Chronological timeline of texts tagged with Literary and Theological Tension
About This Tag
The Hebrew Bible and its derivative literature contain a range of perspectives, both literary and theological, that may represent distinct traditions or internal self-critique that often resists complete harmonization. This is also seen at times when the text presents narrative or logical gaps without apparently worrying about how to resolve them. The multivocal and culturally bound nature of the text suggests that the various biblical traditions developed through processes of addition, revision, and interpretation over time.
Note: Dates shown in this timeline are approximate and based on scholarly estimates.
Back to TagGenesis 1:2 / Isaiah 45:18
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 1:2
Hebrew Bible
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was hovering11 over the surface of the water. 3 God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light! 4 God saw that the light was good, so God separated the light from the darkness.
7th-5th Centuries B.C.E.
Isaiah 45:18
Hebrew Bible
18 For this is what the Lord says, the one who created the sky— he is the true God, the one who formed the earth and made it; he established it, he did not create it without order, he formed it to be inhabited: “I am the Lord, I have no peer. 19 I have not spoken in secret, in some hidden place. I did not tell Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain!’ I am the Lord, the one who speaks honestly, who makes reliable announcements. 20 Gather together and come! Approach together, you refugees from the nations. Those who carry wooden idols know nothing, those who pray to a god that cannot deliver.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 1:3
Hebrew Bible
2 Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was hovering11 over the surface of the water. 3 God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light! 4 God saw that the light was good, so God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day.
150-100 B.C.E.
Jubilees 2:2
Pseudepigrapha
2 For on the first day he created the heavens that are above, the earth, the waters, and all the spirits who serve before him, namely: the angels of the presence; the angels of holiness; the angels of the spirits of fire; the angels of the spirits of the winds; the angels of the spirits of the clouds, of darkness, snow, hail, and frost; the angels of the sounds, the thunders, and the lightnings; and the angels of the spirits of cold and heat, of winter, spring, autumn, and summer, and of all the spirits of his creatures which are in the heavens, on earth, and in every place. There were also the depths, darkness and light, dawn and evening which he prepared through the knowledge of his mind. 3 Then we saw his works and blessed him. We offered praise before him regarding all his works because he had made seven great works on the first day.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 1:26
Hebrew Bible
24 God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” It was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” 27 God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.
7th-5th Centuries B.C.E.
Isaiah 44:24
Hebrew Bible
23 Shout for joy, O sky, for the Lord intervenes; shout out, you subterranean regions of the earth. O mountains, give a joyful shout; you too, O forest and all your trees! For the Lord protects Jacob; he reveals his splendor through Israel. 24 This is what the Lord, your Protector, says, the one who formed you in the womb: “I am the Lord, who made everything, who alone stretched out the sky, who fashioned the earth all by myself, 25 who frustrates the omens of the empty talkers and humiliates the omen readers, who overturns the counsel of the wise men and makes their advice seem foolish, 26 who fulfills the oracles of his prophetic servants and brings to pass the announcements of his messengers, who says about Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited,’ and about the towns of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt, her ruins I will raise up,’
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 1:26
Hebrew Bible
24 God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” It was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” 27 God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 2:19
Hebrew Bible
18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.” 19 The Lord God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field, but for Adam no companion who corresponded to him was found.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 2:18
Hebrew Bible
17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.” 18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.” 19 The Lord God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.
300-1200 C.E.
Pseudo Jonathan Genesis 2:18
Targum
17 but of the tree of which those who eat its fruit have the wisdom to distinguish good and evil, you shall not eat, because on the day on which you eat of it, you shall incur the death penalty.' 18 And the Lord God said, 'It is not right that Adam should sleep alone; I will make for him a woman who will be a support alongside him.' 19 So the Lord God created from the ground every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens, and brought them to Adam to see what name he would call them; and whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 2:20
Hebrew Bible
19 The Lord God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field, but for Adam no companion who corresponded to him was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was asleep, he took part of the man’s side and closed up the place with flesh.
5th Century B.C.E.
Job 12:7
Hebrew Bible
6 But the tents of robbers are peaceful, and those who provoke God are confident—who carry their god in their hands. 7 “But now, ask the animals and they will teach you, or the birds of the sky and they will tell you. 8 Or speak to the earth and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea declare to you. 9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 2:20
Hebrew Bible
19 The Lord God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field, but for Adam no companion who corresponded to him was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was asleep, he took part of the man’s side and closed up the place with flesh.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 20:4
Hebrew Bible
2 “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me,
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 4:26
Hebrew Bible
24 If Cain is to be avenged seven times as much, then Lamech seventy-seven times!” 25 And Adam was intimate with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth, saying, “God has given me another child in place of Abel because Cain killed him.” 26 And a son was also born to Seth, whom he named Enosh. At that time people began to worship the Lord.
3rd Century B.C.E.
LXX Genesis 4:26
Septuagint
24 because seven times vengeance has been exacted by Kain, but by Lamech seventy times seven.” 25 Now Adam knew his wife Heua, and after she had conceived she bore a son and named his name Seth, saying, “For God has raised up for me another offspring instead of Habel, whom Kain killed.” 26 And to Seth a son was born, and he named his name Enos. He hoped to invoke the name of the Lord God.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 4:26
Hebrew Bible
25 And Adam was intimate with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth, saying, “God has given me another child in place of Abel because Cain killed him.” 26 And a son was also born to Seth, whom he named Enosh. At that time people began to worship the Lord.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 6:3
Hebrew Bible
2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name ‘the Lord’ I was not known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they were living as resident foreigners.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 6:3
Hebrew Bible
1 When humankind began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful. Thus they took wives for themselves from any they chose. 3 So the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years.”
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 31:2
Hebrew Bible
1 Then Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 2 He said to them, “Today I am 120 years old. I am no longer able to get about, and the Lord has said to me, ‘You will not cross the Jordan.’ 3 As for the Lord your God, he is about to cross over before you; he will destroy these nations before you, and you will dispossess them. As for Joshua, he is about to cross before you just as the Lord has said.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 34:7
Hebrew Bible
6 He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab near Beth Peor, but no one knows his exact burial place to this very day. 7 Moses was 120 years old when he died, but his eye was not dull nor had his vitality departed. 8 The Israelites mourned for Moses in the rift valley plains of Moab for thirty days; then the days of mourning for Moses ended.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 6:4
Hebrew Bible
2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful. Thus they took wives for themselves from any they chose. 3 So the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days (and also after this) when the sons of God would sleep with the daughters of humankind, who gave birth to their children. They were the mighty heroes of old, the famous men. 5 But the Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was highly offended.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 3:11
Hebrew Bible
9 (the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion and the Amorites call it Senir), 10 all the cities of the plateau, all of Gilead and Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 11 Only King Og of Bashan was left of the remaining Rephaites. (It is noteworthy that his sarcophagus was made of iron. Does it not, indeed, still remain in Rabbath of the Ammonites? It is 13½ feet long and 6 feet wide according to standard measure.) 12 This is the land we brought under our control at that time: The territory extending from Aroer by the Wadi Arnon and half the Gilead hill country with its cities I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites. 13 The rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to half the tribe of Manasseh. (All the region of Argob, that is, all Bashan, is called the land of Rephaim.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 6:4
Hebrew Bible
2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful. Thus they took wives for themselves from any they chose. 3 So the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days (and also after this) when the sons of God would sleep with the daughters of humankind, who gave birth to their children. They were the mighty heroes of old, the famous men. 5 But the Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was highly offended.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 2:11
Hebrew Bible
9 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not harass Moab and provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as your territory. This is because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession. 10 (The Emites used to live there, a people as powerful, numerous, and tall as the Anakites. 11 These people, as well as the Anakites, are also considered Rephaites; the Moabites call them Emites. 12 Previously the Horites lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed and destroyed them and settled in their place, just as Israel did to the land it came to possess, the land the Lord gave them.) 13 Now, get up and cross the Wadi Zered.” So we did so.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 6:19
Hebrew Bible
18 but I will confirm my covenant with you. You will enter the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 You must bring into the ark two of every kind of living creature from all flesh, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Of the birds after their kinds, and of the cattle after their kinds, and of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you so you can keep them alive.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 7:2
Hebrew Bible
1 The Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, for I consider you godly among this generation. 2 You must take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, the male and its mate, two of every kind of unclean animal, the male and its mate, 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female, to preserve their offspring on the face of the entire earth. 4 For in seven days I will cause it to rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made.”
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 7:11
Hebrew Bible
10 And after seven days the floodwaters engulfed the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month—on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And the rain fell on the earth 40 days and 40 nights. 13 On that very day Noah entered the ark, accompanied by his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, along with his wife and his sons’ three wives.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 9:11
Hebrew Bible
9 “Look. I now confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that is with you, including the birds, the domestic animals, and every living creature of the earth with you, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature of the earth. 11 I confirm my covenant with you: Never again will all living things be wiped out by the waters of a flood; never again will a flood destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the guarantee of the covenant I am making with you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all subsequent generations:
7th-5th Centuries B.C.E.
Isaiah 24:18
Hebrew Bible
17 Terror, pit, and snare are ready to overtake you, inhabitants of the earth! 18 The one who runs away from the sound of the terror will fall into the pit; the one who climbs out of the pit will be trapped by the snare. For the floodgates of the heavens are opened up and the foundations of the earth shake. 19 The earth is broken in pieces, the earth is ripped to shreds, the earth shakes violently. 20 The earth will stagger around like a drunk; it will sway back and forth like a hut in a windstorm. Its sin will weigh it down, and it will fall and never get up again.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 10:20
Hebrew Bible
18 Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. Eventually the families of the Canaanites were scattered 19 and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon all the way to Gerar as far as Gaza, and all the way to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboyim, as far as Lasha. 20 These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and by their nations. 21 And sons were also born to Shem (the older brother of Japheth), the father of all the sons of Eber. 22 The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 11:1
Hebrew Bible
1 The whole earth had a common language and a common vocabulary. 2 When the people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” (They had brick instead of stone and tar instead of mortar.)
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 10:32
Hebrew Bible
30 Their dwelling place was from Mesha all the way to Sephar in the eastern hills. 31 These are the sons of Shem according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and according to their nations. 32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations, and from these the nations spread over the earth after the flood.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 11:1
Hebrew Bible
1 The whole earth had a common language and a common vocabulary. 2 When the people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” (They had brick instead of stone and tar instead of mortar.) 4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise we will be scattered across the face of the entire earth.”
150-100 B.C.E.
Jubilees 8:9
Pseudepigrapha
8 In the sixth year [1567] she gave birth to a son for him, and he named him Peleg because at the time when he was born Noah's children began to divide the earth for themselves. For this reason he named him Peleg. 9 They divided it in a bad way among themselves and told Noah. 10 At the beginning of the thirty-third jubilee [1569-1617] they divided the earth into three parts — for Shem, Ham, and Japheth — each in his own inheritance. This happened in the first year of the first week [1569] while one of us who were sent was staying with them.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 11:31
Hebrew Bible
29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai. And the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 30 But Sarai was barren; she had no children. 31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (the son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and with them he set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The lifetime of Terah was 205 years, and he died in Haran.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 15:7
Hebrew Bible
5 The Lord took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars—if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.” 6 Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord credited it as righteousness to him. 7 The Lord said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 8 But Abram said, “O Sovereign Lord, by what can I know that I am to possess it?”
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 24:4
Hebrew Bible
4 You must go instead to my country and to my relatives to find a wife for my son Isaac.” 5 The servant asked him, “What if the woman is not willing to come back with me to this land? Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” 6 “Be careful never to take my son back there!” Abraham told him. 7 “The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my relatives, promised me with a solemn oath, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ He will send his angel before you so that you may find a wife for my son from there. 8 But if the woman is not willing to come back with you, you will be free from this oath of mine. But you must not take my son back there!” 9 So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and gave his solemn promise he would carry out his wishes. 10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all kinds of gifts from his master at his disposal. He journeyed to the region of Aram Naharaim and the city of Nahor.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 11:32
Hebrew Bible
29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai. And the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 30 But Sarai was barren; she had no children. 31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (the son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and with them he set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The lifetime of Terah was 205 years, and he died in Haran.
130-120 B.C.E.
Samaritan Genesis 11:32
Samaritan
29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. 30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai and Milka his daughters-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and Nahor – his son; and he went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. 32 And the days of Terah were hundred and forty five years: and Terah died in Haran.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 12:4
Hebrew Bible
3 I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, so that all the families of the earth may receive blessing through you.” 4 So Abram left, just as the Lord had told him to do, and Lot went with him. (Now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.) 5 And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they left for the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 16:3
Hebrew Bible
2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from having children, please sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” Abram did what Sarai told him. 3 So after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years, Sarai, Abram’s wife, gave Hagar, her Egyptian servant, to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. Once Hagar realized she was pregnant, she despised Sarai.
150-100 B.C.E.
Jubilees 13:11
Pseudepigrapha
10 He departed from there and went toward the south. When he reached Hebron (Hebron was built at that time), he stayed there for two years. Then he went to the southern territory as far as Boa Lot. There was a famine in the land. 11 So Abram went to Egypt in the third year of the week [1956]. He lived in Egypt for five years before his wife was taken from him by force. 12 Egyptian Tanais was built at that time — seven years after Hebron.
500 C.E.
Genesis Rabbah 41:1
Rabbinic
That is astonishing. The verse therefore states: ‘Like a cedar.’ Rav Huna said: There, they do craft utensils from it [palm wood]. And might one not argue: Just as the cedar does not produce fruit, so too the righteous? That is astonishing. The verse therefore states: ‘Flourishes [like a palm tree].’ [Furthermore,] just as the palm has nothing that goes to waste, but, rather, it [produces] dates for eating, fronds for praise, branches for roofing, fiber for ropes, leaves for sieves, large beams for roofing the house, so, too, Israel has no one who goes to waste. Rather, some of them are masters of Bible, some of them are masters of Mishna, some of them are masters of Talmud, some of them are masters of aggada. [Furthermore,] just as with the palm tree and cedar, anyone who climbs to the top of them and does not take care falls and dies, so, too, anyone who comes to accost Israel, will receive his just deserts by their hand. You may know that it is so, since Sarah, because Pharaoh took her for just one night, he and the members of his household were punished with afflictions. That is what is written: ‘The Lord afflicted Pharaoh ... with great afflictions.’
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 13:10
Hebrew Bible
10 Lot looked up and saw the whole region of the Jordan. He noticed that all of it was well watered (this was before the Lord obliterated Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, all the way to Zoar. 11 Lot chose for himself the whole region of the Jordan and traveled toward the east. So the relatives separated from each other. 12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain and pitched his tents next to Sodom.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 19:24
Hebrew Bible
23 The sun had just risen over the land as Lot reached Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord. 25 So he overthrew those cities and all that region, including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation that grew from the ground. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back longingly and was turned into a pillar of salt.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 15:5
Hebrew Bible
4 But look, the Lord’s message came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but instead a son who comes from your own body will be your heir.” 5 The Lord took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars—if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.” 6 Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord credited it as righteousness to him.
