered up the men who raised their hand against your
Majesty ! " The king asked, " Is young Absalom safe ? " and
Ahimaaz answered, " I saw a great commotion '♦when the king's
servant Joab sent me off-* ; but I do not know what was going
on." " Step aside," said the king, " and stand here." So
he went to one side and waited ; and straightway the Cushite
came and said, " Prepare yourself for good news, your Majesty !
Yahweh has this day vindicated your right against all your
adversaries," The king asked the Cushite, " Is young Absalom
safe ? " The Cushite answered, " May your Majesty's enemies

'— ^ LXX, etc.
* LXX, etc. ; MT " porter."
3—3 Luc. ; MT " called."
Slightly altered text.

117

and all who have rebelled against you, share the fate of that
young man ! "

(i6) David's Grief for Absalom (xviii. 33-xix. 8^).

Then the king in great agitation went up to the roof-chamber
over the gate, and wept ; and all the way as he went he kept
repeating, *' O, my son Absalom ! My son ! My son Absalom !
Would that I had died instead of you ! Absalom, my son !
My son ! "

When it was reported to Joab that the king was weeping and
mourning for Absalom, the victory was that day turned to
mourning for all the people ; for they heard that the king was
grieved for his son. The people crept furtively into the city
that day, like men who are ashamed of having turned their
backs in battle. And all the while the king sat with his face
covered, and wailed aloud, " O my son Absalom ! Absalom,
my son, my son ! "

At last Joab went in to the king in the house, and said, " You
have this day shamed the faces of all your servants who have
saved your life this day, and the lives of your sons and daughters
your wives and ° ° concubines, by showing love for those
who hate you, and hatred for those who love you ! For you
make it plain to-day that officers and men are nothing to you.
Now I see that if Absalom were living and all of us dead to-day,
it would please you well ! But now, rouse yourself ! Go out
and speak kindly to your servants. For I swear by Yahweh
that unless you show yourself, not a man will spend this night
with you. And that will be a worse misfortune for you than
all that you have come through from your youth till now ! "
Then the king rose up and took his seat in the gate. And
when it was announced to all the people that the king was
sitting in the gate, they all presented themselves before the
king.

(17) David's Homg-coming : Scenes by thg Jordan (xix. 8^-40).

The Israelites had now fled to their homes ; and there was
great dissension throughout the whole nation. In all the
tribes of Israel people were saying, " The king saved us from the
hand of our enemies; it was he who freed us from the grip of the
Philistines ; and yet the king has had to flee the country before

iiS

Absalom ! And Absalom, whom we had anointed king over us,
has fallen in battle — why then is there no talk of bringing back
the king ? " 'When these words of the Israelites reached his
ears ° °,^ king David sent a message to Zadok and Abiathar
the priests to this effect, *' Speak to the elders of Judah, and ask
them why they should be behindhand in bringing about the
king's return home. Say to them, ' You are my kinsmen, of
my bone and flesh ; why are you the last to bring the king back ?'
And say to Amasa, ' You are of my bone and flesh ! God do
to me what he will if you are not made my commander-in-chief
for good instead of Joab ! " Thus °he swayed° the minds of all
the men of Judah, so that they sent a unanimous request to the
king to return with his whole court.

The king then started on his homeward journey, and reached
the Jordan ; while the men of Judah came to Gilgal to meet the
king and escort him across the river. Shimei also, the son of
Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, came down in haste with
the men of Judah to meet king David, bringing i,ooo men of
Benjamin with him ; and Ziba, the servant of Saul's family,
with his fifteen sons and twenty slaves, had hurried to the
Jordan before the king arrived °and had crossed® the ford that
they might bring the king over, and do anything he wanted.
So Shimei the son of Gera threw himself down before the king
as he was about to cross the Jordan, and said, " Let not my lord
hold me guilty, nor call to mind the heinous offence which your
servant committed on the day when your Majesty left Jerusalem ;
let not the king lay it to heart, for your servant is conscious of
his sin. And to-day, as you see, I am the first of all the house
of Joseph to come down and meet the king." Here Abishai the
son of Zeruiah broke in and said, " Shall Shimei's life be spared
for this, when he cursed the anointed of Yahweh ? " But
David said, " What have I to do with you, sons of 2^ruiah, that
you should play the tempter to me^ this day ? Should any
man be put to death in Israel this day .? Do I not this day
know that I am king over Israel ? " The king then said to
Shimei, " You shall not die," and gave him his oath upon it.

Meribaal, the grandson of Saul, was another who had come

^ — ''■ A half-verse transposed.
* See p. 72, n. i — i.

