Fragment Targum Deuteronomy

Moses Rebukes Israel’s Sins in the Wilderness

1 These are the words that Moses spoke with all Israel, reproving them while they were still living beyond the Jordan. Moses answered and said to them, “Wasn’t it in the wilderness at Mount Sinai that the Torah was given to you, and on the plains of Moab that it was explained to you? How many miracles and mighty acts the Memra of the Lord performed for you! When you stood by the Red Sea, the sea was split before you, and twelve paths were made out of one path, a path for each tribe. Yet you provoked anger before Him at the sea and rebelled at the Red Sea. On account of the matter of the spies who had been sent from the wilderness of Paran, He decreed against you that you would not enter the land of Israel. And because of the manna, of which you said, ‘Our soul is distressed by this bread, whose food is so light,’ He let the serpents loose on you. And in Hazeroth, where your corpses fell because of the meat, and because of the calf that you had made, He said in His Memra that He would destroy you, had He not remembered the covenant that He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the tent of meeting that you had made for His name, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord, which you brought inside it and covered with fine gold. 2 It is a journey of eleven days from Mount Horeb by way of the mountain of Gebal to Rekem Giah, yet because you sinned and provoked anger before Him, you were held back and have traveled it for forty years.”

3 And it was at the end of forty years.

The Scouts and the Defeat in Gebal

24 And they set out and went up into the mountain, and came to the valleys of the Cluster, and spied it out.

44 And they chased you as bees chase, and killed you in Gebal until you were wiped out.

The Route Past Gebal and Tarnegola

8 So we passed by our brothers, the sons of Esau, who live in Gebal, by the way of the plain from Elath and from the fortress of Tarnegola, and we turned and went by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

Moses’s Fear of Og and the Promise of Victory

2 When Moses saw Og the wicked, he trembled and shook before him, and said, “Isn’t this the one who used to mock our fathers Abraham and Sarah, and said to them, ‘You are like trees planted by springs of water, but you bear no fruit’?” Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, may His name be praised, held him back and kept him alive for many years, to show him to the generations, that He would deliver him into the hands of Abraham’s children. And the Memra of the Lord said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have given him up into your hand, and all his people, and his land, and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”

5 All these cities were fortified, surrounded with high walls, with gates and bars.

Two Names for Hermon

9 The Sidonians call Hermon the land that makes its fruit rot, but the Amorites call it the land that multiplies the fruits of the tree.

11 Isn’t it kept in the province of the Ammonites?

Atarkona and the Eastern Border

14 The whole territory of Atarkona, as far as the territory of the city of Aphikeras, and he called them by his own name.

17 The plain, the Jordan, and the border from Ginosar to the sea of the plain, the Salt Sea, below the place where the ashes are poured out, on the east.

Moses Seeks Mercy From Before the Lord

23 “I prayed and sought mercy from before the Lord,” Moses said in that hour. 24 “I beg You, for mercy from before You, Lord God! You have begun.”

Confessing Worship of Baal Peor

29 And we stayed in the valley weeping for our guilt, and confessing our sins, because we had joined ourselves to the worshipers of the idol of Baal Peor.

The Lord Is Near When Israel Calls

7 For what great nation is there that has a God so near to it as the Lord our God is, at every hour that we call to Him, and He answers us?

18 The likeness of any fish that are in the waters under the earth.

20 To be a beloved people, like a treasure, as on this day.

The Lord as a Consuming Fire

24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire. He is a fire, a jealous God, and He takes vengeance in jealousy.

The Word of the Lord Chooses a Nation

33 Or what nation or kingdom is there that has heard? 34 Or the miracles that the Memra of the Lord has performed, coming to seek out for Himself a nation from among a nation?

Killing Without Knowledge or Hatred

42 Who had killed his neighbor suddenly, without knowing it, but had not hated him yesterday or before.

44 This is the explanation of the Torah that Moses set before the children of Israel.

48 From Lehayyath, on the bank of the stream of Arnon, to the mountain that makes its fruit rot, which is the Mountain of Snow.