54-55 C.E.
Galatians 3:16
New Testament
15 Brothers and sisters, I offer an example from everyday life: When a covenant has been ratified, even though it is only a human contract, no one can set it aside or add anything to it. 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. Scripture does not say, “and to the descendants,” referring to many, but “and to your descendant,” referring to one, who is Christ. 17 What I am saying is this: The law that came 430 years later does not cancel a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to invalidate the promise.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 15:6
Hebrew Bible
4 But look, the Lord’s message came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but instead a son who comes from your own body will be your heir.” 5 The Lord took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars—if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.” 6 Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord credited it as righteousness to him. 7 The Lord said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 8 But Abram said, “O Sovereign Lord, by what can I know that I am to possess it?”
4th Century B.C.E.
Nehemiah 9:8
Hebrew Bible
6 You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, along with all their multitude of stars, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You impart life to them all, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. 7 “You are the Lord God who chose Abram and brought him forth from Ur of the Chaldeans. You changed his name to Abraham. 8 When you perceived that his heart was faithful toward you, you established a covenant with him to give his descendants the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. You have fulfilled your promise, for you are righteous. 9 “You saw the affliction of our ancestors in Egypt, and you heard their cry at the Red Sea. 10 You performed awesome signs against Pharaoh, against his servants, and against all the people of his land, for you knew that the Egyptians had acted presumptuously against them. You made for yourself a name that is celebrated to this day.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 17:17
Hebrew Bible
16 I will bless her and will give you a son through her. I will bless her and she will become a mother of nations. Kings of countries will come from her!” 17 Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed as he said to himself, “Can a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live before you!”
55-58 C.E.
Romans 4:20
New Testament
18 Against hope Abraham believed in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations according to the pronouncement, “so will your descendants be.” 19 Without being weak in faith, he considered his own body as dead (because he was about one hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. 21 He was fully convinced that what God promised he was also able to do. 22 So indeed it was credited to Abraham as righteousness.
100-200 C.E.
Onkelos Genesis 17:17
Targum
15 And the Lord said to Abraham, The name of Sara thy wife shall not be called Sara, for Sarah shall be her name: 16 and I will bless her, and I will also give thee a son from her; and I will bless her, and assemblies and kings which have dominion over peoples from her shall be. 17 And Abraham fell upon his face and rejoiced, and said in his heart, Will the son of a hundred years have a child, and Sarah the daughter of ninety years bring forth? 18 And Abraham said before the Lord, O that Yishmael may be established before thee! 19 And the Lord said, In verity Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name Izhak; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant to his sons after him.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 20:12
Hebrew Bible
11 Abraham replied, “Because I thought, ‘Surely no one fears God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife.’ 12 What’s more, she is indeed my sister, my father’s daughter, but not my mother’s daughter. She became my wife. 13 When God made me wander from my father’s house, I told her, ‘This is what you can do to show your loyalty to me: Every place we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’”
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Leviticus 18:9
Hebrew Bible
8 You must not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; she is your father’s nakedness. 9 You must not have sexual relations with your sister, whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she is born in the same household or born outside it; you must not have sexual relations with either of them. 10 You must not expose the nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter by having sexual relations with them, because they are your own nakedness.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 21:16
Hebrew Bible
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she shoved the child under one of the shrubs. 16 Then she went and sat down by herself across from him at quite a distance, about a bowshot, away; for she thought, “I refuse to watch the child die.” So she sat across from him and wept uncontrollably. 17 But God heard the boy’s voice. The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard the boy’s voice right where he is crying. 18 Get up! Help the boy up and hold him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
3rd Century B.C.E.
LXX Genesis 21:16
Septuagint
15 Then the water from the skin gave out, and she cast the child under a silver fir. 16 And after departing she sat down opposite him a good way off, about a bowshot, for she said, “I will not look upon the death of my child.” And she was seated opposite him, and the child cried out and wept. 17 And God listened to the voice of the child from the place where he was, and God’s angel called Hagar from the sky and said to her, “What is it, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has given ear to the voice of your child from the place where he is. 18 Rise, take the child, and hold it fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 21:33
Hebrew Bible
31 That is why he named that place Beer Sheba, because the two of them swore an oath there. 32 So they made a treaty at Beer Sheba; then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer Sheba. There he worshiped the Lord, the eternal God. 34 So Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for quite some time.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 16:21
Hebrew Bible
20 You must pursue justice alone so that you may live and inherit the land the Lord your God is giving you. 21 You must not plant any kind of tree as a sacred Asherah pole near the altar of the Lord your God which you build for yourself. 22 You must not erect a sacred pillar, a thing the Lord your God detests.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 22:9
Hebrew Bible
8 “God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham replied. The two of them continued on together. 9 When they came to the place God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand, took the knife, and prepared to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am!” he answered.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
1 Kings 13:2
Hebrew Bible
1 Just then a prophet arrived from Judah with the Lord’s message for Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing near the altar ready to offer a sacrifice. 2 He cried out against the altar with the Lord’s message, “O altar, altar! This is what the Lord has said, ‘Look, a son named Josiah will be born to the Davidic dynasty. He will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who offer sacrifices on you. Human bones will be burned on you.’” 3 That day he had also given a sign, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has declared: The altar will split open and the ashes on it will pour out.”
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 28:18
Hebrew Bible
16 Then Jacob woke up and thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, but I did not realize it!” 17 He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is nothing else than the house of God! This is the gate of heaven!” 18 Early in the morning Jacob took the stone he had placed near his head and set it up as a sacred stone. Then he poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel, although the former name of the town was Luz.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Leviticus 26:1
Hebrew Bible
1 “‘You must not make for yourselves idols, so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before it, for I am the Lord your God. 2 You must keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord. 3 “‘If you walk in my statutes and are sure to obey my commandments,
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 29:28
Hebrew Bible
28 Jacob did as Laban said. When Jacob completed Leah’s bridal week, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. 29 (Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.) 30 Jacob slept with Rachel as well. He also loved Rachel more than Leah. Then he worked for Laban for seven more years. 31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, he enabled her to become pregnant while Rachel remained childless.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Leviticus 18:18
Hebrew Bible
17 You must not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter; you must not take as wife either her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to have sexual relations with them. They are closely related to her—it is lewdness. 18 You must not take a woman in marriage and then marry her sister as a rival wife while she is still alive, to have sexual relations with her. 19 “‘You must not approach a woman in her menstrual impurity to have sexual relations with her.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 31:33
Hebrew Bible
32 Whoever has taken your gods will be put to death! In the presence of our relatives identify whatever is yours and take it.” (Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.) 33 So Laban entered Jacob’s tent, and Leah’s tent, and the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find the idols. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s. 34 (Now Rachel had taken the idols and put them inside her camel’s saddle and sat on them.) Laban searched the whole tent, but did not find them.
3rd Century B.C.E.
LXX Genesis 31:33
Septuagint
32 Discover what I have of yours, and take it.” And he did not discover anything with him. And Iakob said, “Anyone with whom you should find your gods shall not live in the presence of our kinsfolk.” Now Iakob did not know that his wife Rachel had stolen them. 33 And Laban, when he had gone in, searched in Leia’s house and found nothing. And he went out of Leia’s house and searched in Iakob’s house and in the house of the two maids and found nothing. Then he also entered into Rachel’s house. 34 Now Rachel had taken the idols and put them into the camel’s packsaddles and sat on them.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 32:28
Hebrew Bible
26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” “I will not let you go,” Jacob replied, “unless you bless me.” 27 The man asked him, “What is your name?” He answered, “Jacob.” 28 “No longer will your name be Jacob,” the man told him, “but Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked, “Please tell me your name.” “Why do you ask my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there. 30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, explaining, “Certainly I have seen God face to face and have survived.”
6th Century B.C.E.
Hosea 12:4
Hebrew Bible
2 The Lord also has a covenant lawsuit against Judah; he will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds. 3 In the womb he attacked his brother; in his manly vigor he struggled with God. 4 He struggled with an angel and prevailed; he wept and begged for his favor. He found God at Bethel, and there he spoke with him! 5 As for the Lord God Almighty, the Lord is the name by which he is remembered! 6 But you must return to your God, by maintaining love and justice and by waiting for your God to return to you.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 37:36
Hebrew Bible
34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters stood by him to console him, but he refused to be consoled. “No,” he said, “I will go to the grave mourning my son.” So Joseph’s father wept for him. 36 Now in Egypt the Midianites sold Joseph to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 39:1
Hebrew Bible
1 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, purchased him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there. 2 The Lord was with Joseph. He was successful and lived in the household of his Egyptian master. 3 His master observed that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything he was doing successful.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 38:24
Hebrew Bible
23 Judah said, “Let her keep the things for herself. Otherwise we will appear to be dishonest. I did indeed send this young goat, but you couldn’t find her.” 24 After three months Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has turned to prostitution, and as a result she has become pregnant.” Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!” 25 While they were bringing her out, she sent word to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong.” Then she said, “Recognize* the one to whom the seal, cord, and staff belong.”
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Leviticus 21:9
Hebrew Bible
8 You must sanctify him because he presents the food of your God. He must be holy to you because I, the Lord who sanctifies you all, am holy. 9 If a daughter of a priest profanes herself by engaging in prostitution, she is profaning her father. She must be burned to death. 10 “‘The high priest—who is greater than his brothers, and on whose head the anointing oil is poured, and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments—must neither dishevel the hair of his head nor tear his garments.
300-1200 C.E.
23 And Judah said, “Let her keep the pledges, lest we become a laughingstock; behold, I sent this kid but you did not find her.” 24 Now, after a period of three months it became known that she was pregnant; and Judah was told, as follows: “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot; and moreover, behold, she is pregnant because of her harlotry.” And Judah said, “Is she not the daughter of a priest? Bring her out and let her be burned.”
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 44:5
Hebrew Bible
4 They had not gone very far from the city when Joseph said to the servant who was over his household, “Pursue the men at once! When you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil? 5 Doesn’t my master drink from this cup and use it for divination? You have done wrong!’” 6 When the man overtook them, he spoke these words to them. 7 They answered him, “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing!
150-100 B.C.E.
Jubilees 43:10
Pseudepigrapha
2 Early in the morning they went off. But when they had left that place, Joseph said to the man of his house: ‘Pursue them. Run and reprimand them as follows: “You have repaid me with evil instead of good. You have stolen from me the silver cup with which my master drinks.” Bring their youngest brother back to me and bring him quickly, before I go out to the place where I rule.’ 3 He ran after them and spoke to them in line with this message.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 49:10
Hebrew Bible
9 You are a lion’s cub, Judah, from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches and lies down like a lion; like a lioness—who will rouse him? 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; the nations will obey him. 11 Binding his foal to the vine, and his colt to the choicest vine, he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.
100-200 C.E.
Onkelos Genesis 49:10
Targum
9 The dominion shall be (thine) in the beginning, and in the end the kingdom shall be increased from the house of Jehuda, because from the judgment of death, my son, hast thou withdrawn. He shall repose, and abide in strength as a lion, and as a lioness, there shall be no king that may cut him off. 10 He who exerciseth dominion shall not pass away from the house of Jehuda, nor the saphra from his children's children for ever, until the Meshiha come, whose is the kingdom, and unto whom shall be the obedience of the nations (or, whom the peoples shall obey). 11 Israel shall pass round about in his cities; the people shall build his temple, they will be righteous round about him, and be doers of the law through his doctrine. Of goodly purple will be his raiment, and his vesture of crimson wool with colours.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 3:1
Hebrew Bible
1 Now Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. 2 The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush. He looked, and the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed! 3 So Moses thought, “I will turn aside to see this amazing sight. Why does the bush not burn up?”
100-200 C.E.
Onkelos Exodus 3:1
Targum
1 And Mosheh tended the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the rabba of Midian, and he led the flock to the place of the best pastures of the wilderness, and came to the mountain on which was revealed the glory of the Lord, unto Horeb. 2 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in the midst of a bush. And he gazed, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 3 And Mosheh said, I will now turn and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned up.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 4:10
Hebrew Bible
9 And if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to you, then take some water from the Nile and pour it out on the dry ground. The water you take out of the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.” 10 Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not an eloquent man, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave a mouth to man, or who makes a person mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?
75-85 C.E.
Acts 7:22
New Testament
20 At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful to God. For three months he was brought up in his father’s house, 21 and when he had been abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 So Moses was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds. 23 But when he was about forty years old, it entered his mind to visit his fellow countrymen the Israelites.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 12:8
Hebrew Bible
6 You must care for it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole community of Israel will kill it around sundown. 7 They will take some of the blood and put it on the two side posts and top of the doorframe of the houses where they will eat it. 8 They will eat the meat the same night; they will eat it roasted over the fire with bread made without yeast and with bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat it raw or boiled in water, but roast it over the fire with its head, its legs, and its entrails. 10 You must leave nothing until morning, but you must burn with fire whatever remains of it until morning.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 16:7
Hebrew Bible
5 You may not sacrifice the Passover in just any of your villages that the Lord your God is giving you, 6 but you must sacrifice it in the evening in the place where he chooses to locate his name, at sunset, the time of day you came out of Egypt. 7 You must boil13 and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses; you may return the next morning to your tents. 8 You must eat bread made without yeast for six days. The seventh day you are to hold an assembly for the Lord your God; you must not do any work on that day. 9 You must count seven weeks; you must begin to count them from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 12:9
Hebrew Bible
7 They will take some of the blood and put it on the two side posts and top of the doorframe of the houses where they will eat it. 8 They will eat the meat the same night; they will eat it roasted over the fire with bread made without yeast and with bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat it raw or boiled in water, but roast it over the fire with its head, its legs, and its entrails. 10 You must leave nothing until morning, but you must burn with fire whatever remains of it until morning. 11 This is how you are to eat it—dressed to travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.
4th Century B.C.E.
2 Chronicles 35:13
Hebrew Bible
11 They slaughtered the Passover lambs and the priests splashed the blood, while the Levites skinned the animals. 12 They reserved the burnt offerings and the cattle for the family divisions of the people to present to the Lord, as prescribed in the scroll of Moses. 13 They cooked the Passover sacrifices over the open fire as prescribed and cooked the consecrated offerings in pots, kettles, and pans. They quickly served them to all the people. 14 Afterward they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were offering burnt sacrifices and fat portions until evening. The Levites made preparations for themselves and for the priests, the descendants of Aaron.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 12:31
Hebrew Bible
29 It happened at midnight—the Lord attacked all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the prison, and all the firstborn of the cattle. 30 Pharaoh got up in the night, along with all his servants and all Egypt, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no house in which there was not someone dead. 31 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, “Get up, get out from among my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the Lord as you have requested! 32 Also, take your flocks and your herds, just as you have requested, and leave. But bless me also.” 33 The Egyptians were urging the people on, in order to send them out of the land quickly, for they were saying, “We are all dead!”