119

down to meet the king : he had not dressed his feet, nor trimmed
his beard, nor washed his clothes from the day of the king's
departure to the day when he came safely back. When he came
°from° Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, " Why
did you not go with me, Meribaal ? " He answered, " Your
Majesty, my servant has played me false ! ^I gave him the
order to saddle^ my ass, that I might ride on it, and go with the
king, for I am lame. Instead of that he has slandered me to
your Majesty. But your Majesty is as the angel of God :
do to me then as you please. For seeing my whole family were
but dead men before your Majesty, and you placed your servant
among your table-companions, what further right have I to
complain to the king ? " The king said to him, " Why so many
words ? I decide that you and Ziba shall divide the estate."
" Let him take the whole," said Meribaal to the king, " now
that your Majesty has come home in safety ! "

Barzillai the Gileadite had also come down from Rogelim
and accompanied the king to the Jordan to see him off ° .**
Now Barzillai was a very old man, eighty years of age ; it was
he who had supported the king all the time he was in Mahanaim,
for he was very rich. The king said to him, " You must come
along with me, and let me provide for ^your old age^ in Jerusalem.
But Barzillai answered, " How many years have I yet to live
that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem .? I am eighty
years old this day ; how could I distinguish one thing from
another .? Could your servant know the taste of what he ate
or drank ; or listen to the voice of singers, male or female f
Why then should your servant be any longer a burden to your
Majesty .? Your servant would accompany the king a little
way ° ° ; why should the king reward me so liberally ?
Let your servant go back and die in his own city, by the grave
of his father and mother. But your servant Chimham here may
go over with your Majesty : treat him as you think fit." The
king answered, " Then let Chimham come over with me ; and
I will treat him as you would wish ; and anything you choose
to ask I will do for you." All the people then crossed the

^— ^ LXX, etc. i MT " I proposed to saddle."
2-* LXX, etc.

I20

Jordan, while the king stayed' to kiss Barzillai, and bid him
good-bye, after which he returned to his home. So the king
crossed over to Gilgal, taking Chimham with him ; and all the
people of Judah ^went on with* the king, as well as the half of
Israel.

(i8) The Insurrection of Sheba (xix. 41 -xx. 22).

Then all of a sudden the Israelites came to the king and said
to him, " Why have our brothers the men of Judah carried you
off, and brought the king and all his family over the Jordan
[and all David's men with him] ? " The men of Judah answered
the men of Israel, " Why, because the king is my near kinsman !
Why in the world should you get angry at that ? Have we
eaten any part of the king, or has he been kidnapped by us ? "
But the men of Israel retorted, " I have ten shares in the king ;
moreover I am the ^firstborn^ and not you ! Why have you
slighted me ? Was I not the first ° ° to speak of bringing
back the king ? " But the language of the men of Judah was
more vehement than that of the men of Israel.

Now it so happened that there was present an ill-affected
man named Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite. This
man sounded a trumpet and cried,

*' No share have we in David,

And no reversion in the son of Jesse !
Each man to his tent, O Israel ! "

Then all the Israelites fell away from David, and followed
Sheba the son of Bichri, while the men of Judah clung to their
king, and accompanied him from the Jordan to Jerusalem,

The first thing the king did on entering his palace in
Jerusalem was to take the ten concubines whom he had left to
keep the palace, and put them in confinement, where he
maintained them without going near them. They remained
shut up till the day of their death — '^widows in their husband's
lifetime.*

^ Luc, etc. ; MT " crossed."
2—2 LXX ; MT " brought over."
3—3 LXX; MT "in David."

This seems to be the meaning of the LXX equivalent of the Hcb
phrase, MT suggests in " living widowhood " !

121

Then the king said to Amasa, " Call out for me the men of
Judah, and present yourself here within three days ! " So
Amasa went to call out the men of Judah. But when he failed
to appear at the appointed time, David said to Abishai,^ " Now
Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom.
Take you your lord's servants and pursue him, lest he get into
fortified cities and ^elude our search^." There went out accord-
ingly 3after Abishai^ Joab with the Crethi and Plethi and all
the Guards ; they marched out from Jerusalem in pursuit of
Sheba the son of Bichri.

When they were at the great stone in Gibeon, Amasa
appeared in front of them. Now Joab '^was wearing his military
coat, with a sword girt on over it, fastened round his loins
in its sheath : this had slipped out and fallen, and he had
picked it up with his left hand."^ Then he said to Amasa,
" Are you well, my brother ? " taking him by the beard with
his right hand to kiss him. Amasa was not on his guard against
the sword in Joab's °left° hand ; so Joab stabbed him with it
in the belly, and his entrails were shed on the ground, and he
died without a second stroke. Joab and his brother Abishai
then pursued Sheba the son of Bichri, while one of Joab's men
stood over Amasa and cried, " Let him who loves Joab and is
on David's side follow Joab ! " But Amasa lay weltering in
blood in the middle of the road ; and the man, seeing that all
the people stood still, dragged the body out of the road into the
field, and threw a garment over it, when he saw that every one
who came up to it stood still. After he had thus °removed°
it out of the way, they all passed on after Joab in pursuit of
Sheba the son of Bichri,

This man passed through all the tribes of Israel till be came
to Abel of Beth-Maachah, where all the Bichrites^ gathered
together, and entered it after him. But °Joab and his men°

^ The Syriac version reads " Joab," which some prefer.

