Part 129 (2/2)

32:47. For they are not commanded you in vain, but that every one should live in them, and that doing them you may continue a long time in the land whither you are going over the Jordan to possess it.

32:48. And the Lord spoke to Moses the same day, saying:

32:49. Go up into this mountain Abarim, (that is to say, of pa.s.sages,) unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab over against Jericho: and see the land of Chanaan, which I will deliver to the children of Israel to possess, and die thou in the mountain.

32:50. When thou art gone up into it thou shalt be gathered to thy people, as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered to his people:

32:51. Because you trespa.s.sed against me in the midst of the children of Israel, at the waters of contradiction, in Cades of the desert of Sin: and you did not sanctify me among the children of Israel.

32:52. Thou shalt see the land before thee, which I will give to the children of Israel, but thou shalt not enter into it.

Deuteronomy Chapter 33

Moses before his death blesseth the tribes of Israel.

33:1. This is the blessing, wherewith the man of G.o.d, Moses, blessed the children of Israel, before his death.

33:2. And he said: The Lord came from Sinai, and from Seir he rose up to us: he hath appeared from mount Pharan, and with him thousands of saints. In his right hand a fiery law.

33:3. He hath loved the people, all the saints are in his hand: and they that approach to his feet, shall receive of his doctrine.

33:4. Moses commanded us a law, the inheritance of the mult.i.tude of Jacob.

33:5. He shall be king with the most right, the princes of the people, being a.s.sembled with the tribes of Israel.

33:6. Let Ruben live, and not die, and be he small in number.

33:7. This is the blessing of Juda. Hear, O Lord, the voice of Juda, and bring him in unto his people: his hands shall fight for him, and he shall be his helper against his enemies.

33:8. To Levi also he said: Thy perfection, and thy doctrine be to thy holy man, whom thou hast proved in the temptation, and judged at the waters of contradiction:

Holy man... Aaron and his successors in the priesthood.

33:9. Who hath said to his father, and to his mother: I do not know you; and to his bretheren: I know you not: and their own children they have not known. These have kept thy word, and observed thy covenant,

Who hath said, etc... It is the duty of the priestly tribe to prefer G.o.d's honour and service before all considerations of flesh and blood: in such manner as to behave as strangers to their nearest akin, when these would withdraw them from the business of their calling.

33:10. Thy judgments, O Jacob, and thy law, O Israel: they shall put incense in thy wrath and holocaust upon thy altar.

33:11. Bless, O Lord, his strength, and receive the works of his hands.

Strike the backs of his enemies, and let not them that hate him rise.

33:12. And to Benjamin he said: The best beloved of the Lord shall dwell confidently in him: as in a bride chamber shall he abide all the day long, and between his shoulders shall be rest.

Shall dwell, etc... This seems to allude to the temple being built in the confines of the tribe of Benjamin.

33:13. To Joseph also he said: Of the blessing of the Lord be his land, of the fruits of heaven, and of the dew, and of the deep that lieth beneath.

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