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 16:6
Hebrew Bible
4 There must not be a scrap of yeast within your land for seven days, nor can any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until the next morning. 5 You may not sacrifice the Passover in just any of your villages that the Lord your God is giving you, 6 but you must sacrifice it in the evening in the place where he chooses to locate his name, at sunset, the time of day you came out of Egypt. 7 You must boil13 and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses; you may return the next morning to your tents. 8 You must eat bread made without yeast for six days. The seventh day you are to hold an assembly for the Lord your God; you must not do any work on that day.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 15:1
Hebrew Bible
1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord. They said, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously, the horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea. 2 The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. 3 The Lord is a man of war10— the Lord is his name.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 15:21
Hebrew Bible
20 Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a hand drum in her hand, and all the women went out after her with hand drums and with dances. 21 Miriam sang in response to them, “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea.” 22 Then Moses led Israel to journey away from the Red Sea. They went out to the wilderness of Shur, walked for three days into the wilderness, and found no water.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 16:11
Hebrew Bible
10 As Aaron spoke to the whole community of the Israelites and they looked toward the wilderness, there the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud, 11 and the Lord spoke to Moses, 12 “I have heard the murmurings of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘During the evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be satisfied with bread, so that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’” 13 In the evening the quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning a layer of dew was all around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew had evaporated, there on the surface of the wilderness was a thin flaky substance, thin like frost on the earth.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Numbers 11:19
Hebrew Bible
18 “And say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, for you have wept in the ears* of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat, for life was good for us in Egypt?” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat. 19 You will eat, not just one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, 20 but a whole month, until it comes out your nostrils and makes you sick, because you have despised the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we ever come out of Egypt?”’”
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 105:40
Hebrew Bible
38 Egypt was happy when they left, for they were afraid of them. 39 He spread out a cloud for a cover, and provided a fire to light up the night. 40 They asked for food, and he sent quail; he satisfied them with food from the sky. 41 He opened up a rock and water flowed out; a river ran through dry regions. 42 Yes, he remembered the sacred promise he made to Abraham his servant.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 16:13
Hebrew Bible
12 “I have heard the murmurings of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘During the evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be satisfied with bread, so that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’” 13 In the evening the quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning a layer of dew was all around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew had evaporated, there on the surface of the wilderness was a thin flaky substance, thin like frost on the earth.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Numbers 11:9
Hebrew Bible
8 And the people went about and gathered it, and ground it with mills or pounded it in mortars; they baked it in pans and made cakes of it. It tasted like fresh olive oil. 9 And when the dew came down on the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.) 10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and when the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, Moses was also displeased.
300-1200 C.E.
Pseudo Jonathan Exodus 16:13
Targum
Speak thou with them, saying, Between the evenings (suns) you shall eat flesh, and in the morning shall you eat bread, and shall know that I am the Lord your God. And it came to pass, that in the evening the pheasants came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a fall of holy dew, prepared as a table, round about the camp: and the clouds ascended and caused manna to descend upon the dew; and there was upon the face of the desert a minute (substance) in lines, minute as the hoar frost upon the ground. And the sons of Israel beheld, and wondered, and said, a man to his companion, Man Hu? for they knew not what it was.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 16:31
Hebrew Bible
29 See, because the Lord has given you the Sabbath, that is why he is giving you food for two days on the sixth day. Each of you stay where you are; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day. 31 The house of Israel called its name “manna.” It was like coriander seed and was white, and it tasted like wafers with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it to be kept for generations to come, so that they may see the food I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out from the land of Egypt.’”
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Numbers 21:5
Hebrew Bible
4 Then they traveled from Mount Hor by the road to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom, but the people became impatient along the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there is no bread or water, and we detest this worthless food.” 6 So the Lord sent venomous snakes among the people, and they bit the people; many people of Israel died.
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 78:24
Hebrew Bible
23 He gave a command to the clouds above and opened the doors in the sky. 24 He rained down manna for them to eat; he gave them the grain of heaven. 25 Man ate the food of the mighty ones. He sent them more than enough to eat. 26 He brought the east wind through the sky and by his strength led forth the south wind.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 19:20
Hebrew Bible
19 When the sound of the horn grew louder and louder, Moses was speaking and God was answering him with a voice. 20 The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain, and the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. 21 The Lord said to Moses, “Go down and solemnly warn the people, lest they force their way through to the Lord to look, and many of them perish.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 4:36
Hebrew Bible
35 You have been taught that the Lord alone is God—there is no other besides him. 36 From heaven he spoke to you in order to teach you, and on earth he showed you his great fire from which you also heard his words. 37 Moreover, because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants who followed them and personally brought you out of Egypt with his great power
4th Century B.C.E.
Nehemiah 9:13
Hebrew Bible
12 You guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night to illumine for them the path they were to travel. 13 “You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You provided them with just judgments, true laws, and good statutes and commandments. 14 You made known to them your holy Sabbath; you issued commandments, statutes, and laws to them through Moses your servant.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 20:5
Hebrew Bible
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me, 6 and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
300-1000 C.E.
Neofiti Exodus 20:5
Targum
4 You shall not make to yourselves image or figure, or any similitude of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them, or worship before them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God and an avenger, punishing with vengeance, recording the guilt of wicked fathers upon rebellious children unto the third and unto the fourth generation of them who hate Me; 6 but keeping mercy and goodness for thousands of generations of the righteous who love Me, and who keep My commandments and My laws.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 20:5
Hebrew Bible
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me, 6 and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
100-200 C.E.
Onkelos Exodus 20:5
Targum
4 Thou shalt not make to thee image nor likeness of any thing that is in the heavens above, nor in the earth beneath, nor in the waters under the earth: 5 thou shalt not worship them nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God; visiting the sins of the fathers upon the rebellious children, unto the third generation and to the fourth generation of those who hate Me; while the children continue (or complete) to sin after their fathers; 6 but doing good to thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 20:11
Hebrew Bible
8 “Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy. 9 For six days you may labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy. 12 “Honor your father and your mother, that you may live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving to you.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 5:15
Hebrew Bible
13 You are to work and do all your tasks in six days, 14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. On that day you must not do any work, you, your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, your ox, your donkey, any other animal, or the resident foreigner who lives with you, so that your male and female slaves, like yourself, may have rest. 15 Recall that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there by strength and power. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. 16 “Honor your father and your mother just as the Lord your God has commanded you to do, so that your days may be extended and that it may go well with you in the land that he is about to give you. 17 “You must not murder.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 20:15
Hebrew Bible
13 “You shall not murder. 14 “You shall not commit adultery. 15 “You shall not steal. 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Proverbs 6:30
Hebrew Bible
28 Can a man walk on hot coals without scorching his feet? 29 So it is with the one who sleeps with his neighbor’s wife; no one who touches her will escape punishment. 30 People do not despise a thief when he steals to fulfill his need when he is hungry. 31 Yet if he is caught he must repay seven times over; he might even have to give all the wealth of his house. 32 A man who commits adultery with a woman lacks sense; whoever does it destroys his own life.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 21:2
Hebrew Bible
1 “These are the ordinances that you will set before them: 2 “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year he will go out free without paying anything. 3 If he came in by himself he will go out by himself; if he had a wife when he came in, then his wife will go out with him. 4 If his master gave him a wife, and she bore sons or daughters, the wife and the children will belong to her master, and he will go out by himself.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Leviticus 25:42
Hebrew Bible
40 He must be with you as a hired worker, as a resident foreigner; he must serve with you until the Year of Jubilee, 41 but then he may go free, he and his children with him, and may return to his family and to the property of his ancestors. 42 Since the Israelites are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt, they must not be sold in a slave sale. 43 You must not rule over them harshly, but you must fear your God. 44 “‘As for your male and female slaves who may belong to you—you may buy male and female slaves from the nations all around you.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 21:23
Hebrew Bible
22 “If men fight and hit a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no serious injury, the one who hit her will surely be punished in accordance with what the woman’s husband demands of him, and he will pay what the court decides. 23 But if there is serious injury, then you will give a life for a life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. 26 “If a man strikes the eye of his male servant or his female servant so that he destroys it, he will let the servant go free as compensation for the eye. 27 If he knocks out the tooth of his male servant or his female servant, he will let the servant go free as compensation for the tooth.
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Proverbs 24:29
Hebrew Bible
27 Establish your work outside and get your fields ready; afterward build your house. 28 Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your words. 29 Do not say, “I will do to him just as he has done to me; I will pay him back according to what he has done.” 30 I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of one who lacks sense. 31 I saw that thorns had grown up all over it; the ground was covered with weeds, and its stone wall was broken down.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 23:11
Hebrew Bible
9 “You must not oppress a resident foreigner, since you know the life of a foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. 10 “For six years you are to sow your land and gather in its produce. 11 But in the seventh year you must let it lie fallow and leave it alone so that the poor of your people may eat, and what they leave any animal in the field may eat; you must do likewise with your vineyard and your olive grove. 12 For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, in order that your ox and your donkey may rest and that your female servant’s son and the resident foreigner may refresh themselves. 13 “Pay attention to do everything I have told you, and do not even mention the names of other gods—do not let them be heard on your lips.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Leviticus 25:4
Hebrew Bible
2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land must observe a Sabbath to the Lord. 3 Six years you may sow your field, and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather the produce, 4 but in the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath of complete rest—a Sabbath to the Lord. You must not sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5 You must not gather in the aftergrowth of your harvest, and you must not pick the grapes of your unpruned vines; the land must have a year of complete rest. 6 You may have the Sabbath produce of the land to eat—you, your male servant, your female servant, your hired worker, the resident foreigner who stays with you,
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 23:20
Hebrew Bible
18 “You must not offer the blood of my sacrifice with bread containing yeast; the fat of my festal sacrifice must not remain until morning. 19 The first of the firstfruits of your soil you must bring to the house of the Lord your God. “You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk. 20 “I am going to send a messenger before you to protect you as you journey and to bring you into the place that I have prepared. 21 Take heed because of him, and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my Name is in him. 22 But if you diligently obey him and do all that I command, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will be an adversary to your adversaries.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 33:14
Hebrew Bible
12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you have been saying to me, ‘Bring this people up,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. But you said, ‘I know you by name, and also you have found favor in my sight.’ 13 Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your way, that I may know you, that I may continue to find favor in your sight. And see that this nation is your people.” 14 And the Lord said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And Moses said to him, “If your presence does not go with us, do not take us up from here. 16 For how will it be known then that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not by your going with us, so that we will be distinguished, I and your people, from all the people who are on the face of the earth?”
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 24:10
Hebrew Bible
8 So Moses took the blood and splashed it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” 9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement made of blue sapphire, clear like the sky itself. 11 But he did not lay a hand on the leaders of the Israelites, so they saw God, and they ate and they drank. 12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandments that I have written, so that you may teach them.”
3rd Century B.C.E.
LXX Exodus 24:10
Septuagint
8 And Moses, taking the blood, sprinkled it over the people and said, “Look, the blood of the covenant, which the Lord established with you concerning all these matters.” 9 And Moses and Aaron and Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. 10 And they saw the place where the God of Israel stood and what was under his feet just like brickwork of lapis lazuli, and like the appearance of the firmament of the heavens in purity. 11 And not even one of the chosen leaders of Israel was missing, and they appeared in the place of God, and they ate and drank. 12 And the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me into the mountain and be there, and I will give you the stone tablets, the law, and the commandments that I wrote to instruct them.”
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 29:31
Hebrew Bible
30 The priest who succeeds him from his sons, when he first comes to the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place, is to wear them for seven days. 31 “You are to take the ram of the consecration and cook its meat in a holy place. 32 Aaron and his sons are to eat the meat of the ram and the bread that was in the basket at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Leviticus 8:31
Hebrew Bible
30 Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood which was on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons’ garments. So he consecrated Aaron, his garments, and his sons and his sons’ garments. 31 Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons, “Boil the meat at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, and there you are to eat it and the bread which is in the ordination-offering basket, just as I have commanded, saying, ‘Aaron and his sons are to eat it,’ 32 but the remainder of the meat and the bread you must burn with fire.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 33:7
Hebrew Bible
5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up among you for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments that I may know what I should do to you.’” 6 So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments by Mount Horeb. 7 Moses took the tent and pitched it outside the camp, at a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. Anyone seeking the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting that was outside the camp. 8 And when Moses went out to the tent, all the people would get up and stand at the entrance to their tents and watch Moses until he entered the tent. 9 And whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Numbers 2:17
Hebrew Bible
15 Those numbered in his division are 45,650. 16 All those numbered of the camp of Reuben, according to their divisions, are 151,450. They will travel second. 17 “Then the tent of meeting with the camp of the Levites will travel in the middle of the camps. They will travel in the same order as they camped, each in his own place under his standard. 18 “On the west will be the divisions of the camp of Ephraim under their standard. The leader of the people of Ephraim is Elishama son of Ammihud. 19 Those numbered in his division are 40,500.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 33:11
Hebrew Bible
10 When all the people would see the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people, each one at the entrance of his own tent, would rise and worship. 11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, the way a person speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his servant, Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent. 12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you have been saying to me, ‘Bring this people up,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. But you said, ‘I know you by name, and also you have found favor in my sight.’
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Numbers 1:51
Hebrew Bible
50 But appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, over all its furnishings and over everything in it. They must carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; and they must attend to it and camp around it. 51 Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites must take it down, and whenever the tabernacle is to be reassembled, the Levites must set it up. Any unauthorized person who approaches it must be killed. 52 “The Israelites will camp according to their divisions, each man in his camp, and each man by his standard.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Leviticus 7:37
Hebrew Bible
36 This is what the Lord commanded to give to them from the Israelites on the day Moses anointed them—a perpetual allotted portion throughout their generations. 37 This is the law for the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering, and the peace-offering sacrifice, 38 which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai on the day he commanded the Israelites to present their offerings to the Lord in the desert of Sinai.
5th Century B.C.E.
Jeremiah 7:22
Hebrew Bible
21 “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to the people of Judah: ‘You might as well go ahead and add the meat of your burnt offerings to that of the other sacrifices and eat it, too! 22 Consider this: When I spoke to your ancestors after I brought them out of Egypt, I did not give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 I also explicitly commanded them: “Obey me. If you do, I will be your God and you will be my people. Live exactly the way I tell you and things will go well with you.”
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Leviticus 15:19
Hebrew Bible
17 and he must wash in water any clothing or leather that has semen on it, and it will be unclean until evening. 18 As for a woman whom a man goes to bed with, then has a seminal emission, they must bathe in water and be unclean until evening. 19 “‘When a woman has a discharge and her discharge is blood from her body, she is to be in her menstruation seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening. 20 Anything she lies on during her menstruation will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. 21 Anyone who touches her bed must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.
6th Century B.C.E.