^ — ^ An uncertain rendering of a difficult phrase.

3—3 MT " after the men of."

* — * The text is very ambiguous and obscure, and leaves much to be
8upplied. The above is only an attempt to describe the incident on one
interpretation of the meaning.

5 An emendation based on LXX.

122

came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-Maachah, and raised
a mound against the city ^ ^ ; and all Joab's people set
about the work of destruction so as to bring down the wall.
Then a wise woman, ^standing on the outer wall,^ called from
the city, " Hearken ! Hearken ! Ask Joab to come here :
I wish to speak with him." When he came near her, the woman
said, " Are you Joab ? " and he said, " I am." She said,
" Listen to what your handmaid has to say ! " He replied,
*' I am listening." Then she spoke as follows : " It was a
common saying in former days, ' Let them inquire in Abel
^and in Dan whether that which^ the faithful in Israel ^have
ordained has gone out of fashion*.' You are seeking to °lay
waste° a mother-city in Israel : why should you destroy the
inheritance of Yahweh .? " Joab answered, " That is very far
from my intention ! I wish neither to destroy nor to lay waste.
The matter does not stand so ; but there is a man from the
hills of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, who has
raised his hand against king David : deliver up him alone, and
I will withdraw from the city." " Then," said the woman,
" his head shall be thrown to you over the wall." So the
woman with her wisdom 3talked over the whole city^ ; and they
cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it to
Joab. Joab then sounded the trumpet, and they °withdrew°
from the city and dispersed to their several homes, while Joab
returned to the king in Jerusalem.

(19) A Second List of David^s OJidaIs(xx. 22-26). [Comp.viii.
16-18, p. 94.]

Joab was commander of the whole army ° ° ;

Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the °Crethi° and
Plethi ; Adoram (?) was over the labour-gangs. Jehosha-
phat the son of Ahilud was chancellor ; Sheva (?) secretary
of State ; Zadok and Abiathar were priests ; also Ira of
Jair was a priest of David's.

^ ^ Transferring a clause from v. 15 to r. 16.
2—2 So LXX ; MT hardly translatable.
3—3 LXX ; MT " came to all the people."

123

4- Supplementary Extracts on David's Reign (ixi.-iiiv,).

^hesg four chapters form an appendix to the Book of
Samuel — breaking the connection between 2 Sam. xx. 22 and
I Kings i. I — and must have been added to the book after the
separation of Kings from Samuel. They are here rearranged
in accordance with the subject matter : narrative (xxi. 1-14 ;
xxiv.) ; annalistic (xxi. 15-22; xxiii. 8-39); and poetical
(xxiii. 1-7 ; xxii).

(l) The Gibeonites^ Revenge on Saul (xxi. 1-14).

In the days of David there was a famine which lasted three
years in succession. When David consuhed the oracle of
Yahweh, the answer was, " On Saul and on °his house lies
blood-guilt,° inasmuch as he slew the Gibeonites," The king
then summoned the Gibeonites, and said to them — it must be
understood that the Gibeonites did not belong to Israel, but
to the remnant of the Amorites ; and Saul, out of zeal for
Israel [and Judah], but in violation of the oath which the
Israelites had sworn to them, had sought to extirpate them.
David, then asked the Gibeonites — " What shall I do for you,
and how can I make atonement, that you may bless the people
of Yahweh ? " The Gibeonites answered, " There is no
question of silver or gold between me and Saul and his house,
^but of blood^ ; and we have not the right to put any man in
Israel to death." He said, " What do you require that I should
do for you ? " The Gibeonites replied, " From the sons of the
man who harassed us, and meant to exterminate us, so that we
should have no footing anywhere in the territory of Israel —
from his sons let seven be given up to us, that we may impale
them before Yahweh^ in Gibeon on the hill ^of Yahweh." The
king agreed to give them up. The king, however, spared
Meribaal, the son of Jonathan, Saul's son, because of the oath
by Yahweh which was made between them — that is, between
David and Jonathan the son of Saul. So he took the two sons
whom Rizpah the daughter of Aiah had borne to Saul, Armoni
and Meribaal ; and the five sons of Saul's daughter Merab3

^ — ^ Implied, but not expressed, in the text.
2—2 So LXX partly.

3 So Luc, Syr., etc. ; MT Michal (wrongly). 1

124

whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Bnrzillai of Mcholali ;
and deHvered them up to the Gibeonites, who impaled them on
the hill before Yahweh ; all the seven dying together. It was
in the first days of harvest that they were executed, in the
beginning of barley harvest. And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah
took her mourning-garment and spread it as a bed for herself
on the rock from the beginning of harvest until rain had fallen
from heaven on the corpses, keeping the birds of the air from
lighting upon them by day, and warding off the wild beasts by
night.