26 If only they would have this good heart!

3 A land producing good fruits, pure as milk, sweet and tasty as honey.

Jacob and His Sons Confess the Lord Is One

4 When the end came for our father Jacob to depart from the world, he called the twelve tribes, his sons, and set them all around his couch.

Our father Jacob answered and said to them, “Do you perhaps worship the idols that Terah, the father of Abraham, worshiped? Do you perhaps worship the idols that Laban, my mother’s brother, worshiped? Or do you worship the God of Jacob?”

The twelve tribes answered together with a whole heart and said, “Hear now, Israel our father, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

Jacob answered and said, “May His great name be blessed forever!”

3 You shall not mix with them.

Reward in This World and Judgment in the World to Come

10 And He repays those who hate Him the reward of the light commandments that are in their hands in this world, to destroy them in the world to come. And He does not delay to repay those who hate Him the reward of the light commandments that are in their hands in this world.

23 And He will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed.

3 That not by food alone.

The Produce and Mountains of the Land

8 A land from whose olive trees they make oil, and from whose dates they make honey. 9 Whose stones are pure as iron and whose mountains are hard as bronze.

17 And I took hold of the two tablets and threw them down.

22 And at the Graves of Desire.

12 A land that the Lord your God seeks after continually.

19 And when you lie down and when you rise up.

25 No master or ruler shall stand before you. And the dread of you and the fear of you.

28 And the reverse of them, if you do not listen.

Those Barred From Holy Things May Eat

22 The one who is barred from holy things and the one who is clean for holy things may eat alike.

Relatives Who Lead Others Astray

7 When your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife who sleeps with you leads you astray.

Israel’s Conduct as the Lord’s Children

1 You are beloved children before the Lord your God. You shall not form group upon group for foreign worship, and you shall not make a bald patch above your forehead to become unclean for a person who is dead.

Permitted and Forbidden Animals

6 That brings up the cud among the animals, that you may eat. 7 Because they bring up the cud, but their hoof is not split.

12 And these are the ones you shall not eat: the eagle, and the sea eagle, and the osprey. 13 And the stork, and the vulture, and the kite according to its kind.

18 And the white kite, and the ibis according to its kind, and the mountain cock, and the bat.

Tithing Each Year’s Produce Separately

22 My people, house of Israel, you shall surely tithe all the produce of your seed, what you sow on the face of the field and gather in as produce every year. My people Israel, you are not permitted to tithe and eat from the fruit of one year for the fruit of another year.

Giving to the Poor and Obeying the Torah

10 You shall surely give to him, and do not let your face turn sour when you give to him. 11 If Israel keeps the commandments of the Torah, there will be no poor among them. But if they forsake the commandments of the Torah, the poor will not cease from the midst of the land. Therefore I command you, saying, “You shall surely open your hands to your brothers who are poor, and to the needy who are in your land.”

14 You shall surely provide for him.

Judges, Partiality, and Bribes

18 Judges and officers. 19 You shall not pervert judgment, and you shall not show partiality, and you shall not take a bribe of mammon, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise, and corrupts the words of the innocent in the hour of their judgment.

Difficult Cases Brought to the Chosen Place

8 When a matter is hidden from you, in setting judgment in order, between the blood of the slain and the blood of virginity, between a plague of leprosy and a plague of scale, matters of dispute in your cities, then you shall arise and go up to the place the Lord your God will choose.

8 And besides his purchases, which they sold to him according to the fathers.

Divination, Sorcery, and Seeking the Dead

10 No one shall be found among you who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire to practice divination, nor those who dim the eyes, nor those who observe omens, nor sorcerers. 11 Nor those who cast evil spells, nor binders of snakes and scorpions and every kind of creeping thing, nor those who consult a ghost, nor those who raise up apparitions, nor those who seek instruction from the dead.

14 They listen to those who dim the eyes and to those who practice divination.

Refuge After an Accidental Death

5 And whoever goes in with his neighbor into the forest to cut wood, and swings hard with the axe to cut the wood, and the iron slips off the handle and strikes his neighbor and he dies, he may flee to one of these cities and live. 6 Because his heart is hot, and he overtakes him.