Ezekiel 18:6
Hebrew Bible
5 “Suppose a man is righteous. He practices what is just and right; 6 does not eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains or pray to the idols of the house of Israel; does not defile his neighbor’s wife; does not approach a woman for marital relations during her period; 7 does not oppress anyone, but gives the debtor back whatever was given in pledge; does not commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and clothes the naked; 8 does not engage in usury or charge interest, but refrains from wrongdoing; promotes true justice between men; 9 and follows my statutes and observes my regulations by carrying them out. That man is righteous; he will certainly live, declares the Sovereign Lord.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Leviticus 18:5
Hebrew Bible
3 You must not do as they do in the land of Egypt where you have been living, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan into which I am about to bring you; you must not walk in their statutes. 4 You must observe my regulations, and you must be sure to walk in my statutes. I am the Lord your God. 5 So you must keep my statutes and my regulations; anyone who does so will live by keeping them. I am the Lord. 6 “‘No man is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations with her. I am the Lord. 7 You must not expose your father’s nakedness by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have sexual relations with her.
6th Century B.C.E.
Ezekiel 20:25
Hebrew Bible
23 I also swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands. 24 I did this because they did not observe my regulations, they rejected my statutes, they desecrated my Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their fathers’ idols. 25 I also gave them decrees that were not good and regulations by which they could not live. 26 I declared them to be defiled because of their sacrifices—they caused all their firstborn to pass through the fire—so that I might devastate them, so that they would know that I am the Lord.’ 27 “Therefore, speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In this way too your fathers blasphemed me when they were unfaithful to me.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Leviticus 18:9
Hebrew Bible
8 You must not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; she is your father’s nakedness. 9 You must not have sexual relations with your sister, whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she is born in the same household or born outside it; you must not have sexual relations with either of them. 10 You must not expose the nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter by having sexual relations with them, because they are your own nakedness.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
2 Samuel 13:13
Hebrew Bible
11 As she brought them to him to eat, he grabbed her and said to her, “Come on! Get in bed with me, my sister!” 12 But she said to him, “No, my brother! Don’t humiliate me! This just isn’t done in Israel! Don’t do this foolish thing! 13 How could I ever be rid of my humiliation? And you would be considered one of the fools in Israel! Just speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.” 14 But he refused to listen to her. He overpowered her and humiliated her by raping her.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Leviticus 23:42
Hebrew Bible
40 On the first day you must take for yourselves branches from majestic trees—palm branches, branches of leafy trees, and willows of the brook—and you must rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. 41 You must celebrate it as a pilgrim festival to the Lord for seven days in the year. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you must celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You must live in temporary shelters for seven days; every native citizen in Israel must live in shelters, 43 so that your future generations may know that I made the Israelites live in shelters when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’” 44 So Moses spoke to the Israelites about the appointed times of the Lord.
4th Century B.C.E.
Nehemiah 8:15
Hebrew Bible
13 On the second day of the month the family leaders met with Ezra the scribe, together with all the people, the priests, and the Levites, to consider the words of the law. 14 They discovered written in the law that the Lord had commanded through Moses that the Israelites should live in temporary shelters during the festival of the seventh month, 15 and that they should make a proclamation and disseminate this message in all their cities and in Jerusalem: “Go to the hill country and bring back olive branches and branches of wild olive trees, myrtle trees, date palms, and other leafy trees to construct temporary shelters, as it is written.” 16 So the people went out and brought these things back and constructed temporary shelters for themselves, each on his roof and in his courtyard and in the courtyards of the temple of God and in the plaza of the Water Gate and the plaza of the Ephraim Gate. 17 So all the assembly which had returned from the exile constructed temporary shelters and lived in them. The Israelites had not done so from the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day. Everyone experienced very great joy.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Leviticus 25:8
Hebrew Bible
8 “‘You must count off seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, and the days of the seven weeks of years will amount to 49 years. 9 You must sound loud horn blasts—in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, on the Day of Atonement—you must sound the horn in your entire land. 10 So you must consecrate the fiftieth year, and you must proclaim a release in the land for all its inhabitants. That year will be your Jubilee; each one of you must return to his property, and each one of you must return to his clan. 11 That fiftieth year will be your Jubilee; you must not sow the land, harvest its aftergrowth, or pick the grapes of its unpruned vines. 12 Because that year is a Jubilee, it will be holy to you—you may eat its produce from the field.
150-100 B.C.E.
Jubilees 50:4
Pseudepigrapha
2 On Mt. Sinai I told you about the sabbaths of the land and the years of jubilees in the sabbaths of the years, but its year we have not told you until the time when you enter the land which you will possess. 3 The land will observe its sabbaths when they live on it, and they are to know the year of the jubilee. 4 For this reason I have arranged for you the weeks of years and the jubilees — 49 jubilees from the time of Adam until today, and one week and two years. It is still 40 years off (for learning the Lord’s commandments) until the time when he leads them across to the land of Canaan, after they have crossed the Jordan to the west of it.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Leviticus 26:34
Hebrew Bible
33 I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste. 34 “‘Then the land will make up for its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land will rest and make up its Sabbaths. 35 All the days of the desolation it will have the rest it did not have on your Sabbaths when you lived on it. 36 “‘As for the ones who remain among you, I will bring despair into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a blowing leaf will pursue them, and they will flee as one who flees the sword and will fall down even though there is no pursuer.
4th Century B.C.E.
2 Chronicles 36:21
Hebrew Bible
20 He deported to Babylon all who escaped the sword. They served him and his sons until the Persian kingdom rose to power. 21 This took place to fulfill the Lord’s message spoken through Jeremiah and lasted until the land experienced its sabbatical years. All the time of its desolation the land rested in order to fulfill the seventy years. 22 In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in fulfillment of the Lord’s message spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord motivated King Cyrus of Persia to issue a proclamation throughout his kingdom and also to put it in writing. It read: 23 “This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: ‘The Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Anyone of his people among you may go up there, and may the Lord his God be with him.’”
2nd Century B.C.E.
Daniel 9:2
Hebrew Bible
1 In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus, who was of Median descent and who had been appointed king over the Babylonian empire— 2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, came to understand from the sacred books that the number of years for the fulfilling of the desolation of Jerusalem, which had come as the Lord’s message to the prophet Jeremiah, would be 70 years. 3 So I turned my attention to the Lord God to implore him by prayer and requests, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Numbers 2:32
Hebrew Bible
31 All those numbered of the camp of Dan are 157,600. They will travel last, under their standards.” 32 These are the Israelites, numbered according to their families. All those numbered in the camps, by their divisions, are 603,550. 33 But the Levites were not numbered among the other Israelites, as the Lord commanded Moses.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
2 Samuel 24:8
Hebrew Bible
8 They went through all the land and after nine months and twenty days came back to Jerusalem. 9 Joab reported the number of warriors to the king. In Israel there were 800,000 sword-wielding warriors, and in Judah there were 500,000 soldiers. 10 David felt guilty after he had numbered the army. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly by doing this! Now, O Lord, please remove the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Numbers 14:24
Hebrew Bible
23 they will by no means see the land that I promised on oath to their fathers, nor will any of them who despised me see it— 24 Only my servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit and has followed me fully—I will bring him into the land where he had gone, and his descendants will possess it. 25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites were living in the valleys.) Tomorrow, turn and journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.”
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Numbers 32:12
Hebrew Bible
11 ‘Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of the men twenty years old and upward who came from Egypt will see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 12 except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the Lord wholeheartedly.’ 13 So the Lord’s anger was kindled against the Israelites, and he made them wander in the wilderness for 40 years, until all that generation that had done wickedly before the Lord was finished.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Joshua 14:14
Hebrew Bible
12 Now, assign me this hill country that the Lord promised me at that time! No doubt you heard then that the Anakites live there in large, fortified cities. But assuming the Lord is with me, I will conquer them, as the Lord promised.” 13 Joshua asked God to empower Caleb son of Jephunneh and assigned him Hebron. 14 So Hebron remains the assigned land of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this very day because he remained loyal to the Lord God of Israel. 15 (Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba. Arba was a famous Anakite.) Then the land was free of war.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Numbers 15:39
Hebrew Bible
37 The Lord spoke to Moses: 38 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them to make tassels for themselves on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and put a blue thread on the tassel of the corners. 39 You must have this tassel so that you may look at it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and obey them and so that you do not follow after your own heart and your own eyes that lead you to unfaithfulness. 40 Thus you will remember and obey all my commandments and be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.”
3rd Century B.C.E.
Ecclesiastes 11:9
Hebrew Bible
7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for a person to see the sun. 8 So, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many—all that is about to come is obscure. 9 Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes, but know that God will judge your motives and actions. 10 Banish emotional stress from your mind and put away pain from your body; for youth and the prime of life are fleeting.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Numbers 20:1
Hebrew Bible
10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the community together in front of the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring water out of this rock for you?” 11 Then Moses raised his hand, and struck the rock twice with his staff. And water came out abundantly. So the community drank, and their beasts drank too. 12 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough to show me as holy before the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them.” 13 These are the waters of Meribah, because the Israelites contended with the Lord, and his holiness was maintained among them.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 3:26
Hebrew Bible
24 “O, Sovereign Lord, you have begun to show me your greatness and strength. (What god in heaven or earth can rival your works and mighty deeds?) 25 Let me please cross over to see the good land on the other side of the Jordan River—this good hill country and the Lebanon!” 26 But the Lord was angry at me because of you and would not listen to me. Instead, he said to me, “Enough of that! Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. 27 Go up to the top of Pisgah and take a good look to the west, north, south, and east, for you will not be allowed to cross the Jordan. 28 Commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, because he will lead these people over and will enable them to inherit the land you will see.”
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 34:7
Hebrew Bible
4 Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it, but you will not cross over there.” 5 So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab as the Lord had said. 6 He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab near Beth Peor, but no one knows his exact burial place to this very day. 7 Moses was 120 years old when he died, but his eye was not dull nor had his vitality departed. 8 The Israelites mourned for Moses in the rift valley plains of Moab for thirty days; then the days of mourning for Moses ended.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Numbers 23:19
Hebrew Bible
17 When Balaam came to him, he was still standing by his burnt offering, along with the princes of Moab. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?” 18 Balaam uttered his oracle, and said,“Rise up, Balak, and hear;Listen to me, son of Zippor: 19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a human being, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it happen? 20 Indeed, I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. 21 He has not looked on iniquity in Jacob, nor has he seen trouble in Israel. The Lord their God is with them; his acclamation as king is among them.
6th Century B.C.E.
Amos 7:3
Hebrew Bible
1 The Sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw him making locusts just as the crops planted late were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest.) 2 When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said, “Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! How can Jacob survive? He is too weak!” 3 The Lord changed his mind about this.7 “It will not happen,” the Lord said. 4 The Sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw the Sovereign Lord summoning a shower of fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields. 5 I said, “Sovereign Lord, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is too weak!”
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 4:34
Hebrew Bible
33 Have a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the middle of fire, as you yourselves have, and lived to tell about it? 34 Or has God ever before tried to deliver a nation from the middle of another nation, accompanied by judgments, signs, wonders, war, strength, power, and other very terrifying things like the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? 35 You have been taught that the Lord alone is God—there is no other besides him.
6th Century B.C.E.
Amos 9:7
Hebrew Bible
6 He builds the upper rooms of his palace in heaven and sets its foundation supports on the earth. He summons the water of the sea and pours it out on the earth’s surface. The Lord is his name. 7 “You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,” says the Lord. “Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir. 8 Look, the Sovereign Lord is watching the sinful nation, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. But I will not completely destroy the family of Jacob,” says the Lord.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 5:9
Hebrew Bible
8 “You must not make for yourself an image of anything in heaven above, on earth below, or in the waters beneath. 9 You must not worship or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I punish the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin of the fathers who reject me, 10 but I show covenant faithfulness to the thousands who choose me and keep my commandments.
6th Century B.C.E.
Ezekiel 18:2
Hebrew Bible
2 “What do you mean by quoting this proverb concerning the land of Israel: “‘The fathers eat sour grapes, And the children’s teeth become numb?’ 3 “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, you will not quote this proverb in Israel anymore! 4 Indeed! All lives are mine—the life of the father as well as the life of the son is mine. The one who sins will die.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 7:1
Hebrew Bible
1 When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you—Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you— 2 and he delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy! 3 You must not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
1 Kings 9:20
Hebrew Bible
18 Baalath, Tadmor in the wilderness, 19 all the storage cities that belonged to him, and the cities where chariots and horses were kept. He built whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout his entire kingdom. 20 Now several non-Israelite peoples were left in the land after the conquest of Joshua, including the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 21 Their descendants remained in the land (the Israelites were unable to wipe them out completely). Solomon conscripted them for his work crews, and they continue in that role to this very day. 22 Solomon did not assign Israelites to these work crews; the Israelites served as his soldiers, attendants, officers, charioteers, and commanders of his chariot forces.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 7:3
Hebrew Bible
1 When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you—Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you— 2 and he delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy! 3 You must not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you. 5 Instead, this is what you must do to them: You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, cut down their sacred Asherah poles, and burn up their idols.
4th Century B.C.E.
Ezra 10:2
Hebrew Bible
1 While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself to the ground before the temple of God, a very large crowd of Israelites—men, women, and children alike—gathered around him. The people wept loudly. 2 Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam, addressed Ezra: “We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the local peoples. Nonetheless, there is still hope for Israel in this regard. 3 Therefore let us enact a covenant with our God to send away all these women and their offspring, in keeping with your counsel, my lord, and that of those who respect the commandments of our God. And let it be done according to the law. 4 Get up, for this matter concerns you. We are with you, so be strong and act decisively!”
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 16:7
Hebrew Bible
5 You may not sacrifice the Passover in just any of your villages that the Lord your God is giving you, 6 but you must sacrifice it in the evening in the place where he chooses to locate his name, at sunset, the time of day you came out of Egypt. 7 You must boil13 and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses; you may return the next morning to your tents. 8 You must eat bread made without yeast for six days. The seventh day you are to hold an assembly for the Lord your God; you must not do any work on that day. 9 You must count seven weeks; you must begin to count them from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain.
4th Century B.C.E.
2 Chronicles 35:13
Hebrew Bible
11 They slaughtered the Passover lambs and the priests splashed the blood, while the Levites skinned the animals. 12 They reserved the burnt offerings and the cattle for the family divisions of the people to present to the Lord, as prescribed in the scroll of Moses. 13 They cooked the Passover sacrifices over the open fire as prescribed and cooked the consecrated offerings in pots, kettles, and pans. They quickly served them to all the people. 14 Afterward they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were offering burnt sacrifices and fat portions until evening. The Levites made preparations for themselves and for the priests, the descendants of Aaron.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 16:7
Hebrew Bible
5 You may not sacrifice the Passover in just any of your villages that the Lord your God is giving you, 6 but you must sacrifice it in the evening in the place where he chooses to locate his name, at sunset, the time of day you came out of Egypt. 7 You must boil13 and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses; you may return the next morning to your tents. 8 You must eat bread made without yeast for six days. The seventh day you are to hold an assembly for the Lord your God; you must not do any work on that day. 9 You must count seven weeks; you must begin to count them from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain.