\Mien David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah,
Saul's concubine, had done, he caused the bones of Saul and his
son Jonathan to be taken from the citizens of Jabesh-Gilead
(who had stolen them from the public square of Bethshean,
where the Philistines had hung them when they defeated Saul
at Gilboa), and brought them up thence. And having collected
the bones of the impaled men, they buried them °with° those
of Saul and his son Jonathan in the territory of Benjamin, at
Zela, in the grave of his father Kish. After all was done
according to the king's command, God yielded to entreaty on
behalf of the land.

(2) Thg Census and the Pestilence (xxiv.).

Another time Yahweh's wrath broke forth against Israel ;
and he incited David against them by suggesting to him to take
a census of Israel and Judah. So the king ordered Joab ^and
the officers of^ the army under him to make a tour through all
the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, and enrol the people,
so that he might know how many there were of them. Joab
answered the king, " May Yahweh your God multiply the
people, be they ever so numerous, a hundredfold, and may
your Majesty live to see it ! But why should your Majesty
desire such a thing .? " However, the king's command overbore
the opinion of Joab and the officers of the army ; and they set
out °from° the king's presence to enrol the people of Israel.
Crossing the Jordan, they began ^from Aroer and^ the city that

^ ^ So I Chr. xxi. 2 and Luc. : MT " the commander of."
Luc. ; MT " encamped in the south of."

12;

lies in the (Arnon) valley, travelling in the direction of the
Gadites and on to Jazer. Then they came to Gilead, and so
on to the country of ^the Hittites towards Kadesh.^ When they
reached Dan they ^turned thence^ to Sidon, and came to the
fortress of Tyre, and all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites.
Thence they journeyed to the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba.
When they had gone through the whole land, they returned
to Jerusalem, after an absence of nine months and twenty days,
and Joab handed to the king the numbers of the people enrolled ;
viz., Israel, 800,000 men of war wielding the sword, and the
Ju deans 500,000 men.

But David's conscience smote him afterwards °for° having
numbered the people, and he confessed to Yahweh, " I have
sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Yahweh, pass
over the guilt of thy servant, for I was infatuated." ° °
But the word of Yahweh had already come to Gad the prophet,
David's seer, commanding him to go and say to David, " Thus
speaks Yahweh : Three things I put in your choice : decide
which of them I shall do to you." 3So when David rose in the
morning,3 Gad came to him and told him this, and said, " Shall
a three'^ years' famine visit your land .? Or will you flee three
months before your enemy, ^pursued by the swords ? Qr shall
there be three days' pestilence in the land .? Now consider,
and see what answer I am to take to him who sends me ! "
David said to Gad, " I am in a terrible dilemma ! Let us fall
into the hands of Yahweh, for his compassion is great : into
the hands of man I would not fall." ^So David chose the
pestilence.

It was in the time of wheat harvest when the plague broke
out among the people*^, and there died of the people from Dan

^— I Luc.

* — ^ A necessary emendation.

3 — 3 The phrase is transferred from the beginning of vcr?c 11.

4 So I Chro. xxl. 12; MT "seven."

5 — 5 After i Chr. xxi. 12; MT "while he pursues you."

^ — ^ LXX, etc. ; MT " And Yahweh gave a pestilence in Israel from
the morning even to the appointed time " (?).

to Bcershcha 70,000 men. 'When David saw the angel who
was spreading destruction among the people, he prayed to
Yahweh and said : " See ! it is I who have sinned — I who have
transgressed ; but these are the sheep ; what have they done ?
Let thy hand light on me and on my father's house. "^ And as
the angel stretched out his hand towards Jerusalem to destroy
it, Yahweh relented of the evil, and said to the angel who was
spreading destruction among the people, " Enough ! Now stay
thy hand ! " The angel of Yahweh was just then standing
beside the threshing-floor of Arauna the Jebusite.

That day Gad came to David and said, " Go up and rear an
altar to Yahweh on the threshing-floor of Arauna the Jebusite ; "
and David went up at Gad's bidding, as Yahweh had com-
manded. When Arauna, ^who was busy threshing wheat^
looked out and saw the king and his courtiers advancing towards
him, he came out and prostrated himself before the king, and
asked, " For what purpose does your Majesty pay this visit to
his servant ? " " I am come," said David, " to buy the
threshing-floor from you, in order to build an altar to Yahweh,
so that the plague may be averted from the people." Arauna
said to David, " My lord the king may take and offer up in
sacrifice whatever he pleases ! Here are the oxen for a burnt-
offering ; the threshing-drags and ox-harness for wood. All
these 3your Majesty's servants presents to the king. May
Yahweh," he said, " be gracious to you ! " But the king
answered Arauna, " By no means ! I will certainly buy it
from you at its proper price. I would not bring to Yahweh my
God burnt-offerings that cost me mothing ! " So David bought
the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty silver crowns.'^

Then David built an altar there to Yahweh, and offered
burnt-offerings and peace-off^erings. And Yahweh yielded to
entreaty on behalf of the land, and the plague was warded off
from Israel.

(3) Some Exploits of David's Warriors (xxi. 15-22).

The Philistines were again at war with Israel ; and David

' — ^ Vv. 16 and 17 transposed.

