Numbers 21
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
The Bronze Serpent
21 When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. 2 And Israel vowed a vow to the Lord, and said, “If thou wilt indeed give this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.” 3 And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel, and gave over the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities; so the name of the place was called Hormah.[a]
4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” 6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.[b]
The Journey to Moab
10 And the people of Israel set out, and encamped in Oboth. 11 And they set out from Oboth, and encamped at I′ye-ab′arim, in the wilderness which is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise. 12 From there they set out, and encamped in the Valley of Zered. 13 From there they set out, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the boundary of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 Wherefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord,
“Waheb in Suphah,
and the valleys of the Arnon,
15 and the slope of the valleys
that extends to the seat of Ar,
and leans to the border of Moab.”
16 And from there they continued to Beer;[c] that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.” 17 Then Israel sang this song:
“Spring up, O well!—Sing to it!—
18 the well which the princes dug,
which the nobles of the people delved,
with the scepter and with their staves.”
And from the wilderness they went on to Mat′tanah, 19 and from Mat′tanah to Naha′liel, and from Naha′liel to Bamoth, 20 and from Bamoth to the valley lying in the region of Moab by the top of Pisgah which looks down upon the desert.[d]
King Sihon Defeated
21 Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, 22 “Let me pass through your land; we will not turn aside into field or vineyard; we will not drink the water of a well; we will go by the King’s Highway, until we have passed through your territory.” 23 But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his men together, and went out against Israel to the wilderness, and came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 24 And Israel slew him with the edge of the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as to the Ammonites; for Jazer was the boundary of the Ammonites.[e] 25 And Israel took all these cities, and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages. 26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land out of his hand, as far as the Arnon. 27 Therefore the ballad singers say,
“Come to Heshbon, let it be built,
let the city of Sihon be established.
28 For fire went forth from Heshbon,
flame from the city of Sihon.
It devoured Ar of Moab,
the lords of the heights of the Arnon.
29 Woe to you, O Moab!
You are undone, O people of Chemosh!
He has made his sons fugitives,
and his daughters captives,
to an Amorite king, Sihon.
30 So their posterity perished from Heshbon,[f] as far as Dibon,
and we laid waste until fire spread to Med′eba.”[g]
King Og Defeated
31 Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. 32 And Moses sent to spy out Jazer; and they took its villages, and dispossessed the Amorites that were there. 33 Then they turned and went up by the way to Bashan; and Og the king of Bashan came out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Ed′re-i. 34 But the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him; for I have given him into your hand, and all his people, and his land; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.” 35 So they slew him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was not one survivor left to him; and they possessed his land.
Footnotes
- Numbers 21:3 Heb Destruction
- 21.4-9 The bronze serpent may have been the standard or symbol of the tribe of Levi, to which Moses and Aaron belonged. In Jn 3.14 it becomes a type of the saving cross of Christ.
- Numbers 21:16 That is Well
- Numbers 21:20 Or Jeshimon
- Numbers 21:24 Gk: Heb the boundary of the Ammonites was strong
- Numbers 21:30 Gk: Heb we have shot at them. Heshbon has perished
- Numbers 21:30 Compare Sam and Gk: Heb we have laid waste to Nophah which to Medeba
Deuteronomy 22
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
22 “You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and withhold your help[a] from them; you shall take them back to your brother. 2 And if he is not near you, or if you do not know him, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall be with you until your brother seeks it; then you shall restore it to him. 3 And so you shall do with his ass; so you shall do with his garment; so you shall do with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he loses and you find; you may not withhold your help. 4 You shall not see your brother’s ass or his ox fallen down by the way, and withhold your help[b] from them; you shall help him to lift them up again.
5 “A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.
6 “If you chance to come upon a bird’s nest, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; 7 you shall let the mother go, but the young you may take to yourself; that it may go well with you, and that you may live long.
8 “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if any one fall from it.
9 “You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited to the sanctuary,[c] the crop which you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. 10 You shall not plow with an ox and an ass together. 11 You shall not wear a mingled stuff, wool and linen together.
12 “You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your cloak with which you cover yourself.
Laws concerning Sexual Relations
13 “If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and then spurns her, 14 and charges her with shameful conduct, and brings an evil name upon her, saying, ‘I took this woman, and when I came near her, I did not find in her the tokens of virginity,’ 15 then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the tokens of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate; 16 and the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to wife, and he spurns her; 17 and lo, he has made shameful charges against her, saying, “I did not find in your daughter the tokens of virginity.” And yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city. 18 Then the elders of that city shall take the man and whip him; 19 and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver, and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought an evil name upon a virgin of Israel; and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days. 20 But if the thing is true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the young woman, 21 then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has wrought folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her father’s house; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you.
22 “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall purge the evil from Israel.
23 “If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you.
25 “But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. 26 But to the young woman you shall do nothing; in the young woman there is no offense punishable by death, for this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor; 27 because he came upon her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help there was no one to rescue her.
28 “If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found, 29 then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has violated her; he may not put her away all his days.
30 [d] “A man shall not take his father’s wife, nor shall he uncover her who is his father’s.[e]
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 22:1 Heb hide yourself
- Deuteronomy 22:4 Heb hide yourself
- Deuteronomy 22:9 Heb become holy
- Deuteronomy 22:30 Ch 23.1 in Heb
- Deuteronomy 22:30 Heb uncover his father’s skirt
Psalm 102
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
Prayer to the Eternal King for Help
A prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord.
102 Hear my prayer, O Lord;
let my cry come to thee!
2 Do not hide thy face from me
in the day of my distress!
Incline thy ear to me;
answer me speedily in the day when I call!
3 For my days pass away like smoke,
and my bones burn like a furnace.
4 My heart is smitten like grass, and withered;
I forget to eat my bread.
5 Because of my loud groaning
my bones cleave to my flesh.
6 I am like a vulture[a] of the wilderness,
like an owl of the waste places;
7 I lie awake,
I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.
8 All the day my enemies taunt me,
those who deride me use my name for a curse.
9 For I eat ashes like bread,
and mingle tears with my drink,
10 because of thy indignation and anger;
for thou hast taken me up and thrown me away.
11 My days are like an evening shadow;
I wither away like grass.
12 But thou, O Lord, art enthroned for ever;
thy name endures to all generations.
13 Thou wilt arise and have pity on Zion;
it is the time to favor her;
the appointed time has come.
14 For thy servants hold her stones dear,
and have pity on her dust.
15 The nations will fear the name of the Lord,
and all the kings of the earth thy glory.
16 For the Lord will build up Zion,
he will appear in his glory;
17 he will regard the prayer of the destitute,
and will not despise their supplication.
18 Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord:
19 that he looked down from his holy height,
from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die;
21 that men may declare in Zion the name of the Lord,
and in Jerusalem his praise,
22 when peoples gather together,
and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.
23 He has broken my strength in midcourse;
he has shortened my days.
24 “O my God,” I say, “take me not hence
in the midst of my days,
thou whose years endure
throughout all generations!”
25 Of old thou didst lay the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
26 They will perish, but thou dost endure;
they will all wear out like a garment.
Thou changest them like raiment, and they pass away;
27 but thou art the same, and thy years have no end.
28 The children of thy servants shall dwell secure;
their posterity shall be established before thee.
Footnotes
- Psalm 102:6 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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