6 And has not redeemed it.

11 And if it answers you with words of peace and opens the gates to you, then all the people who are found.

7 Nor have our eyes seen who it was that shed it.

A Woman’s Freedom After Rejection

14 If you are not pleased with her, you shall send her away with authority over herself, but you shall surely not sell her for money. You shall not trade in her, because your authority was given over her.

22 And you hang him on a beam.

Helping a Neighbor Despite Resentment

3 And so you shall do with his donkey, and so you shall do with his cloak. 4 You shall surely let go of what is in your heart against him, and you shall surely unload with him, and you shall surely load with him.

A Roof Parapet to Prevent Bloodguilt

8 Then you shall make a parapet for your roof, and you shall not bring the guilt of shedding innocent blood on your house.

Tassels on the Four Corners of a Cloak

12 You shall make twisted threads of tassels on the four corners of your cloaks with which you cover yourselves.

Judgment on a Charge Against a Young Woman

20 But if this charge is true, and no evidence is found for the young woman. 21 They shall bring the young woman out from the door of her father’s house, and the people shall stone her.

12 And at the turning of evening he shall bathe in water.

Prostitution and Forbidden Offerings

18 There shall not be a woman who goes out among the daughters of the house of Israel, nor shall there be a man who goes out among the children of Israel. 19 You shall not bring the wages of prostitution or the price of a dog.

Pledges and Binding Bridegrooms and Brides

6 You shall not take the lower and upper millstones as a pledge, for it is the necessities of life that he takes as a pledge. And you shall not be binders of bridegrooms and brides, for whoever does these things denies the life of the world to come.

Returning Pledges and Paying Wages

13 You shall surely return the pledge to him as the sun goes down, so that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you, and it will be merit for you before the Lord your God. 14 You shall not withhold the wages of a hired worker who is poor and needy, from among your brothers. 15 On the same day you shall pay his wages, and the sun shall not set on them, for he is poor, and by means of his wages he sustains his life, so that he will not cry out against you before the Lord. Be careful that there is no guilt in you.

Gleanings for Converts, Orphans, and Widows

20 When you beat your olive trees, do not search them afterward. Let them be for the convert, the orphan, and the widow. 21 When you gather your vines, do not glean their small clusters afterward. Let them be for the convert, the orphan, and the widow.

Flogging According to Guilt

2 And if the guilty man must be flogged, the judge shall make him lie down, and they shall beat him in his presence, according to the measure of his guilt, by number.

The Unmuzzled Ox

4 My people Israel, you shall not muzzle the ox at the time of its treading.

The House That Refused Levirate Marriage

10 And his name in Israel shall be called “The house of those whose sandal was removed, who set aside the commandment of levirate marriage.” 11 If she reaches out her hand and seizes him by the place of his shame.

Honest Weights and Measures

13 You shall not have in your purse small weights to sell with and large weights to buy with. 14 You shall not have in your houses one measure and another, a large measure to buy with and a small measure to sell with.

Amalek Attacks Those Cast Out by the Cloud

18 Who met you on the way and killed among you everyone whose heart was having second thoughts about My Memra. The cloud cast him out, and those of the house of Amalek received him and killed him. But you, the people of the children of Israel, were weary and faint, and those of the house of Amalek did not fear before the Lord.

Thanksgiving Before the High Priest

3 And you shall come to the priest who will be appointed high priest in those days, and you shall say to him, “We give thanks and praise this day before the Lord God, that we have come into the land which the Memra of the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.”

The Tithe for the Poor and the Prayer for Blessing

12 When you finish tithing all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of the tithe of the poor, you shall give the first tithe to the Levites, and the tithe of the poor to the convert, the orphan, and the widow, and they shall eat in your cities and be satisfied.

14 “We have not eaten any of it in our mourning, nor set any of it apart while unclean, nor given any of it for shrouds for the unclean dead, for we have obeyed the voice of the Memra of the Lord our God. We have done according to all that was commanded us. 15 Look down, I beg You, from the dwelling of the house of the Shekinah of Your glory and Your holiness, from the heavens, and bless Your people Israel and the land that You have given us, as You swore to our fathers, a land producing good fruits, pure as milk, sweet and tasty as honey.”