^ — * I Chr. xxi. 120.

3—3 MT "Arauna."

* " Shekels " ; 50 shekels would le the equivalent of nearly £j as bullion.

127

went down with his men, ^and encamped in Gob^. As they
were fighting the Phihstines there, ^Dod^, a descendant of the
giants, who had a spear weighing 13 lbs. in bronze, and was girt
with a new * * * (?), ^attacked David^ and thought to kill him.
But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his rescue, and smote the
Phihstine dead. At that time David's followers made an oath
and said ° °, " You shall not henceforth go with us into
battle, lest you extinguish the lamp of Israel."

After this there was another battle with the Philistines in
Gob ; when Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, another of
the descendants of the giants.

At another battle with the Philistines in Gob, Elhanan the
son of Jair3 ° °, the Bethlehemite, slew Goliath of Gath,
who had a spear-shaft like a weaver's beam.

Again there was a battle in Gath, where a ■♦very tall* man
who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot,
four and twenty in all — he too was a descendant of the giants —
flouted Israel, and was slain by Jonathan the son of David's
brother Shimei.

All these four belonged to the race of the giants in Gath,
and fell by the hands of David and his men.

(4) J List of David'' s Heroes (xxiii. 8-12 ; 17^-39 ; 13-17^).
The following are the names of David's heroes :
5lshbaal the Hachmonite^, the chief of the ^Three^. He
^swung his spear^ over 800 slain men at one time. Next to him
of the Three heroes came Eleazar the son of Dodi ° ° the
Ahohite : %e was^ with David ^in Pasdammim when^ the
Philistines were gathered there for battle. When the men of

^ — ^ Representing the senseless " and Ishbi Benob " of the next verse.

2 — 2 The words " Dod attacked " in place of " David was weary " of
MT, omitting " Ishbi Benob."

3 So I Chr. XX. 5.

^—4 I Chr. XX. 6.

5 — 5 A reading based on i Chr. xi. 11, Luc, etc.

6—6 Luc.

7 — 7 I Chr. xi. ii. [The phrase probablj means "slew." — Ed.]

^— * I Chr. xi. 13.

Israel fell back, he stood his ground and slashed away at the
Philistines till his arm was weary, and his hand was glued to his
sword ; and Yahweh wrought a great victory that day. T he
rest of the people turned and followed him only to plunder* —
After him came Shammah, the son of Elah^ the Hararite : the
Philistines were assembled °at Lehi°, and there there was a
plot of ground full of lentils. When the people fled before the
PhiHstines, he took his stand in the middle of the plot and
defended it, and defeated the Philistines. Thus Yahweh
wrought a great victory. — ^These are the exploits of the Three
heroes.

Of the 3Thirty3 Abishai, Joab's brother, the son of Zeruiah,
was chief : he swung his spear over 300 slain men, and was the
most famous of the 3Thirty''. Above the °Thirty° he was
honoured, and became their captain, but the level of the Three
he did not reach. Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, °abrave°man,
with many exploits to his credit, came from Kabzeel ; he slew
the two '♦sons of^ Ariel °of° Moab ; and also went down into a
cistern and killed a lion on a snowy day. He further slew a
talP Egyptian who was armed with a spear ; going at him with
a stick, he wrenched the spear from the Egyptian's hand, and
killed him with his own spear. Such were the deeds of Benaiah
the son of Jehoiada : he was famous among the °Thirty° heroes.
Above the Thirty he was honoured, but to the level of the Three
he did not reach ; and David put him at the head of his
bodyguard.

To the Thirty belonged further : Asahel the brother of
Joab ; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethelehem ; Shammah from
Harod ; ^EHkah from Harod^ ; Helez from °Beth°-Pelet ;
Ira the son of Ikkesh from Tekoa ; Abiezer from Anathoth ;
Sibbechai^ from Hushah ; Zalmon from Ahoah ; Mahrai from
Netophah ; °Heled° the son of Baanah from Netophah ;

^ Luc; MT "Aga."

* Vv. 13-173 are transferred to the end of the list.

3—3 So Syr. and MSS.

4 — ♦ Inserted with LXX.

5 I Chr. xi. 23.

^ — 6 Omitted in LXX, Syr. and i Chron. xi. 27.

"^ I Chron, xi. 29.

129

Ittai the son of Ribai from Gibeah of Benjamin ; Benaiahu
from Pirathon ; Hiddai from the valleys of Gaash ; Abibaal^
from Beth-Arba ; Azraaveth from Bahurim ; Eljahba from
Shaalbim ; ^Jashen the Gunite^ Jonathan °the son of ° Shammah
from Harar ; xAhiam the son of Sharar from Harar ; Eliphelet
the son of . . . (?) from Beth-Maachah ; Eliam the son of
Ahithophel from Gilo ; Hezro from Carmel ; Paarai from Arab ;
Jigeal3 the son of Nathan from Zobah ; Bani the Gadite ;
Zelek the Ammonite ; Naharai from Beerorh, the armour-
bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah ; Ira from °Jattir° ; Gareb
from °Jattir° ; Uriah the Hittite ; — in all thirty-seven.