3rd Century B.C.E.
LXX Deuteronomy 16:7
Septuagint
5 You shall not be able to offer the Passover in any of your cities that the Lord your God has given you; 6 rather into the place that the Lord your God may choose to have his name invoked, in that place you shall offer the Passover in the evening to the setting of the sun, at the time that you came out of Egypt. 7 And you shall boil and roast and eat it in the place where the Lord your God may choose it, and you shall return in the morning and go into your houses. 8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, but the seventh day, the final day, there shall be a festival to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work in it; you shall only do that which is necessary for life. 9 Seven weeks you shall count for yourself when you have begun your sickle upon the harvest; you shall begin to count seven weeks. The Feast of Weeks
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 27:25
Hebrew Bible
23 ‘Cursed is the one who goes to bed with his mother-in-law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 24 ‘Cursed is the one who kills his neighbor in private.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 25 ‘Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 26 ‘Cursed is the one who refuses to keep the words of this law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’
70-90 C.E.
Matthew 27:24
New Testament
22 Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Christ?” They all said, “Crucify him!” 23 He asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?” But they shouted more insistently, “Crucify him!” 24 When Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but that instead a riot was starting, he took some water, washed his hands before the crowd and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. You take care of it yourselves!” 25 In reply all the people said, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 28:63
Hebrew Bible
62 There will be very few of you left, though at one time you were as numerous as the stars in the sky, because you will have disobeyed the Lord your God. 63 This is what will happen: Just as the Lord delighted to do good for you and make you numerous, so he will also take delight in destroying and decimating you. You will be uprooted from the land you are about to possess. 64 The Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of wood and stone.
6th Century B.C.E.
Ezekiel 33:11
Hebrew Bible
10 “And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you have said: “Our rebellious acts and our sins have caught up with us, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ 11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefer that the wicked change his behavior and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds! Why should you die, O house of Israel?’ 12 “And you, son of man, say to your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him if he rebels. As for the wicked, his wickedness will not make him stumble if he turns from it. The righteous will not be able to live by his righteousness if he sins.’
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 30:3
Hebrew Bible
1 “When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses I have set before you, you will reflect upon them in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you. 2 Then if you and your descendants turn to the Lord your God and obey him with your whole mind and being just as I am commanding you today, 3 the Lord your God will reverse your captivity and have pity on you. He will turn and gather you from all the peoples among whom he has scattered you. 4 Even if your exiles are in the most distant land, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
1 Kings 8:50
Hebrew Bible
48 When they return to you with all their heart and being in the land where they are held prisoner, and direct their prayers to you toward the land you gave to their ancestors, your chosen city, and the temple I built for your honor, 49 then listen from your heavenly dwelling place to their prayers for help and vindicate them. 50 Forgive all the rebellious acts of your sinful people and cause their captors to have mercy on them. 51 After all, they are your people and your special possession whom you brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the iron-smelting furnace.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 32:10
Hebrew Bible
8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided up humankind, he set the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the heavenly assembly. 9 For the Lord’s allotment is his people, Jacob is his special possession. 10 The Lord found him in a desolate land, in an empty wasteland where animals howl. He continually guarded him and taught him; he continually protected him like the pupil of his eye. 11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, so the Lord spread out his wings and took him, he lifted him up on his pinions.
6th Century B.C.E.
Ezekiel 16:5
Hebrew Bible
4 As for your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water; you were certainly not rubbed down with salt, nor wrapped with blankets. 5 No eye took pity on you to do even one of these things for you to spare you; you were thrown out into the open field because you were detested on the day you were born. 6 “‘I passed by you and saw you kicking around helplessly in your blood. I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!” I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!”
6th Century B.C.E.
Hosea 9:10
Hebrew Bible
9 They have sunk deep into corruption as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their wrongdoing. He will repay them for their sins. 10 When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the wilderness. I viewed your ancestors like an early fig on a fig tree in its first season. Then they came to Baal Peor, and they dedicated themselves to shame—they became as detestable as what they loved. 11 Ephraim will be like a bird; what they value will fly away. They will not bear children—they will not enjoy pregnancy—they will not even conceive!
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 33:16
Hebrew Bible
15 with the best of the ancient mountains and the harvest produced by the age-old hills; 16 with the harvest of the earth and its fullness and the pleasure of him who resided in the burning bush. May blessing rest on Joseph’s head, and on the top of the head of the one set apart from his brothers. 17 May the firstborn of his bull bring him honor, and may his horns be those of a wild ox; with them may he gore all peoples, all the far reaches of the earth. They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”
3rd Century B.C.E.
LXX Deuteronomy 33:16
Septuagint
15 from the top of mountains of beginning and from the top of everlasting hills, 16 and according to a season of the land’s fullness. And the things acceptable to the one who appeared in the bush, may they come upon the head of Joseph and on the head of the one who was honored above brothers. 17 A firstborn of a bull, his beauty. His horns are the horns of a unicorn; with them he shall gore nations, as far as on the end of the earth. These are the myriads of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh.”
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Joshua 10:40
Hebrew Bible
40 Joshua defeated the whole land, including the hill country, the Negev, the foothills, the slopes, and all their kings. He left no survivors. He annihilated everything that breathed, just as the Lord God of Israel had commanded. 41 Joshua conquered the area between Kadesh Barnea and Gaza and the whole region of Goshen, all the way to Gibeon. 42 Joshua captured in one campaign all these kings and their lands, for the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. 43 Then Joshua and all Israel returned to the camp at Gilgal.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Joshua 13:13
Hebrew Bible
12 the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth and Edrei. (He was one of the few remaining Rephaites.) Moses defeated them and took their lands. 13 But the Israelites did not conquer the Geshurites and Maacathites; Geshur and Maacah live among Israel to this very day. 14 However, Moses did not assign land as an inheritance to the Levites; their inheritance is the sacrificial offerings made to the Lord God of Israel, as he instructed them.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Joshua 16:10
Hebrew Bible
8 From Tappuah it went westward to the Valley of Kanah and ended at the sea. This is the land assigned to the tribe of Ephraim by its clans. 9 Also included were the cities set apart for the tribe of Ephraim within Manasseh’s territory, along with their towns. 10 The Ephraimites did not conquer the Canaanites living in Gezer. The Canaanites live among the Ephraimites to this very day and do hard labor as their servants.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
1 Samuel 2:27
Hebrew Bible
26 However, the boy Samuel was growing up and finding favor both with the Lord and with people. 27 Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘I plainly revealed myself to your ancestor’s house when they were slaves to the house of Pharaoh in Egypt. 28 I chose your ancestor from all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer sacrifice on my altar, to burn incense, and to bear the ephod before me. I gave to your ancestor’s house all the fire offerings made by the Israelites.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
2 Samuel 6:14
Hebrew Bible
13 Those who carried the ark of the Lord took six steps and then David sacrificed an ox and a fatling calf. 14 Now David, wearing a linen ephod, was dancing with all his strength before the Lord. 15 David and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord, shouting and blowing trumpets.
1st Century B.C.E.
LXX 2 Samuel 6:14
Septuagint
13 And there were with them who were bringing the Ark, seven choirs and a sacrifice of a calf and a lamb. 14 And David was playing on tuned instruments before the Lord and David was wearing a distinguished robe. 15 And David and all the house of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
1 Samuel 4:8
Hebrew Bible
7 The Philistines were scared because they thought that gods had come to the camp. They said, “Woe to us! We’ve never seen anything like this! 8 Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all sorts of plagues in the desert! 9 Be strong and act like men, you Philistines, or else you will wind up serving the Hebrews the way they have served you! Act like men and fight!”
200-300 C.E.
Jonathan 1 Samuel 4:8
Targum
7 The Philistines were afraid for they said The Ark of the Lord has come to the camp and they said Woe to us for such a thing has never happened before 8 Woe to us Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues and did wonders in the wilderness 9 Take courage and be men Philistines or you will become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been slaves to you Be men and fight
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
1 Samuel 9:2
Hebrew Bible
1 There was a Benjaminite man named Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin. Kish was a prominent person. 2 He had a son named Saul, a handsome young man. There was no one among the Israelites more handsome than he was; he stood head and shoulders above all the people. 3 The donkeys of Saul’s father Kish wandered off, so Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go look for the donkeys.”
7th-5th Centuries B.C.E.
Isaiah 53:2
Hebrew Bible
1 Who would have believed what we just heard? When was the Lord’s power revealed through him? 2 He sprouted up like a twig before God, like a root out of parched soil; he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention, no special appearance that we should want to follow him. 3 He was despised and rejected by people, one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness; people hid their faces from him; he was despised, and we considered him insignificant.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
1 Samuel 14:18
Hebrew Bible
17 So Saul said to the army that was with him, “Muster the troops and see who is no longer with us.” When they mustered the troops, Jonathan and his armor-bearer were not there. 18 So Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring near the ark of God,” for the ark of God was in that day, and the sons of Israel19. 19 While Saul spoke to the priest, the panic in the Philistines’ camp was becoming greater and greater. So Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.”
1st Century B.C.E.
LXX 1 Samuel 14:18
Septuagint
17 And Saul said to the people with him, “Count, right now, and see who has gone from you.” And they counted, and look, Jonathan and his equipment carrier could not be found. 18 And Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring the ephod,” for he carried the ephod in that day before Israel. 19 And it happened that as Saul spoke to the priest, and the noise in the camp of the foreigners continued to increase. So Saul said to the priest, “Put your hands together.”
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
1 Samuel 15:35
Hebrew Bible
33 Samuel said, “Just as your sword left women childless, so your mother will be the most bereaved among women.” Then Samuel hacked Agag to pieces there in Gilgal before the Lord. 34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, while Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. 35 Until the day he died, Samuel did not see Saul again. Samuel did, however, mourn for Saul, but the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
1 Samuel 19:24
Hebrew Bible
23 So Saul went to Naioth in Ramah. The Spirit of God came upon him as well, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 He even stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel. He lay there naked all that day and night. (For that reason it is asked, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”)
1st Century B.C.E.
LXX 1 Samuel 19:24
Septuagint
23 And he went from there into Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God also came upon him, and he went prophesying as far as his journey to Naioth in Ramah. 24 And he took off his clothing and prophesied before them and fell naked that entire day and the entire night. Because of this, they said, “Is also Saul among the prophets?”
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
1 Samuel 16:12
Hebrew Bible
11 Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Is that all the young men?” Jesse replied, “There is still the youngest one, but he’s taking care of the flock.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we cannot turn our attention to other things until he comes here.” 12 So Jesse had him brought in. Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one.” 13 So Samuel took the horn full of olive oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers. The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day onward. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah.
7th-5th Centuries B.C.E.
Isaiah 53:2
Hebrew Bible
1 Who would have believed what we just heard? When was the Lord’s power revealed through him? 2 He sprouted up like a twig before God, like a root out of parched soil; he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention, no special appearance that we should want to follow him. 3 He was despised and rejected by people, one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness; people hid their faces from him; he was despised, and we considered him insignificant.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
1 Samuel 28:6
Hebrew Bible
4 The Philistines assembled; they came and camped at Shunem. Saul mustered all Israel and camped at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was absolutely terrified. 6 So Saul inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him—not by dreams nor by Urim nor by the prophets. 7 So Saul instructed his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go to her and inquire of her.” His servants replied to him, “There is a woman who is a medium in Endor.” 8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing and left, accompanied by two of his men. They came to the woman at night and said, “Use your ritual pit to conjure up for me the one I tell you.”
4th Century B.C.E.
1 Chronicles 10:13
Hebrew Bible
11 When all the residents of Jabesh Gilead heard about everything the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all the warriors went and recovered the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their remains under the oak tree in Jabesh and fasted for seven days. 13 So Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord and did not obey the Lord’s instructions; he even tried to conjure up underworld spirits. 14 He did not seek the Lord’s guidance, so the Lord killed him and transferred the kingdom to David son of Jesse.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
2 Samuel 6:14
Hebrew Bible
12 King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the family of Obed-Edom and everything he owns because of the ark of God.” So David went and joyfully brought the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David. 13 Those who carried the ark of the Lord took six steps and then David sacrificed an ox and a fatling calf. 14 Now David, wearing a linen ephod, was dancing with all his strength before the Lord. 15 David and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord, shouting and blowing trumpets. 16 As the ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked out the window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him.
1st Century B.C.E.
LXX 2 Samuel 6:14
Septuagint
12 And it was reported to King David, saying, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all those with him because of the Ark of God.” So David went and brought up the Ark of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David in celebration. 13 And there were with them who were bringing the Ark, seven choirs and a sacrifice of a calf and a lamb. 14 And David was playing on tuned instruments before the Lord and David was wearing a distinguished robe. 15 And David and all the house of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. 16 And it happened as the ark was coming to the city of David that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out through the window and saw King David dancing and playing before the Lord and she despised him in her heart.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
2 Samuel 7:14
Hebrew Bible
12 When the time comes for you to die, I will raise up your descendant, one of your own sons, to succeed you, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He will build a house for my name, and I will make his dynasty permanent. 14 I will become his father and he will become my son. When he sins, I will correct him with the rod of men and with wounds inflicted by human beings. 15 But my loyal love will not be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
1 Kings 8:25
Hebrew Bible
24 You have kept your word to your servant, my father David; this very day you have fulfilled what you promised. 25 Now, O Lord, God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, when you said, ‘You will never fail to have a successor ruling before me on the throne of Israel, provided that your descendants watch their step and serve me as you have done.’ 26 Now, O God of Israel, may the promise you made to your servant, my father David, be realized.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
2 Samuel 8:12
Hebrew Bible
10 he sent his son Joram to King David to extend his best wishes and to pronounce a blessing on him for his victory over Hadadezer, for Toi had been at war with Hadadezer. He brought with him various items made of silver, gold, and bronze. 11 King David dedicated these things to the Lord, along with the dedicated silver and gold that he had taken from all the nations that he had subdued, 12 including Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amalek. This also included some of the plunder taken from King Hadadezer son of Rehob of Zobah. 13 David became famous when he returned from defeating the Edomites in the Valley of Salt; he defeated 18,000 in all. 14 He placed garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites became David’s subjects. The Lord protected David wherever he campaigned.
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 60:2
Hebrew Bible
1 For the music director, according to the shushan-eduth style; a prayer of David written to instruct others. It was written when he fought against Aram Naharaim and Aram Zobah. That was when Joab turned back and struck down 12,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. O God, you have rejected us. You suddenly turned on us in your anger. Please restore us! 2 You made the earth quake; you split it open. Repair its breaches, for it is ready to fall. 3 You have made your people experience hard times; you have made us drink intoxicating wine. 4 You have given your loyal followers a rallying flag, so that they might seek safety from the bow. (Selah)
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
2 Samuel 12:8
Hebrew Bible
7 Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the Lord God of Israel has said: ‘I chose you to be king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house, and put your master’s wives into your arms. I also gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all that somehow seems insignificant, I would have given you so much more as well! 9 Why have you shown contempt for the Lord’s decrees by doing evil in my sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and you have taken his wife to be your own wife! You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
70-90 C.E.