The Word of the Lord as Israel’s King

17 You have made the Memra of the Lord king over you this day, to be your God. 18 And the Memra of the Lord has made Himself king over you, for His name, as a beloved people, like a treasure, as He has spoken to you, and so that you will keep all His commandments.

The Torah Written in Seventy Languages

8 And you shall write on the stones all the praiseworthy words of this Torah, in engraved and clear writing, to be read well and translated into seventy languages.

Blessings and Curses on Gerizim and Ebal

15 Six tribes of them shall stand on Mount Gerizim, and six tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal, and the ark and the priests and the Levites placed in the middle.

And all Israel, on this side and on that, turned their faces toward Mount Gerizim and opened their mouths with a blessing, “Blessed is the man who has not made an image, or a figure, or any likeness that is hated and abhorred before the Lord, the work of human hands, and who has not put it in a hidden place.”

And those who pronounced the curses turned their faces toward Mount Ebal and said, “Cursed is the man who makes an image, or figure, or any likeness that is hated and abhorred before the Lord, the work of human hands, and who puts it in a hidden place.”

And all the people, these and those, answered and said, “Amen.”

17 “Cursed is the man who moves the boundary.” 18 “Cursed is the man who makes the traveler, who is like the blind, go astray on the way.” And all the people shall answer and say, “Amen.”

23 “Cursed is the man who lies with his mother-in-law.” And all the people shall answer and say, “Amen.”

Blessings for Produce and the Houses of Study

5 Blessed shall you be in the baskets of your first fruits, and in your dough. 6 Blessed shall you be when you go into your houses of study, and blessed shall you be when you go out of your houses of study.

Disease, Loss, and Return to Egypt

26 And there will be no one to drive you away. 27 The Memra of the Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with hemorrhoids, and with the scab, and with the itch, which cannot be healed.

32 Your sons and your daughters will be handed over to another people, and your eyes will see it and long for them all day long. And you will have no good works by which God might provide through your hands to redeem them.

38 You will go out to the field, but gather little, for the locust will devour it.

40 But you will not anoint yourselves with oil, for the blossom of your olive trees will drop off.

42 The tax collectors shall take possession of all your trees and the fruits of your land.

50 A brazen-faced nation that will not show regard for the old or have pity on the young.

54 The man who is pampered and most delicate among you will look with an evil eye on his brother, and on the wife of his youth, and on the rest of his children who remain.

56 She who is pampered and delicate among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicacy and pampering, will look with an evil eye on the husband of her youth, and on her son and her daughter.

65 And He will give you there a fearful heart, failing of the eyes, and a languishing soul.

68 And the Memra of the Lord will bring you back to Egypt in Liburnian ships, by the way about which I said to you, “You shall never see it again.”

All Generations Enter the Covenant

8 And you shall keep the praiseworthy words of this Torah and do them, so that you may have understanding in all that you do.

10 Your little ones, your wives, and the converts who are within your camps, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water. 11 So that you may enter into the covenant of the Lord your God and into the oath of the Lord your God, which He is making with you this day.

14 For all the generations that have arisen from the days of the world until now are standing with you here today before the Lord your God, and all the generations that are to arise after us are as if they were standing here with us today.

Idols and the Bitter Root of Rebellion

16 And you have seen their detestable things and their abominations, idols of wood and idols of stone, idols of silver and idols of gold. The idols of wood and stone they used to throw out in the streets, and the idols of silver and gold they kept with them inside the house, because they were afraid they would be stolen. 17 So that there will not be among you a man or a woman, or a family or a tribe, whose heart turns away this day from before the Lord our God to go and worship the idols of those nations, so that there will not be a man among you whose heart broods on sin, which is like a root fixed in the earth, for its beginning is sweet as honey, but its end is bitter as the wormwood of death.

The Nearness of the Torah and the Way of Life

12 The Torah is not in the heavens, that you should say, “If only we had one like Moses the prophet, who would go up to heaven and bring it to us and make us hear the commandments, so that we may do them!” 13 Nor is the Torah beyond the great sea, that you should say, “If only we had one like Jonah the prophet, who would go down into the depths of the great sea and bring it to us and make us hear the commandments, so that we may do them!” 14 For the word is very near you, in your mouth, that you may meditate on it, and in your hearts, that you may do it. 15 See, look, I have set before you this day the way of life, which is the good way, and the way of death, which is the evil way.