Once when David was in the °fastness° of Adullam, and a
company of Philistines were encamped in the plain of Rephaim,
°three° of the Thirty went down ° ° and came to David
"^at the rocH. David was then in the fastness, and a Philistine
garrison was at the same time in Bethlehem. David was seized
with a longing which he uttered in the cry, " O for a draught
from the well of Bethlehem by the city gate ! " Hearing this
the three heroes broke through the camp of the Philistines,
drew water from the well at the gate of Bethlehem, and
brought it to David. But he refused to drink it ; and pouring
it out as a libation to Yahweh, he said, " God forbid that I
should do such a thing ! It is the blood of men who have gone
at the risk of their lives — shall I drink that f " — and would not
drink it.

(5) The Last Words of David (xxiii. 1-7).
These are David's last words :

Oracle of David, Jesse's son,

Oracle of one who was raised on high, —

The anointed of Jacob's God,
The idol of Israel's songs !

^ jMT " Abi-Albon " ; I Chr. xi. 32 reads " Abiel " ; originally probably
Abibaal.

^ — ^ Emended from i Chr. xi. 34 and Luc.

3 I Chr. xi. 38 reads "Joel."

^ — ^ So I Chr. xi. 15 and Luc. , MT might be restored so at to read
*' at the beginning of harvest."

130

Yahweh's spirit speaks in me,

His word is on my tongue.
The God of Jacob^ said to me,

The Rock of Israel spoke :

*' Who rules o'er men in righteousness —
Who rules in godly fear —

Is like morning light at sunrise —
Like cloudless morn, that after rain
=^Brings verdure forth^ from the earth."

Yea, stands not so my house with God ?

A lasting covenant he made with me,

Ordered in all ways and sure.
Yea, all my weal and all °my° joy,

Shall he not make to flourish ,?

But reprobates — like wind-driven thorns are they all !

They are not to be grasped with the hand.
Who touches them, with iron and spear-shaft armed
must be :

The fire must wholly consume them ! ° °

(6) J Psalm attributed to David (xxii.=Ps. xviii.).

These are the words of David's song to Yahweh, on the day
when Yahweh had delivered him from the hand of all his
enemies, and from the hand of Saul :

°I love thee, O Yahweh, my strength" —
Yahweh, my rock and my fastness, 3 3

My God, my Rock where I hide me.
My shield, my horn of salvation !

[My fortress °and refuge, my deliverer from violence®.]
" All praise be to Yahweh ! " I cry ;

From my enemies I am delivered.

^ So Old Latin Version ; MT " Israel."

* — 2 Emended text ; MT " through brightness young grass (springs) " (.?).

3 — 3 A phrase omitted.

* — ° Additions, omissions and changes in accordance with the text of
Ps. xviii.

131

For billows of death closed o'er me,

Streams of perdition assailed me ;
Cords of the underworld bound me,

Death's snares encompassed my feet.

In my anguish I called upon Yahweh ;

°Loud° to my God did I °cry° ;
And he heard in his temple my voice.

My loud cry °entered° his ears.

Then shook and trembled the earth,
The pillars of heaven did quake,

And reeled because of his wrath :
Smoke went up from his nostrils,
Devouring fire from his mouth ;

Fire-coals burned fiercely before him.

And he bent the heavens and came down,

With dark clouds under his feet.
He rode on a cherub and flew.

And °swooped down° on the wings of the wind ;
Made darkness a °covert° around him,

°Dark° waters, and ^thickness^ of clouds.
From the brightness before him °broke forth°

"Lightning and° fiery coals.

From heaven did Yahweh thunder.

And the Highest uttered his voice ;
Sent arrows and scattered ^my foes^.

Shot lightnings, and routed °them all.°

Then Ocean's bed was laid bare,

Uncovered the pillars of earth :
At °thy° rebuke, O Yahweh,

At the blast of °thy° nostrils' breath.

^ — ^ Slight emendation. ij

2 — 2

MT "them."

* — ° Additions, omissions and changes in accordance with the text ot
Ps. xviii.

He sent from on high and took mc,

Drew me from waters many :
Saved me from enemies fierce,

From foes too strong for me.
In my day of distress they assailed me ;

But in Yahweh I found a stay :
He brought me out into freedom —

Loosed me, because of his love.

Yahweh requites me after my right.

Rewards me after my innocence ;
For Yahweh's ways I have kept.

Nor wickedly strayed from my God ;
Yea, all his laws were before me.

His decrees I °put not aside°.
Thus was I blameless before him.

And kept myself free from sin ;
So Yahweh has dealt with me after my right,

And my innocence plain to his eyes.

With the good man thou shew'st thyself good,
With the upright shew'st thyself upright ;

With the pure thou shew'st thyself pure ;
But against the perverted perverse.

Yea, thou helpest afflicted souls.
But humblest °the eyes of pride°.