Matthew 19:5
New Testament
3 Then some Pharisees came to him in order to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful to divorce a wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
2 Samuel 14:25
Hebrew Bible
24 But the king said, “Let him go over to his own house. He may not see my face.” So Absalom went over to his own house; he did not see the king’s face. 25 Now in all Israel everyone acknowledged that there was no man as handsome as Absalom. From the soles of his feet to the top of his head he was perfect in appearance. 26 When he would shave his head—at the end of every year he used to shave his head, for it grew too long and he would shave it—he used to weigh the hair of his head at three pounds according to the king’s weight.
7th-5th Centuries B.C.E.
Isaiah 53:2
Hebrew Bible
1 Who would have believed what we just heard? When was the Lord’s power revealed through him? 2 He sprouted up like a twig before God, like a root out of parched soil; he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention, no special appearance that we should want to follow him. 3 He was despised and rejected by people, one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness; people hid their faces from him; he was despised, and we considered him insignificant.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
2 Samuel 20:15
Hebrew Bible
14 Sheba traveled through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth Maacah and all the Berite region. When they had assembled, they too joined him. 15 So Joab’s men came and laid siege against him in Abel of Beth Maacah. They prepared a siege ramp outside the city that stood against its outer rampart. As all of Joab’s soldiers were trying to break through the wall so that it would collapse, 16 a wise woman called out from the city, “Listen up! Listen up! Tell Joab, ‘Come near so that I may speak to you.’”
1st Century B.C.E.
LXX 2 Samuel 20:15
Septuagint
14 And he passed through among all the tribes of Israel to Abel and to Bethmaacah. And everyone from the Berites also assembled and went following him. 15 And they arrived and lay siege against him in Abel Beth-maacah. And they built a raised mound against the city and it stood against the outer fortifications, and all the people with Joab intended to bring down the wall. 16 And a wise woman called from the wall and said, “Listen, listen! Say now to Joab, ‘Come near to here.’ And I will speak to him.”
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
2 Samuel 21:19
Hebrew Bible
18 Later there was another battle with the Philistines, this time in Gob. On that occasion Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the descendants of Rapha. 19 Yet another battle occurred with the Philistines in Gob. On that occasion Elhanan the son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 20 Yet another battle occurred in Gath. On that occasion there was a large man who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all! He too was a descendant of Rapha.
1st Century B.C.E.
LXX 2 Samuel 21:19
Septuagint
18 And after this still another battle happened in Gob with the foreigners; there Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph who was among the offspring of the Raphah. 19 And there was a battle in Gob with the foreigners and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite struck down Goliath the Gittite and the wood of his spear was like a weaver’s beam. 20 And there was still another battle in Gath and there was a man of Madona and the fingers on his hand and the toes on his feet were six and six, twenty-four in total and indeed he was born from the Raphah.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
2 Samuel 24:24
Hebrew Bible
22 Araunah told David, “My lord the king may take whatever he wishes and offer it. Look! Here are oxen for burnt offerings, and threshing sledges and harnesses for wood. 23 I, the servant of my lord the king, give it all to the king!” Araunah also told the king, “May the Lord your God show you favor!” 24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it from you! I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt sacrifices that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 pieces of silver. 25 Then David built an altar for the Lord there and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. And the Lord accepted prayers for the land, and the plague was removed from Israel.
4th Century B.C.E.
1 Chronicles 21:25
Hebrew Bible
23 Ornan told David, “You can have it! My master, the king, may do what he wants. Look, I am giving you the oxen for burnt sacrifices, the threshing sledges for wood, and the wheat for an offering. I give it all to you.” 24 King David replied to Ornan, “No, I insist on buying it for top price. I will not offer to the Lord what belongs to you or offer a burnt sacrifice that cost me nothing. 25 So David bought the place from Ornan for 600 pieces of gold. 26 David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. He called out to the Lord, and the Lord responded by sending fire from the sky and consuming the burnt sacrifice on the altar. 27 The Lord ordered the messenger to put his sword back into its sheath.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
1 Kings 8:12
Hebrew Bible
11 The priests could not carry out their duties because of the cloud; the Lord’s glory filled his temple. 12 Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he lives in thick darkness. 13 O Lord, truly I have built a lofty temple for you, a place where you can live permanently.” 14 Then the king turned around and pronounced a blessing over the whole Israelite assembly as they stood there.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
1 Kings 8:30
Hebrew Bible
29 Night and day may you watch over this temple, the place where you promised you would live. May you answer your servant’s prayer for this place. 30 Respond to the request of your servant and your people Israel for this place. Hear from inside your heavenly dwelling place and respond favorably. 31 “When someone is accused of sinning against his neighbor and the latter pronounces a curse on the alleged offender before your altar in this temple, be willing to forgive the accused if the accusation is false.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
1 Kings 22:22
Hebrew Bible
20 The Lord said, ‘Who will deceive Ahab, so he will attack Ramoth Gilead and die there?’ One said this and another that. 21 Then a spirit stepped forward and stood before the Lord. He said, ‘I will deceive him.’ 22 The Lord asked him, ‘How?’ He replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ The Lord said, ‘Deceive and overpower him. Go out and do as you have proposed.’ 23 So now, look, the Lord has placed a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours, but the Lord has decreed disaster for you.”
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Proverbs 12:22
Hebrew Bible
19 The one who tells the truth will endure forever, but the one who lies will last only for a moment. 20 Deceit is in the heart of those who plot evil, but those who promote peace have joy. 21 No harm will be directed at the righteous, but the wicked are filled with calamity. 22 The Lord abhors a person who lies, but those who deal truthfully are his delight. 23 The shrewd person conceals knowledge, but foolish people proclaim folly. 24 The diligent person will rule, but the slothful will be put to forced labor.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
2 Kings 16:5
Hebrew Bible
3 He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel. He passed his son through the fire, a horrible sin practiced by the nations whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree. 5 At that time King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel attacked Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz, but were unable to conquer him. 6 (At that time King Rezin of Syria recovered Elat for Syria; he drove the Judahites from there. Syrians arrived in Elat and live there to this very day.) 7 Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your dependent. March up and rescue me from the power of the king of Syria and the king of Israel, who have attacked me.”
4th Century B.C.E.
2 Chronicles 28:5
Hebrew Bible
1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what pleased the Lord, in contrast to his ancestor David. 2 He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel; he also made images of the Baals. 3 He offered sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and passed his sons through the fire, a horrible sin practiced by the nations whom the Lord drove out before the Israelites. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree. 5 The Lord his God handed him over to the king of Syria. The Syrians defeated him and deported many captives to Damascus. He was also handed over to the king of Israel, who thoroughly defeated him.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
2 Kings 24:6
Hebrew Bible
1 During Jehoiakim’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked. Jehoiakim was his subject for three years, but then he rebelled against him. 2 The Lord sent against him Babylonian, Syrian, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding bands; he sent them to destroy Judah, just as in the Lord’s message that he had announced through his servants the prophets. 3 Just as the Lord had announced, he rejected Judah because of all the sins that Manasseh had committed. 4 Because he killed innocent people and stained Jerusalem with their blood, the Lord was unwilling to forgive them. 5 The rest of the events of Jehoiakim’s reign and all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. 6 He passed away and his son Jehoiachin replaced him as king.
4th Century B.C.E.
2 Chronicles 35:6
Hebrew Bible
5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God. 6 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked him, bound him with bronze chains, and carried him away to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar took some of the items in the Lord’s temple to Babylon and put them in his palace there.
2nd Century B.C.E.
Daniel 1:2
Hebrew Bible
1 In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem and laid it under siege. 2 Now the Lord delivered King Jehoiakim of Judah into his power, along with some of the vessels of the temple of God. He brought them to the land of Shinar10 to the temple of his god and put the vessels in the treasury of his god. 3 The king commanded Ashpenaz, who was in charge of his court officials, to choose some of the Israelites who were of royal and noble descent—
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
2 Kings 25:13
Hebrew Bible
11 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, deported the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. 12 But he left behind some of the poor of the land and gave them fields and vineyards. 13 The Babylonians broke the two bronze pillars in the Lord’s temple, as well as the movable stands and the big bronze basin called “The Sea.” They took the bronze to Babylon. 14 They also took the pots, shovels, trimming shears, pans, and all the bronze utensils used by the priests.
4th Century B.C.E.
2 Chronicles 36:7
Hebrew Bible
5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God. 6 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked him, bound him with bronze chains, and carried him away to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar took some of the items in the Lord’s temple to Babylon and put them in his palace there. 8 The rest of the events of Jehoiakim’s reign, including the horrible sins he committed and his shortcomings, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin replaced him as king.
7th-5th Centuries B.C.E.
Isaiah 13:17
Hebrew Bible
15 Everyone who is caught will be stabbed; everyone who is seized will die by the sword. 16 Their children will be smashed to pieces before their very eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives raped. 17 Look, I am stirring up the Medes to attack them; they are not concerned about silver, nor are they interested in gold. 18 Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; they have no compassion on a person’s offspring; they will not look with pity on children.
5th Century B.C.E.
Jeremiah 51:11
Hebrew Bible
10 The exiles from Judah will say, ‘The Lord has brought about a great deliverance for us! Come on, let’s go and proclaim in Zion what the Lord our God has done!’ 11 “Sharpen your arrows! Fill your quivers! The Lord will arouse a spirit of hostility in the kings of Media, for he intends to destroy Babylonia. For that is how the Lord will get his revenge—how he will get his revenge for the Babylonians’ destruction of his temple. 12 Give the signal to attack Babylon’s wall! Bring more guards; post them all around the city. Put men in ambush, for the Lord will do what he has planned. He will do what he said he would do to the people of Babylon.
7th-5th Centuries B.C.E.
Isaiah 27:1
Hebrew Bible
1 At that time the Lord will punish with his destructive, great, and powerful sword Leviathan the fast-moving serpent, Leviathan the squirming serpent; he will kill the sea monster. 2 When that time comes, sing about a delightful vineyard! 3 “I, the Lord, protect it; I water it regularly. I guard it night and day, so no one can harm it.
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 104:26
Hebrew Bible
24 How many living things you have made, O Lord! You have exhibited great skill in making all of them; the earth is full of the living things you have made. 25 Over here is the deep, wide sea, which teems with innumerable swimming creatures, living things both small and large. 26 The ships travel there, and over here swims Leviathan35 you made to play in it. 27 All your creatures wait for you to provide them with food on a regular basis. 28 You give food to them and they receive it; you open your hand and they are filled with food.
7th-5th Centuries B.C.E.
Isaiah 44:28
Hebrew Bible
26 who fulfills the oracles of his prophetic servants and brings to pass the announcements of his messengers, who says about Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited,’ and about the towns of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt, her ruins I will raise up,’ 27 who says to the deep sea, ‘Be dry! I will dry up your sea currents,’ 28 who commissions Cyrus, the one I appointed as shepherd to carry out all my wishes and to decree concerning Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’ and concerning the temple, ‘It will be reconstructed.’
1st Century B.C.E.
LXX Isaiah 44:28
Septuagint
26 and confirming the words of his servant and proving true the counsel of his messengers? The one who says to Ierousalem, “You shall be inhabited,” and to the cities of Judea, “You shall be built,” and her deserted places shall arise, 27 who says to the deep, “You will become desolate, and I will dry up your rivers,” 28 who tells Cyrus to be wise and says, “He shall carry out all my wishes,” who says to Ierousalem, “You shall be built, and I will lay the foundations of my holy house.”
7th-5th Centuries B.C.E.
Isaiah 53:2
Hebrew Bible
1 Who would have believed what we just heard? When was the Lord’s power revealed through him? 2 He sprouted up like a twig before God, like a root out of parched soil; he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention, no special appearance that we should want to follow him. 3 He was despised and rejected by people, one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness; people hid their faces from him; he was despised, and we considered him insignificant.
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 45:2
Hebrew Bible
1 For the music director, according to the tune of “Lilies”; by the Korahites, a well-written poem, a love song. My heart is stirred by a beautiful song. I say, “I have composed this special song for the king; my tongue is as skilled as the stylus of an experienced scribe.” 2 You are the most handsome of all men. You speak in an impressive and fitting manner. For this reason God grants you continual blessings. 3 Strap your sword to your thigh, O warrior. Appear in your majestic splendor.
6th Century B.C.E.
Ezekiel 29:12
Hebrew Bible
10 I am against you and your waterways. I will turn the land of Egypt into an utter desolate ruin from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border with Ethiopia. 11 No human foot will pass through it, and no animal’s foot will pass through it; it will be uninhabited for 40 years. 12 I will turn the land of Egypt into a desolation in the midst of desolate lands; for 40 years her cities will lie desolate in the midst of ruined cities. I will scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse them among foreign countries. 13 “‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: At the end of 40 years I will gather Egypt from the peoples where they were scattered. 14 I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and will bring them back to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin; there they will be an insignificant kingdom.
6th Century B.C.E.
Joel 3:19
Hebrew Bible
17 “You will be convinced that I, the Lord, am your God, dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy— conquering armies will no longer pass through it. 18 On that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. All the dry stream beds of Judah will flow with water. A spring will flow out from the temple of the Lord, watering the Valley of Acacia Trees. 19 Egypt will be desolate, and Edom will be a desolate wilderness because of the violence they did to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood. 20 But Judah will reside securely forever, and Jerusalem will be secure from one generation to the next. 21 I will avenge their blood that I had not previously acquitted.”It is the Lord who dwells in Zion!
6th Century B.C.E.
Ezekiel 44:30
Hebrew Bible
29 They may eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel will be theirs. 30 The first of all the firstfruits and all contributions of any kind will be for the priests; you will also give to the priest the first portion of your dough, so that a blessing may rest on your house. 31 The priests will not eat any bird or animal that has died a natural death or was torn to pieces by a wild animal.
1st Century B.C.E.
LXX Ezekiel 44:30
Septuagint
29 But they shall eat the sacrifices and the offerings for sins, and the offerings for ignorance, and everything that is set apart in Israel shall be theirs. 30 The firstfruits of everything and the first-born of everything and all the choice parts from all of your firstfruits shall be for the priests; and you shall give your firstfruits to the priest to put your blessings upon your houses. 31 And the priests shall not eat any carcass or creature caught by wild beasts from birds and from livestock.”’”
6th Century B.C.E.
Ezekiel 45:13
Hebrew Bible
16 All the people of the land will contribute to this offering for the prince of Israel. 17 It will be the duty of the prince to provide the burnt offerings, the grain offering, and the drink offering at festivals, on the new moons and Sabbaths, at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel; he will provide the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel. 18 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you must take an unblemished young bull and purify the sanctuary.
4th Century B.C.E.