16 And they will forsake and annul the covenants that I made with them.

Moses Completes the Written Torah

24 And when Moses had finished writing the praiseworthy words of this Torah, until they were complete.

27 How much more so after I die!

Moses Calls Heaven and Earth as Witnesses

1 When the end of Moses came for him to depart from the midst of the world, he said, “Look, I call to witness in this world things that do not taste death. I call to witness against them the heavens and the earth, which do not taste death in this world, but whose end is to be consumed in the world to come.” For so it is explained, and it says, “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath, for the heavens will vanish like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment. But I am about to create new heavens and a new earth.”

Isaiah the prophet, when he prophesied in the congregation of Israel, because he was far from the heavens and near the earth, gave hearing to the heavens and listening to the earth. For so it is explained, and it says, “Hear, heavens, and listen, earth, for the Memra of the Lord has spoken.”

Moses the prophet, when he prophesied in the congregation of Israel, because he was near the heavens and far from the earth, gave listening to the heavens and hearing to the earth. For so it is explained, and it says, “Listen, heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the speech of my mouth.” 2 The teaching of my Torah shall be sweet to the children of Israel like the rain, and the word of my mouth will be received by them with favor like the dew, like the winds that blow on the grass, and like the drops of the late rain that come down and water the plants of the earth in the month of Nisan.

The Holy Name and the Angels

3 Moses the prophet said, “Woe to the wicked who mention the holy name with blasphemies. For it is not possible for one of the angels on high to mention the explicit Name until they have said ‘Holy, holy, holy’ three times.”

And from them Moses learned, and he would not mention the explicit Name until he had dedicated his mouth with twenty-one words which consist of eighty-five letters. And so it is explained, and it says, “Give ear, heavens, and I will speak, for the name of the Lord.”

Moses the prophet said, “In the name of the Lord I pray, and you, people of Israel, give glory and praise and greatness, and exalt God.”

The Lord’s Daily Acts and Just Judgment

4 Moses the prophet said, “When I went up on high, I saw there the Master of all the worlds, the Lord, dividing the day into four parts. Three hours He is occupied with the Torah, three hours He is occupied with judgment, three hours He is occupied with providing for the world, and three hours He joins man to woman. The Mighty One, whose works are perfect, for all His ways are judgments of truth, a faithful and true God, and there is no falsehood before Him. He is righteous and true in judgment.”

Israel’s Conduct and the Lord’s Care

5 The children have corrupted their works, and it is not before Him that they act corruptly, but against themselves, until, because they acted corruptly, a blemish was set on them. A crooked and twisted generation, which has changed its works, and so the orders of the world have been changed against it. 6 Is it before the Lord that you repay this, foolish and unwise nation? Is He not your Father who is in heaven, who acquired you? He created you and perfected you. 7 Remember the days, the days of old, and consider the years of every generation. Ask your fathers, who are greater than you in the Torah, and they will recount it to you, and the sages, and they will tell you. 8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, and separated the languages of the children of men, He fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel. 9 For the Lord’s portion is His people, the children of Israel, and the house of Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. 10 He found them wandering in a desert land, in the desolation of the howling wilderness. He surrounded them with the clouds of the glory of His Shekinah. He taught them the Ten Words. He guarded them and watched over them as the eyelid guards the eye. 11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, it spreads its wings, and it takes them up and carries them on the strength of its pinions. 12 The Lord made them dwell alone, and there were none among them who served foreign worship. 13 He made them ride upon the high places of the earth, and fed them the produce of the delicacies of kings, and nursed them with honey from the rock, and with oil from the flint of the crag. 14 Tender oxen and fat sheep, with the best of the fatlings, and rams bred in Batanea, and goats, with the richest of the wheat. Moses the prophet said, “If the children of Israel keep the commandments and the Torah, from a single grape they will drink a cup of wine.”