For thou art my lamp, O Yahweh,

^My God^ who Hghtens my gloom ;
Through thee I ^break through a fence^.

Through my God I leap over a wall.
The God — whose way is unerring !

Faultless is Yahweh's word !
A shield is he to all

Who flee for refuge to him.

^— ^ So many MSS ; MT " Yahweh."

MT " run on a troop."

Addition*, omissions and changes in accordance with the text of
Ps. xviii.

133

For who is a God save Yahweh,

And who a Rock but our God ? —
The God who "girds me with° might,

And straightens out °my° way,
Who lends me the feet of the hind,

And sets me on ° ° lofty heights.
Who trains my hands for war —

My arms to bend the bow^ !

Thou gav'st me the shield of thy help ;

Thy "condescension" makes me great.
Thou extendest the stride of my feet,

And my ankle-joints did not give way !
I pursue and "o'ertake" my foes ;

And turn not back till they're slain :
® ° I smite them : they "cannot" arise,

They sink overpowered at my feet.

Yea, with strength for the fight thou dost gird me ;

Subduest before me my foes :
My enemies thou turnest to flight ;

My haters by thee are consumed.
They "cried" — there was none to deliver ! t

To Yahweh — he answered them not !
So I crushed them like dust of the highway^ — 5

Ground them down like mire on the streets ** .* -^i

Thou hast saved me in strife with the heathen,
Of nations thou "makest" me head ;

A people I know not shall serve me.
Strangers come cringing before me, —

At hearsay obey my command.
Yea, strangers ^bring me their gifts^.

And "trembling come forth" from their holds.

1 Luc; MT + "of brass."

2 Emendation; MT "earth."

3 — 3 Emendation ; MT " fade away."

° — ° Additions, omissions and changes in accordance with the text of
Ps. xviii.

134

Yahweh, the living One ! Blest be my Rock !

Praised be the God ° ° of my help !
The God who grants me revenge,

And brings peoples under my sway ;
Who °saves° me from °wrathful° foes,

Exalts me above my rivals,

From violent men sets me free.

Therefore I praise thee, Yahweh !

'Mong the heathen I sing to thy name ;
Who °so wondrously° helpeth his king,

And crowns his anointed with favour :

David and his seed for ever !

*^ — ° Additions, omissions and changes in accordance with the text of
Ps. xviii.

"35

INDEX

PAGE

I. SAMUEL AND SAUL (i Sam. i.-xv.) 9

1. The Birth of Samuel (i. 1-28 ; ii. 11) . . . . . . 9

2. The Song of Hannah (ii. i-io) . . . . . . . . 11

3. Samuel's Boyhood : the Doom of Eli's House (ii. 12-iii. 21) i3

4. Israel Defeated by the Philistines ; Death of Eli's Sons 5

Capture and Recovery of the Ark (iv. li-vii. i) 17

5. Samuel as Judge of Israel (vii. 2-17) . . . . . . 22

6. The Election of Saul as King of Israel : The War of

Liberation against the Philistines (viii.-xiv.) . . 23

A. The First Account (ix. i-x. 16 ; xi. ; xiii. i-ja, 15^-23 ;

xiv.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

(i) The Secret Anointing of Saul by Samuel (ix. i-x. 16) 23

(2) Saul's Victory over the Ammonites : his Election as

King (x. 27^-xi. 15) . . 27

(3) The Outbreak of War with the Philistines (xiii. 2-7^,

15^-23) 28

(4) Jonathan's Brilliant Exploit (xiv. 1-15) .. .. 30

(5) The Philistine Debacle (xiv. 16-23^) . . . . 31

(6) Incidents of the Pursuit (xiv. 23^-35) • • • • 3^

(7) The Pursuit arrested in consequence of Saul's Rash

Oath (xiv. 36-46, 52) 33

(8) A List of Saul's Wars, and his Family Connections

(xiv. 47-51) 34

B. Saul's Election : Second Account (viii. : x. 17-24 ;

xii. ; X. 25-27a) 34

(i) The Israelites demand a King (viii.) . . . . 34

(2) Saul elected King by lot (x. 17-24) . . . . 36

(3) Samuel's Valedictory Address (xii. ; x. 25-27a) . . 36

7. Thk Breach Between Samuel and Saul at Gilgal . . 38

(i) Saul commanded to exterminate the Amalekites (xv.) 39
(2) Saul's Disobedience costs him the Kingdom (xiii. jb-