Nehemiah 10:34
Hebrew Bible
33 for the loaves of presentation and for the regular grain offerings and regular burnt offerings, for the Sabbaths, for the new moons, for the appointed meetings, for the holy offerings, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the temple of our God. 34 “We—the priests, the Levites, and the people—have cast lots concerning the wood offerings, to bring them to the temple of our God according to our families at the designated times year by year to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as is written in the law. 35 We also accept responsibility for bringing the firstfruits of our land and the firstfruits of every fruit tree year by year to the temple of the Lord.
6th Century B.C.E.
Micah 6:5
Hebrew Bible
4 In fact, I brought you up from the land of Egypt; I delivered you from that place of slavery. I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead you. 5 My people, recall how King Balak of Moab planned to harm you, how Balaam son of Beor responded to him. Recall how you journeyed from Shittim to Gilgal, in order to know the just acts of the Lord.8” 6 With what should I enter the Lord’s presence? With what should I bow before the sovereign God? Should I enter his presence with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?
90-100 C.E.
Jude 1:11
New Testament
10 But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend. 11 Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain’s path, and because of greed have abandoned themselves to Balaam’s error; hence, they will certainly perish in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These men are dangerous reefs at your love feasts, feasting without reverence, feeding only themselves. They are waterless clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit—twice dead, uprooted;
6th Century B.C.E.
Micah 6:5
Hebrew Bible
4 In fact, I brought you up from the land of Egypt; I delivered you from that place of slavery. I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead you. 5 My people, recall how King Balak of Moab planned to harm you, how Balaam son of Beor responded to him. Recall how you journeyed from Shittim to Gilgal, in order to know the just acts of the Lord.8” 6 With what should I enter the Lord’s presence? With what should I bow before the sovereign God? Should I enter his presence with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?
120-130 C.E.
2 Peter 2:15
New Testament
14 Their eyes, full of adultery, never stop sinning; they entice unstable people. They have trained their hearts for greed, these cursed children! 15 By forsaking the right path they have gone astray, because they followed the way of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, 16 yet was rebuked for his own transgression (a dumb donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the prophet’s madness).
5th Century B.C.E.
Jeremiah 25:11
Hebrew Bible
10 I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and the glad celebration of brides and grooms in these lands. I will put an end to the sound of people grinding meal. I will put an end to lamps shining in their houses. 11 This whole area will become a desolate wasteland. These nations will be subject to the king of Babylon for 70 years.’ 12 “‘But when the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation for their sins. I will make the land of Babylon an everlasting ruin. I, the Lord, affirm it! 13 I will bring on that land everything that I said I would. I will bring on it everything that is written in this book. I will bring on it everything that Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.
4th Century B.C.E.
2 Chronicles 36:21
Hebrew Bible
19 They burned down God’s temple and tore down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned all its fortified buildings and destroyed all its valuable items. 20 He deported to Babylon all who escaped the sword. They served him and his sons until the Persian kingdom rose to power. 21 This took place to fulfill the Lord’s message spoken through Jeremiah and lasted until the land experienced its sabbatical years. All the time of its desolation the land rested in order to fulfill the seventy years. 22 In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in fulfillment of the Lord’s message spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord motivated King Cyrus of Persia to issue a proclamation throughout his kingdom and also to put it in writing. It read:
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 63:8
Hebrew Bible
5 As with choice meat you satisfy my soul. My mouth joyfully praises you, 6 whenever I remember you on my bed, and think about you during the nighttime hours. 7 For you are my deliverer; under your wings I rejoice. 8 My soul clings to you20; your right hand upholds me. 9 Enemies seek to destroy my life, but they will descend into the depths of the earth. 10 Each one will be handed over to the sword; their corpses will be eaten by jackals.
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 77:10
Hebrew Bible
7 I asked, “Will the Lord reject me forever? Will he never again show me his favor? 8 Has his loyal love disappeared forever? Has his promise failed forever? 9 Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has his anger stifled his compassion?” (Selah) 10 Then I said, “I am sickened by the thought that the right hand of the Most High has changed. 11 I will remember the works of the Lord. Yes, I will remember the amazing things you did long ago.
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 74:14
Hebrew Bible
12 But God has been my king from ancient times, performing acts of deliverance on the earth. 13 You destroyed the sea by your strength; you shattered the heads of the sea monster in the water. 14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you fed him to the people who live along the coast. 15 You broke open the spring and the stream; you dried up perpetually flowing rivers. 16 You established the cycle of day and night; you put the moon and sun in place.
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 104:26
Hebrew Bible
24 How many living things you have made, O Lord! You have exhibited great skill in making all of them; the earth is full of the living things you have made. 25 Over here is the deep, wide sea, which teems with innumerable swimming creatures, living things both small and large. 26 The ships travel there, and over here swims Leviathan35 you made to play in it. 27 All your creatures wait for you to provide them with food on a regular basis. 28 You give food to them and they receive it; you open your hand and they are filled with food.
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 90:4
Hebrew Bible
1 A prayer of Moses, the man of God. O Lord, you have been our protector through all generations. 2 Even before the mountains came into existence, or you brought the world into being, you were the eternal God. 3 You make mankind return to the dust, and say, “Return, O people.” 4 Yes, in your eyes a thousand years are like yesterday that quickly passes, or like one of the divisions of the nighttime. 5 You bring their lives to an end and they “fall asleep.” In the morning they are like the grass that sprouts up:
150-100 B.C.E.
Jubilees 4:30
Pseudepigrapha
29 At the end of the nineteenth jubilee, during the seventh week — in its sixth year [930] — Adam died. All his children buried him in the land where he had been created. He was the first to be buried in the ground. 30 He lacked 70 years from 1000 years because 1000 years are one day in the testimony of heaven. For this reason it was written regarding the tree of knowledge: “On the day that you eat from it you will die.” Therefore he did not complete the years of this day because he died during it.
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 106:28
Hebrew Bible
26 So he made a solemn vow that he would make them die in the wilderness, 27 make their descendants die among the nations, and scatter them among foreign lands. 28 They worshiped Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to the dead. 29 They made the Lord angry by their actions, and a plague broke out among them. 30 Phinehas took a stand and intervened, and the plague subsided.
225-175 B.C.E.
Tobit 4:17
Deuterocanon
15 And what you hate, do not do to anyone. Do not drink wine to excess or let drunkenness go with you on your way. 16 Give some of your food to the hungry, and some of your clothing to the naked. Give all your surplus as alms, and do not let your eye begrudge your giving of alms. 17 Place your bread on the grave of the righteous, but give none to sinners. 18 Seek advice from every wise person and do not despise any useful counsel. 19 At all times bless the Lord God, and ask him that your ways may be made straight and that all your paths and plans may prosper. For none of the nations has understanding, but the Lord himself will give them good counsel; but if he chooses otherwise, he casts down to deepest Hades. So now, my child, remember these commandments, and do not let them be erased from your heart.
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 139:20
Hebrew Bible
17 How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God! How vast is their sum total. 18 If I tried to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. Even if I finished counting them, I would still have to contend with you. 19 If only you would kill the wicked, O God! Get away from me, you violent men! 20 They rebel against you and act deceitfully; your enemies lie. 21 O Lord, do I not hate those who hate you and despise those who oppose you? 22 I absolutely hate them; they have become my enemies. 23 Examine me, O God, and probe my thoughts. Test me, and know my concerns. 24 See if there is any idolatrous way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.
70-90 C.E.
Matthew 5:44
New Testament
42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not reject the one who wants to borrow from you. 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors do the same, don’t they?
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Proverbs 17:18
Hebrew Bible
16 What’s the point of a fool having money in hand to buy wisdom when his head is empty? 17 A friend loves at all times, and a relative is born to help in adversity. 18 The one who lacks sense strikes hands in pledge and puts up financial security for his neighbor. 19 The one who loves a quarrel loves transgression; whoever builds his gate high seeks destruction. 20 The one who has a perverse heart does not find good, and the one who is deceitful in speech falls into trouble.
195-175 B.C.E.
Sirach 29:14
Deuterocanon
12 Store up almsgiving in your treasury, and it will rescue you from every disaster; 13 better than a stout shield and a sturdy spear, it will fight for you against the enemy. 14 A good person will be surety for his neighbor, but the one who has lost all sense of shame will fail him. 15 Do not forget the kindness of your guarantor, for he has given his life for you. 16 A sinner wastes the property of his guarantor,
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Proverbs 31:22
Hebrew Bible
20 She opened her hand to the poor, and extended her hands to the needy. 21 She would not fear for her household in winter, because all her household were clothed with scarlet, 22 because she had made coverings for herself; and because her clothing was fine linen and purple. 23 Her husband is well known in the city gate when he sits with the elders of the land. 24 She made linen garments then sold them and traded belts to the merchants; 25 her clothing was strong and splendid; and she laughed at the time to come.
65 C.E. (If authentic), 90-100 C.E. (If anonymous)
1 Timothy 2:9
New Testament
8 So I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or dispute. 9 Likewise the women are to dress in suitable apparel, with modesty and self-control. Their adornment must not be with braided hair and gold or pearls or expensive clothing, 10 but with good deeds, as is proper for women who profess reverence for God. 11 A woman must learn quietly with all submissiveness.
4th Century B.C.E.
2 Chronicles 16:12
Hebrew Bible
10 Asa was so angry at the prophet, he put him in jail. Asa also oppressed some of the people at that time. 11 The events of Asa’s reign, from start to finish, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a foot disease, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease, he did not seek the Lord, but only the doctors. 13 Asa passed away in the forty-first year of his reign. 14 He was buried in the tomb he had carved out in the City of David. They laid him to rest on a platform covered with spices and assorted mixtures of ointments. They made a huge bonfire to honor him.
195-175 B.C.E.
Sirach 38:1
Deuterocanon
1 Honor physicians for their services, for the Lord created them; 2 for their gift of healing comes from the Most High, and they are rewarded by the king. 3 The skill of physicians makes them distinguished, and in the presence of the great they are admired. 4 The Lord created medicines out of the earth, and the sensible will not despise them. 5 Was not water made sweet with a tree in order that its power might be known?
4th Century B.C.E.
2 Chronicles 35:13
Hebrew Bible
11 They slaughtered the Passover lambs and the priests splashed the blood, while the Levites skinned the animals. 12 They reserved the burnt offerings and the cattle for the family divisions of the people to present to the Lord, as prescribed in the scroll of Moses. 13 They cooked the Passover sacrifices over the open fire as prescribed and cooked the consecrated offerings in pots, kettles, and pans. They quickly served them to all the people. 14 Afterward they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were offering burnt sacrifices and fat portions until evening. The Levites made preparations for themselves and for the priests, the descendants of Aaron.
3rd Century B.C.E.
LXX Deuteronomy 16:7
Septuagint
5 You shall not be able to offer the Passover in any of your cities that the Lord your God has given you; 6 rather into the place that the Lord your God may choose to have his name invoked, in that place you shall offer the Passover in the evening to the setting of the sun, at the time that you came out of Egypt. 7 And you shall boil and roast and eat it in the place where the Lord your God may choose it, and you shall return in the morning and go into your houses. 8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, but the seventh day, the final day, there shall be a festival to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work in it; you shall only do that which is necessary for life.
3rd Century B.C.E.
LXX Genesis 22:1
Septuagint
1 And it came about after these matters that God tested Abraam and said to him, “Abraam, Abraam!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 And he said, “Take your beloved son Isaak, whom you love, and go into the high land, and offer him as a whole burnt offering on one of the mountains, whichever I mention to you.” 3 And when Abraam had risen in the morning, he saddled his donkey. Now he took along with himself two servants and his son Isaak, and after he had split wood for a whole burnt offering and risen, he went and came to the place that God had mentioned to him, on the third day.
80-90 C.E.
James 1:13
New Testament
11 For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever. So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away. 12 Happy is the one who endures testing because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. 15 Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death.
3rd Century B.C.E.
LXX Deuteronomy 16:7
Septuagint
5 You shall not be able to offer the Passover in any of your cities that the Lord your God has given you; 6 rather into the place that the Lord your God may choose to have his name invoked, in that place you shall offer the Passover in the evening to the setting of the sun, at the time that you came out of Egypt. 7 And you shall boil and roast and eat it in the place where the Lord your God may choose it, and you shall return in the morning and go into your houses. 8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, but the seventh day, the final day, there shall be a festival to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work in it; you shall only do that which is necessary for life. 9 Seven weeks you shall count for yourself when you have begun your sickle upon the harvest; you shall begin to count seven weeks. The Feast of Weeks
1st Century B.C.E.
LXX 2 Chronicles 35:13
Septuagint
11 They sacrificed the Passover, and the priests poured the blood from their hand, and the Levites flayed the victims. 12 They prepared the burnt offerings, to give them over according to the divisions, according to the houses of the families for the sons of the people in order to offer to the Lord, just as it is written in the document of Moses, and thus into the morning. 13 They roasted the Passover by fire according to the judgment and boiled the sacred parts in the vessels of copper and in the caldrons. It was successful, and they ran to all the sons of the people. 14 After the preparing for them and for the priests, because the priests were offering the fatted parts and the burnt offerings until evening, and the Levites prepared for themselves and their brothers, the sons of Aaron.
3rd Century B.C.E.
Ecclesiastes 2:2
Hebrew Bible
1 I thought to myself, “Come now, I will try self-indulgent pleasure to see if it is worthwhile.” But I found that it also is futile. 2 I said of partying, “It is folly,”and of self-indulgent pleasure, “It accomplishes nothing!” 3 I thought deeply about the effects of indulging myself with wine(all the while my mind was guiding me with wisdom) and the effects of behaving foolishly, so that I might discover what is profitable for people to do on earth during the few days of their lives.
3rd Century B.C.E.
Ecclesiastes 8:15
Hebrew Bible
14 Here is another enigma that occurs on earth: Sometimes there are righteous people who get what the wicked deserve, and sometimes there are wicked people who get what the righteous deserve. I said, “This also is an enigma.” 15 So I recommend the enjoyment of life, for there is nothing better on earth for a person to do except to eat, drink, and enjoy life. So joy will accompany him in his toil during the days of his life that God gives him on earth. 16 When I tried to gain wisdom and to observe the activity on earth—even though it prevents anyone from sleeping day or night—
450-550 C.E.
Shabbat 30b
Rabbinic
Since contradictions in Ecclesiastes were mentioned, the Gemara cites additional relevant sources. Rav Yehuda, son of Rav Shmuel bar Sheilat, said in the name of Rav: The Sages sought to suppress the book of Ecclesiastes and declare it apocryphal because its statements contradict each other and it is liable to confuse its readers. And why did they not suppress it? Because its beginning consists of matters of Torah and its end consists of matters of Torah. The ostensibly contradictory details are secondary to the essence of the book, which is Torah.
3rd Century B.C.E.