Jeshurun Forsakes the Word of God

15 And those of the house of Jeshurun ate and kicked. They grew rich and rebelled, they prospered and acquired possessions, and they forsook the Memra of God who had created them, and denied the fear of the Mighty One who had redeemed them. 16 They provoked jealousy before Him with their idols, and with their abominations they made Him angry. 17 They sacrificed to demons in which there is no substance, idols they had not known, new ones made only lately, which your fathers did not remember. 18 The Mighty One who created you, you have forgotten, and you have forsaken the Memra of God who created you and made you with many cavities. 19 And it was revealed before the Lord, and He was angry because of the provocation with which the beloved children had provoked Him, they who were beloved to Him as sons and as daughters.

Judgment Against an Unfaithful Generation

20 And He said, “I will surely turn away the face of My favor from them. I will see what will happen in their end, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom there is no faith. 21 They have moved Me to jealousy with idols that are nothing, they have provoked anger before Me with their abominations, and I will move them to jealousy by a people which is not a people, and with a foolish nation I will provoke them to anger. 22 For a fire has gone forth in the hour of My anger, and it has burned to the depths of Sheol, and it has consumed the earth and its fullness, and set ablaze the foundations of the mountains. 23 I said in My Memra that I would bring evils upon them. I will send the arrows of My punishments among them. 24 Swollen with famine, and devoured by unclean birds, and possessed by evil spirits. And I will send among them the tooth of the four kingdoms of the idolaters, which are likened to wild beasts, with the venom of serpents that crawl in the dust. 25 In the street the sword will bereave them, and in the chambers where they sleep, the terror of death, young men and virgins alike, nursing infants with old men. 26 I said in My Memra that I would bring anger upon them and abolish their memory from among the children of men. 27 Were it not that the anger of the enemy would grow strong, so that their enemies would not prevail over them, and so that they would not say, ‘Our hands have avenged us on our enemies, and this was not done from before the Lord.’”

Israel’s Sin and the Power of Its Enemies

28 For this nation perishes through evil counsels, and there is no understanding in them. 29 If Israel were wise and learned the Torah, they would understand what will happen in their end. 30 When Israel labored in the Torah and kept the commandments, one of them chased a thousand, and two of them put ten thousand to flight. But because they sinned and provoked anger before Him, the Mighty One abandoned them into the hand of their enemies. 31 For the confidence of the nations is not like our confidence, but because we have sinned and provoked anger before Him, our enemies have become our judges. 32 For the works of this people are like the works of the people of Sodom, and their thoughts are like the thoughts of the people of Gomorrah. Evil works bereave them and embitter them. 33 For the venom of this people is like the venom of serpents when they drink wine, and their anger is like the heads of asps, cruel and deadly serpents.

Judgment and the Resurrection of the Dead

34 “Is not this the cup of punishment, mixed and prepared with Me for the wicked, sealed in My treasuries for the great day of judgment? 35 Vengeance is Mine, and I am He who repays, at the time when the foot of the righteous slips, for the day of the breaking of the wicked is near, and the fire of Gehenna is prepared for them, and punishment hurries to come upon them.”

36 For the Lord judges the cause of the people, the children of Israel, and He has compassion on His righteous servants, for it is revealed before Him that the strength of the hands of the righteous has run out, and they are forsaken and cast down, and they have no one to help or support them.

37 And He said, “The nations are going to say, ‘Where is the God of Israel, the Mighty One in whom they trusted? 38 Before Him they used to offer the fat of their sacrifices, and the wine of their libations they used to offer before Him. Let Him rise up now and redeem them, He who was a shield over them.’ 39 See now that I in My Memra am He, and there is no other God beside Me. I am He who puts the living to death in this world and brings the dead to life in the world to come. I am He who strikes, and I am He who heals, and there is no one who can deliver from My hands. 40 For I have lifted up My hands in an oath to the heavens and said, ‘I live and endure in My Memra forever.’ 41 If I sharpen My sword like lightning, and My hands grow strong in judgment, with My right hand I will return vengeance to the haters and the enemies of My people, and I will repay them their evil deeds. 42 I will make My arrows drunk with their blood, and My sword will devour their flesh, for the blood of the slain of My people and for their captivity, from the heads of their mighty men, their generals.”

43 Give praise before Him, you nations. Praise Him, His people of the house of Israel, for He seeks redress for the humiliation of His righteous servants, and He will return vengeance on His enemies. And for the sins of the people He struck the land, and He will make atonement for His land and for His people.

Moses Commands Israel to Obey the Torah

44 And Moses came and spoke all the praise of the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Hoshea son of Nun. 45 And Moses finished speaking all these words with all Israel. 46 And he said to them, “Set your hearts on all the words with which I bear witness against you this day, which you shall command your children to keep, to do all the praiseworthy words of this Torah. 47 For it is not an empty word for you, because it is your life, and by this word you will prolong your days in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to inherit.”

Moses Is Sent to Mount Nebo

48 And the Memra of the Lord spoke with Moses on that very day. 49 “Go up to this mountain of the Hebrews, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, which is opposite Jericho, and see the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel as an inheritance. 50 And you shall be gathered in on the mountain that you are going up to, and you shall be gathered in peace to your people, just as Aaron your brother was gathered in on Mount Hor and was gathered in peace to his people. 51 Because you rebelled against the name of My Memra among the children of Israel at the Waters of Contention in Rekem in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not sanctify Me among the children of Israel. 52 For you shall see the land from a distance, but you shall not enter there, into the land that I am giving to the children of Israel.”

The Lord Gives the Torah to Israel

1 And this is the blessing with which Moses the prophet of the Lord blessed the children of Israel before he was gathered in.

2 And he said, “The Lord was revealed from Sinai to give the Torah to His people of the house of Israel. And He shone forth in His glory on the mountain of Seir to give the Torah to the sons of Esau, but when they found written in it, ‘You shall not be murderers,’ they would not accept it. He appeared in His glory on the mountain of Gebal to give the Torah to the sons of Ishmael, but when they found written in it, ‘You shall not be thieves,’ they would not accept it. And He returned and was revealed on Mount Sinai, and with Him were myriads of holy angels. And the children of Israel said, ‘All that the Memra of the Lord has spoken we will do and accept.’ And He stretched out His right hand from the midst of the flames of fire and gave the Torah to His people. 3 Was it not all revealed and known before Him that the sons of Esau and the sons of Ishmael would not accept the Torah? But all this was to make His people, the house of Israel, beloved, like the myriads of holy angels. For even though He brings many chastisements upon them, they do not rest and do not cease from the study of the Torah. And look, they are led and come at the foot of His clouds, and they set out and encamp at the command of His words. 4 The children of Israel say, ‘Moses commanded the Torah to us. He gave it as an inheritance and a possession to the assembly of the tribes of the house of Jacob.’ 5 And a king will arise from the house of Jacob when the heads of the people are gathered together, and the tribes of the children of Israel will obey him.”

Reuben and the Second Death

6 “May Reuben live in this world and not die the second death that the wicked die in the world to come, and may his young men be numbered with the men.”

Judah’s Prayer and Victory

7 And this is the blessing with which Moses the prophet of the Lord blessed the tribe of Judah, and he said, “Hear, Memra of the Lord, the voice of the prayer of Judah, and bring him back to his people from the battle lines. May his hands avenge him on his enemies, and be a help and a support to him against those who hate him.”

Levi’s Faithfulness and Service

8 And Moses the prophet of the Lord blessed the tribe of Levi, and said, “With the Thummim and the Urim You clothed Aaron the pious man, whom You tested, and he stood firm in the test, and whom You examined at the Waters of Contention in Rekem, and he was found faithful. 9 It was said of the tribe of Levi, ‘He showed no partiality to his father and his mother in the judgment of Tamar, and he did not recognize his brothers in the deed of the calf, and he did not have compassion on his sons in the deed of Zimri.’ For they have kept the word of Your mouth, and they are careful about the decree of Your Torah. 10 They are fit to teach the orders of Your judgments to those of the house of Jacob, and the decree of Your Torah to the assembly of the tribes of Israel. They will put incense of fine spices to hold back Your anger, and they will offer a whole offering with favor on Your altar. 11 Bless, Lord, the wealth of the tribe of Levi, and receive the offering of his hands with favor. Break the loins of those who hate him, and may his enemies fall and not rise.”