i5«) 41

II. SAUL AND DAVID (i Sam. xvi.-2 Sam. i.) . . . . 43

1. The Secret Anointing OF David BY Samuel (i Sam. xvi. 1-13) 43

2. David's Introduction to Saul's Court (xvi. 14-23) . . 44

3. David's Encounter with Goliath (xvii. i-xviii. 5) . . . . 45

A. (xvii. i-ii ; 32-40; 42-480; 49; 51-54) .. .. 45

B. (xvii. 12-31; 41; 48i; 50; 55-58; xviii. 1-5) .. 47

4. Saul'9 Jealousy or David, and Attempts on his Life (xviii.

6-xx. la) . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

136

5- Datid's Flight from Saul's Court (xx. i3-xxi. 15) . . 54

(i) Jonathan warn* David of his Danger (xi. 13-42) . . 54

(2) David's Visit to Ahimelech at Nob (xxi. 1-9) . . 57

(3) David at Gath (xxi. 10-15) 58

6. David's Adventures as an Outlaw, Hunted by Saul (xxii.-

xxvi.) . . . . . . . . . , . . 5g

(i) David in Adullam and Moab (xxii. 1-5) . . . . 59

(2) The Massacre of the Priests of Nob (xxii. 6-23) . . 59

(3) David relieves Keilah from the Philistines (xxiii. I -1 3) 61

(4) David in Ziph and Maon (xxiii. 14-20) . , . . 62

(5) At Engedi : David spares Saul's Life (xxiv. 1-22). . 63

(6) David spares Saul's Life at the Hill of Hachilah

(xxn.) — a parallel narrative to (5) . . . . . . 65

(7) David and Nabal (xxv.) . . . . . . . , 67

7. David Among the Philistines (i Sam. xxvii.-2 Sam. i.) . . 70

(i) David becomes a Vassal of Achish of Gath (xxvii.) 70
(z) David narrowly e capes having to fight against his

own Country (xxviii. i, 2 ; xxix.) . . . . . . 71

(3) David punishes the Amalekites for the Sack of

Ziklag (xxx.) . . . . . . . . . . . , 73

(4) Saul and the Witch of Endor (xxviii. 3-25) . . 75

(5) Saul's Last Battle (xxxi.) . . . . . . . . 77

(6) How David received the Tidings of Saul's Death

(2 Sam. i. 1-16) . . . . . . . . . . 78

(7) David's Lament over Saul and Jonathan (i. 17-27) 79
in. DAVID (2 Sam. ii.-xxiv.) 81

1. David as King of Judah (ii. i-v. 5) . . . . . . 81

(i) His Anointing in Hebron (ii. 1-7) . . . . 81

(2) The Contest between David and Eshbaal (ii. 8-iv. 12) 81

(3) David anointed King of Israel (v. 1-5) . . . . 87

2. David as King of all Israel (v. 6-viii. 17) . . . . . . 88

(i) David captures Jerusalem and makes it his Residence

(v. 6-12) 88

(2) Victories over the Philistines (v. 17-25) . . . . 88

(3) The Removal of the Ark to Jerusalem (vi.) . . 89

(4) David's Wish to build a Temple (vii.) . . . . 91

(5) Summary of David's Wars, and List of his Officials

(viii-) 93

3. A History or David's Court (ix.-xx.) , . . , . . 95

(i) David and Meribaal (ix.) . . . . , . . . 95

(2) War against the Ammonites and Arameans (x. i-

xi.i) 96

(3) David and Bathsheba (xi. 2-2ja) . . . . . . 98

"37

(4) David and Nathan (xl. zjb-x'n. 14) . . . . 99

(5) The Death of the Child (xii. 15-25) . . . . loi

(6) The Capture of Rabbah (xii. 26-31) . , . . 102

(7) Amnon and Thamar (xiii. 1-22) . . . . . . 102

(8) Absalom's Revenge (xiii. 23-38) . . . . . . 104

(9) Absalom restored to the King's Favour (xiii. 39-

xiv. 33) 105

(10) Absalom raises the Standard of Revolt (xv. 1-12) 108

(11) David leaves Jerusalem — ^Incidents of the Flight

(xv. 13-xvi. 14) . . . . . . . . . . 109

(12) Absalom in Jerusalem (xvi. 15-xvii. 23) . . . . 112

(13) David in Mahanaim (xvii. 24-29) .. .. 114

(14) The Battle in the Wood : the Death of Absalom

(xviii. 1-18) . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

(15) How the News was brought to David (xviii. 19-32) ii6

(16) David's Grief for Absalom (xviii. 33-xix. %a) . . 118

(17) David's Home-coming : Scenes by the Jordan

(xix. 8^-40) .. .. .. .. .. 118

(18) The Insurrection of Sheba (xix. 41-xx. 22) . . 121

(19) A Second List of David's Officials (xx. 23-26) . . 123
4. Supplementary Extracts on David's Reign (xxi.-xxiv.) . . 124

(i) The Gibbonites' Revenge on Saul (xxi, 1-14) . . 124

(2) The Census and the Pestilence (xxiv.) . . . . 125

(3) Some Exploits of David's Warriors (xxi. 15-22) .. 127

(4) A List of David's Heroes (xxiii. 8-12 ; 17^-39 ;

13-17^) 128

(5) The Last Words of David (xxiii. 1-7) . . . . 130

(6) A Psalm attributed to David (xxii.) . . . . 131

.38

6»- m 1

ROBARTS LIBRARY

DUE DATE

MAR 0 T 1989

550

M35

v.1-7

Books of the Old Testament
in colloquial speech

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