Ecclesiastes 6:3
Hebrew Bible
2 God gives a man riches, property, and wealth so that he lacks nothing that his heart desires, yet God does not enable him to enjoy the fruit of his labor—instead, someone else enjoys it! This is fruitless and a grave misfortune. 3 Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, even if he lives a long, long time, but cannot enjoy his prosperity—even if he were to live forever—I would say, “A stillborn child is better off than he is.” 4 Though the stillborn child came into the world for no reason and departed into darkness, though its name is shrouded in darkness,
3rd Century B.C.E.
Ecclesiastes 9:4
Hebrew Bible
3 This is the unfortunate fact about everything that happens on earth: The same fate awaits everyone. In addition to this, the hearts of all people are full of evil, and there is folly in their hearts during their lives—then they die. 4 But whoever is among the living has hope; a live dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything; they have no further reward—and even the memory of them disappears.
3rd Century B.C.E.
Ecclesiastes 8:12
Hebrew Bible
10 Not only that, but I have seen the wicked approaching and entering the temple, and as they left the holy temple, they boasted in the city that they had done so. This also is an enigma. 11 When a sentence is not executed at once against a crime, the human heart is full to do evil.47 12 Even though a sinner might commit a hundred crimes and still live a long time, yet I know that it will go well with God-fearing people—for they stand in fear before him. 13 But it will not go well with the wicked, nor will they prolong their days like a shadow, because they do not stand in fear before God.
3rd Century B.C.E.
Ecclesiastes 8:14
Hebrew Bible
13 But it will not go well with the wicked, nor will they prolong their days like a shadow, because they do not stand in fear before God. 14 Here is another enigma that occurs on earth: Sometimes there are righteous people who get what the wicked deserve, and sometimes there are wicked people who get what the righteous deserve. I said, “This also is an enigma.” 15 So I recommend the enjoyment of life, for there is nothing better on earth for a person to do except to eat, drink, and enjoy life. So joy will accompany him in his toil during the days of his life that God gives him on earth.
3rd Century B.C.E.
Ecclesiastes 11:9
Hebrew Bible
7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for a person to see the sun. 8 So, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many—all that is about to come is obscure. 9 Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes, but know that God will judge your motives and actions. 10 Banish emotional stress from your mind and put away pain from your body; for youth and the prime of life are fleeting.
195-175 B.C.E.
Sirach 5:2
Deuterocanon
1 Do not rely on your wealth, or say, "I have enough." 2 Do not follow your inclination and strength in pursuing the desires of your heart. 3 Do not say, "Who can have power over me?" for the Lord will surely punish you. 4 Do not say, "I sinned, yet what has happened to me?" for the Lord is slow to anger.
225-175 B.C.E.
Tobit 4:17
Deuterocanon
15 And what you hate, do not do to anyone. Do not drink wine to excess or let drunkenness go with you on your way. 16 Give some of your food to the hungry, and some of your clothing to the naked. Give all your surplus as alms, and do not let your eye begrudge your giving of alms. 17 Place your bread on the grave of the righteous, but give none to sinners. 18 Seek advice from every wise person and do not despise any useful counsel. 19 At all times bless the Lord God, and ask him that your ways may be made straight and that all your paths and plans may prosper. For none of the nations has understanding, but the Lord himself will give them good counsel; but if he chooses otherwise, he casts down to deepest Hades. So now, my child, remember these commandments, and do not let them be erased from your heart.
100-75 B.C.E.
Letter of Jeremiah 1:27
Deuterocanon
25 They are bought without regard to cost, but there is no breath in them. 26 Having no feet, they are carried on the shoulders of others, revealing to humankind their worthlessness. And those who serve them are put to shame 27 because, if any of these gods falls to the ground, they themselves must pick it up. If anyone sets it upright, it cannot move itself; and if it is tipped over, it cannot straighten itself. Gifts are placed before them just as before the dead. 28 The priests sell the sacrifices that are offered to these gods and use the money themselves. Likewise their wives preserve some of the meat with salt, but give none to the poor or helpless. 29 Sacrifices to them may even be touched by women in their periods or at childbirth. Since you know by these things that they are not gods, do not fear them.
225-175 B.C.E.
Tobit 4:17
Deuterocanon
15 And what you hate, do not do to anyone. Do not drink wine to excess or let drunkenness go with you on your way. 16 Give some of your food to the hungry, and some of your clothing to the naked. Give all your surplus as alms, and do not let your eye begrudge your giving of alms. 17 Place your bread on the grave of the righteous, but give none to sinners. 18 Seek advice from every wise person and do not despise any useful counsel. 19 At all times bless the Lord God, and ask him that your ways may be made straight and that all your paths and plans may prosper. For none of the nations has understanding, but the Lord himself will give them good counsel; but if he chooses otherwise, he casts down to deepest Hades. So now, my child, remember these commandments, and do not let them be erased from your heart.
195-175 B.C.E.
Sirach 30:18
Deuterocanon
16 There is no wealth better than health of body, and no gladness above joy of heart. 17 Death is better than a life of misery, and eternal sleep than chronic sickness. 18 Good things poured out upon a mouth that is closed are like offerings of food placed upon a grave. 19 Of what use to an idol is a sacrifice? For it can neither eat nor smell. So is the one punished by the Lord; 20 he sees with his eyes and groans as a eunuch groans when embracing a girl.
2nd Century B.C.E.
Daniel 2:21
Hebrew Bible
19 Then in a night vision the mystery was revealed to Daniel. So Daniel praised the God of heaven, 20 saying: “Let the name of God be praised forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to him. 21 He changes times and seasons, deposing some kings and establishing others. He gives wisdom to the wise; he imparts knowledge to those with understanding; 22 he reveals deep and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness, and light resides with him. 23 O God of my fathers, I acknowledge and glorify you, for you have bestowed wisdom and power on me. Now you have enabled me to understand what we requested from you. For you have enabled us to understand the king’s dilemma.”
70-90 C.E.
Matthew 11:25
New Testament
23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be thrown down to Hades! For if the miracles done among you had been done in Sodom, it would have continued to this day. 24 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you!” 25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides to reveal him.
195-175 B.C.E.
Sirach 5:8
Deuterocanon
6 Do not say, "His mercy is great, he will forgive the multitude of my sins," for both mercy and wrath are with him, and his anger will rest on sinners. 7 Do not delay to turn back to the Lord, and do not postpone it from day to day; for suddenly the wrath of the Lord will come upon you, and at the time of punishment you will perish. 8 Do not depend on dishonest wealth, for it will not benefit you on the day of calamity. 9 Do not winnow in every wind, or follow every path. 10 Stand firm for what you know, and let your speech be consistent.
75-85 C.E.
Luke 16:9
New Testament
8 The master commended the dishonest manager because he acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their contemporaries than the people of light. 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon31, so that when it runs out, you will be welcomed into the eternal homes. 10 “The one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and the one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
195-175 B.C.E.
Sirach 24:11
Deuterocanon
1 Wisdom praises herself, and tells of her glory in the midst of her people. 2 In the assembly of the Most High she opens her mouth, and in the presence of his hosts she tells of her glory: 3 "I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth like a mist. 4 I dwelt in the highest heavens, and my throne was in a pillar of cloud. 5 Alone I compassed the vault of heaven and traversed the depths of the abyss. 6 Over waves of the sea, over all the earth, and over every people and nation I have held sway. 7 Among all these I sought a resting place; in whose territory should I abide? 8 "Then the Creator of all things gave me a command, and my Creator chose the place for my tent. He said, "Make your dwelling in Jacob, and in Israel receive your inheritance.' 9 Before the ages, in the beginning, he created me, and for all the ages I shall not cease to be. 10 In the holy tent I ministered before him, and so I was established in Zion. 11 Thus in the beloved city he gave me a resting place, and in Jerusalem was my domain.
200-50 B.C.E.
1 Enoch 42:1
Pseudepigrapha
1 Wisdom found no place where she might dwell; then a dwelling-place was assigned to her in the heavens. 2 Wisdom went forth to make her dwelling among the children of men, and found no dwelling-place: Wisdom returned to her place, and took her seat among the angels. 3 And unrighteousness went forth from her chambers: whom she did not seek, she found, and dwelt with them, like rain in a desert and dew on a thirsty land.
150-100 B.C.E.
Jubilees 12:28
Pseudepigrapha
27 He took his fathers’ books (they were written in Hebrew) and copied them. From that time he began to study them, while I was telling him everything that he was unable to understand. He studied them throughout the six rainy months. 28 In the seventh year of the sixth week [1953], he spoke with his father and told him that he was leaving Haran to go to the land of Canaan to see it and return to him. 29 His father Terah said to him: ‘Go in peace. May the eternal God make your way straight; may the Lord be with you and protect you from every evil; may he grant you kindness, mercy, and grace before those who see you; and may no person have power over you to harm you. Go in peace.’
75-85 C.E.
Acts 7:4
New Testament
3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your country and from your relatives, and come to the land I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God made him move to this country where you now live. 5 He did not give any of it to him for an inheritance, not even a foot of ground, yet God promised to give it to him as his possession, and to his descendants after him, even though Abraham as yet had no child.
150-100 B.C.E.
Jubilees 23:8
Pseudepigrapha
7 They — both of his sons Isaac and Ishmael — buried him in the double cave near his wife Sarah. All the people of his household as well as Isaac, Ishmael, and all their sons and Keturah's sons in their places mourned for him for 40 days. Then the tearful mourning for Abraham was completed. 8 He had lived for three jubilees and four weeks of years — 175 years — when he completed his lifetime. He had grown old and his time was completed. 9 For the times of the ancients were 19 jubilees for their lifetimes. After the flood they started to decrease from 19 jubilees, to be fewer with respect to jubilees, to age quickly, and to have their times be completed in view of the numerous difficulties and through the wickedness of their ways — with the exception of Abraham.
80-90 C.E.
Hebrews 11:9
New Testament
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, and he went out without understanding where he was going. 9 By faith he lived as a foreigner in the promised land as though it were a foreign country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were fellow heirs of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with firm foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
1st Century B.C.E.
LXX Proverbs 1:4
Septuagint
3 and to receive subtlety of words, and to understand true righteousness, and to direct a judgment, 4 so that it may give cunning to the naive and both experience and insight to a young child. 5 For when the wise hears these things, he will become wiser, and the thoughtful will gain skill in navigation,
60-70 C.E. (If authentic), 90-100 C.E. (If anonymous)
Ephesians 4:14
New Testament
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God—a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature. 14 So we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. 15 But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head.
1st Century B.C.E.
LXX Zechariah 9:9
Septuagint
7 And I will lift up their blood out of their mouth, and their abominations out of the middle of their teeth. But even these will be spared for our God, and they will be as a captain in Judah, and Ekron will be like the Jebusites. 8 And I will set under my house an encampment so that no one may pass across, not even to turn back; and it should surely not attack against them, no longer driving them away, because now I have seen with my eyes. 9 Rejoice very much, O daughter of Zion; announce, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king comes to you, righteous and able to keep alive; he is humble and mounted upon a mule, even a young foal of an ass. 10 And he will utterly destroy chariots from Ephraim, and a horse out of Jerusalem, and a warlike bow will be utterly destroyed, even a number of them; and there will be peace from the nations, and he will rule waters to seas and rivers, the passageway of the land.
70-90 C.E.
Matthew 21:5
New Testament
1 Now when they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 telling them, “Go to the village ahead of you. Right away you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you are to say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: 5 “Tell the people of Zion, ‘Look, your king is coming to you, unassuming and seated on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” 6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
54-55 C.E.
Galatians 1:22
New Testament
20 I assure you that, before God, I am not lying about what I am writing to you! 21 Afterward I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 But I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They were only hearing, “The one who once persecuted us is now proclaiming the good news of the faith he once tried to destroy.”
75-85 C.E.
Acts 9:1
New Testament
1 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing out threats to murder the Lord’s disciples, went to the high priest 2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, either men or women, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he was going along, approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.
54-55 C.E.
Galatians 3:17
New Testament
16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. Scripture does not say, “and to the descendants,” referring to many, but “and to your descendant,” referring to one, who is Christ. 17 What I am saying is this: The law that came 430 years later does not cancel a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to invalidate the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise, but God graciously gave it to Abraham through the promise.
75-85 C.E.
Acts 7:6
New Testament
5 He did not give any of it to him for an inheritance, not even a foot of ground, yet God promised to give it to him as his possession, and to his descendants after him, even though Abraham as yet had no child. 6 But God spoke as follows: ‘Your descendants will be foreigners in a foreign country, whose citizens will enslave them and mistreat them for 400 years. 7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ said God, ‘and after these things they will come out of there and worship me in this place.’
55-58 C.E.
Romans 14:20
New Testament
17 For the kingdom of God does not consist of food and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For the one who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by people. 19 So then, let us pursue what makes for peace and for building up one another. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. For although all things are clean, it is wrong to cause anyone to stumble by what you eat. 21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything that causes your brother to stumble.
75-85 C.E.
Acts 15:29
New Testament
25 we have unanimously decided to choose men to send to you along with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul, 26 who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas who will tell you these things themselves in person. 28 For it seemed best to the Holy Spirit and to us not to place any greater burden on you than these necessary rules: 29 that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from doing these things, you will do well. Farewell.
55-57 C.E.
1 Corinthians 8:8
New Testament
4 With regard then to eating food sacrificed to idols, we know that “an idol in this world is nothing,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 If after all there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we live, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we live. 7 But this knowledge is not shared by all. And some, by being accustomed to idols in former times, eat this food as an idol sacrifice, and their conscience, because it is weak, is defiled. 8 Now food will not bring us close to God. We are no worse if we do not eat and no better if we do.
75-85 C.E.
Acts 15:29
New Testament
25 we have unanimously decided to choose men to send to you along with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul, 26 who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas who will tell you these things themselves in person. 28 For it seemed best to the Holy Spirit and to us not to place any greater burden on you than these necessary rules: 29 that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from doing these things, you will do well. Farewell.
55-57 C.E.
1 Corinthians 11:5
New Testament
4 Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered disgraces his head. 5 But any woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered disgraces her head, for it is one and the same thing as having a shaved head. 6 For if a woman will not cover her head, she should cut off her hair. But if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, she should cover her head.
55-57 C.E.
1 Corinthians 14:34
New Testament
32 Indeed, the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, 33 for God is not characterized by disorder but by peace. As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak. Rather, let them be in submission, as in fact the law says. 35 If they want to find out about something, they should ask their husbands at home, because it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in church.
75-85 C.E.
Acts 17:31
New Testament
29 So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image made by human skill and imagination. 30 Therefore, although God has overlooked such times of ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, having provided proof to everyone by raising him from the dead.” 32 Now when they heard about the resurrection from the dead, some began to scoff, but others said, “We will hear you again about this.”
120-130 C.E.
2 Peter 3:12
New Testament
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; when it comes, the heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze, and the earth and every deed done on it will be laid bare. 11 Since all these things are to melt away in this manner, what sort of people must you be, conducting your lives in holiness and godliness, 12 while waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God? Because of this day, the heavens will be burned up and dissolve, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze!