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9 July 2011 & 11 July 2013
Extracted from the Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 7: 6-11
Moses said to the people:
‘You are a people consecrated to the Lord your God; it is you that the Lord our God has chosen to be his very own people out of all the peoples on the earth.
“If the Lord set his heart on you and chose you, it was not because you outnumbered other peoples: you were the least of all peoples.
It was for love of you and to keep the oath he swore to your fathers that the Lord brought you out with his mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh King of Egypt.
Know that the Lord your God is God indeed, the faithful God who is true to his covenant and his graciousness for a thousand generations towards those who love him and keep his commandments, but who punishes in their own persons those that hate him; he makes him work out his punishment in person.
You are therefore to keep and observe the commandments and statutes and ordinances that I lay down for you today.’
Extracted from Leviticus, Chapter 20:
Offences against true worship
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:
2 'Say to the Israelites: "Anyone, be he Israelite or alien resident in Israel, who gives any of his children to Molech, will be put to death. The people of the country must stone him,
3 and I shall set my face against that man and outlaw him from his people; for by giving a child of his to Molech he has defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name.
4 If the people of the country choose to close their eyes to the man's action when he gives a child of his to Molech, and do not put him to death,
5 I myself shall turn my face against that man and his clan. I shall outlaw them from their people, both him and all those after him who prostitute themselves by following Molech.
6 "If anyone has recourse to the spirits of the dead or to magicians, to prostitute himself by following them, I shall set my face against him and outlaw him from his people.
7 "Sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am Yahweh your God.
Offences against the family
8 "You will keep my laws and put them into practice, for it is I, Yahweh, who make you holy.
9 Hence: "Anyone who curses father or mother will be put to death. Having cursed father or mother, the blood will be on that person's own head.
10 "The man who commits adultery with his neighbour's wife will be put to death, he and the woman.
11 "The man who has intercourse with his father's wife has infringed his father's sexual prerogative. Both of them will be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
12 "The man who has intercourse with his daughter-in-law: both of them will be put to death; they have violated nature, their blood will be on their own heads.
13 "The man who has intercourse with a man in the same way as with a woman: they have done a hateful thing together; they will be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
14 "The man who marries a woman and her mother: this is incest. They will be burnt alive, he and they; you will not tolerate incest.
15 "The man who has intercourse with an animal will be put to death; you will kill the animal too.
16 "The woman who approaches any animal to have intercourse with it: you will kill the woman and the animal. They will be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
17 "The man who marries his father's or his mother's daughter: if they have intercourse together, this is an outrage. They will be executed in public, for the man has had intercourse with his sister; he will bear the consequences of his guilt.
18 "The man who has intercourse with a woman during her monthly periods and exposes her nakedness: he has laid bare the source of her blood, and she has exposed the source of her blood, and both of them will be outlawed from their people.
19 "You will not have intercourse with your mother's sister or your father's sister. Whoever does so, has had intercourse with a close relation; they will bear the consequences of their guilt.
20 "The man who has intercourse with the wife of his paternal uncle has infringed his uncle's sexual prerogative; they will bear the consequences of their guilt and die childless.
21 "The man who marries his brother's wife: this is pollution; he has infringed his brother's sexual prerogative; they will die childless.
Appendix: the clean and the unclean
22 "You will keep all my laws, all my decisions, and put them into practice, so that the country where I am taking you to live will not vomit you out.
23 You will not follow the laws of the nations whom I am driving out before you; they practised all these things, which is why I detested them.
24 As I have already told you, you will take possession of their soil, I myself shall give you possession of it, a country flowing with milk and honey. "Since I, Yahweh your God, have set you apart from these peoples,
25 you for your part will make a distinction between clean animals and unclean ones and between unclean birds and clean ones, and will not make yourselves detestable with any animal or bird or reptile, which I have set apart from you as unclean.
26 "Be consecrated to me, for I, Yahweh, am holy, and I shall set you apart from all these peoples, for you to be mine.
27 "Any man or woman of yours who is a necromancer or magician will be put to death; they will be stoned to death; their blood will be on their own heads." ' |
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Faithfulness to the Law is a Condition of God’s Aid - Extracted from the Book of Joshua, Chapter 1:
1 When Moses, servant of Yahweh, was dead, Yahweh spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' adjutant. He said,
2 'Moses my servant is dead; go now and cross this Jordan, you and this whole people, into the country which I am giving to them (the Israelites).
3 Every place you tread with the soles of your feet I shall give you, as I declared to Moses that I would.
4 From the desert and the Lebanon, to the Great River, the Euphrates (the entire country of the Hittites), and as far as the Great Sea to westward, is to be your territory.
5 As long as you live, no one will be able to resist you; I shall be with you as I was with Moses; I shall not fail you or desert you.
6 'Be strong and stand firm, for you are the man to give this people possession of the land which I swore to their ancestors that I would give them.
7 Only be strong and stand very firm and be careful to keep the whole Law which my servant Moses laid down for you. Do not swerve from this either to right or to left, and then you will succeed wherever you go.
8 Have the book of this Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may carefully keep everything that is written in it. Then your undertakings will prosper, then you will have success.
9 Have I not told you: Be strong and stand firm? Be fearless and undaunted, for go where you may, Yahweh your God is with you.'
9 July 2011
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