Benjamin and the Shekinah

12 And Moses the prophet of the Lord blessed the tribe of Benjamin, and said, “The beloved of the Lord will dwell securely beside Him. He shields him all the days, and within his borders the glory of the Shekinah of the Lord will dwell.”

Joseph’s Land and the Merit of the Fathers

13 And Moses the prophet of the Lord blessed the tribe of Joseph, and said, “Blessed from before the Lord is the land of Joseph, with the blessing of the dew and the rain that come down from the heavens above, with the blessing of the springs of the deep that well up and rise from the earth beneath. 14 It produces good fruits from the best of the produce of the sun, and choice delicacies from the first ripening at the beginning of every month. 15 It produces good fruits by the merit of the righteous fathers, who are likened to the mountains, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and by the merit of the four mothers, who are likened to the hills, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah. 16 It produces good fruits by the merit of the land and its fullness, and by doing the will of Him who made the glory of His Shekinah dwell in the bush. Let all these blessings come and be made crowns on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of the man who was ruler in the land of Egypt and was careful of his brothers’ honor. 17 The birthright and the kingship, the glory and the splendor are Joseph’s. For just as one may not work with the firstborn of the oxen, nor bring the horns of the wild ox into servitude, but as the ox and the wild ox gore with their horns, so these people, the sons of the tribe of Joseph, go out to battle against their enemies and kill kings together with rulers. They are the myriads of the Amorites whom Joshua son of Nun killed, who is of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of the Midianites whom Gideon son of Joash killed, who is of the tribe of the sons of Manasseh.”

Zebulun’s Trade and Issachar’s Study

18 And Moses the prophet of the Lord blessed the tribe of Zebulun, and said, “Rejoice, you of the house of Zebulun, when you go out to your trading, and rejoice, you of the house of Issachar, when you come into your houses of study. 19 Look, these people of the house of Zebulun will gather at the mountain of the house of the sanctuary of the Lord, and there they will offer true offerings, for they will eat the trade of the seas, and the treasures hidden in the sand will be revealed to them.”

Gad’s Warriors and Moses’s Burial

20 And Moses the prophet of the Lord blessed the tribe of Gad, and said, “Blessed is He who enlarges the border of Gad. he rests and dwells like a lion and like a lioness, and there is no nation or kingdom that will stand against you. And when he went out to battle against his enemies, those he killed were recognizable among the slain, cut from the head to the arm.

21 “And he saw from the beginning that a place had been prepared there for a burial house, set with precious stones and pearls, and there Moses the prophet, the scribe of Israel, was buried. And just as he used to go in and out at the head of the people in this world, so he will go in and out in the world to come. He performed acts of merit and taught the orders of His judgments to the children of Israel.”

Dan’s Land

22 And Moses the prophet of the Lord blessed the tribe of Dan, and said, “Dan is like a lion’s cub, and his land will drink from Batanea.”

Naphtali’s Inheritance

23 And Moses the prophet of the Lord blessed the tribe of Naphtali, and said, “Naphtali will be satisfied with favor and filled with blessings from before the Lord. He will inherit the west of the Sea of Ginosar and the south.”

Asher’s Oil and Strength

24 And Moses the prophet of the Lord blessed the tribe of Asher, and said, “Blessed among the sons is Asher. May he be acceptable to his brothers in the year of release, and his land will produce oil like water. 25 Look, these people of the house of Asher are pure as iron and strong as bronze. As the days of their youth, so will be the days of their old age.”

Israel’s Help and Redemption

26 “There is none like the God of Israel, who makes the glory of His Shekinah dwell in the heavens, and His majesty in the skies on high. 27 In the dwelling place He made His Shekinah dwell from of old, and from beneath His might He leads the world. And He drove out your enemies from before you and said in His Memra that He would destroy them. 28 And Israel will dwell securely by themselves, according to the blessing with which Jacob blessed them, in a land producing wine and oil. Even the heavens that are above them are commanded to bring down dews and rains for them. 29 Happy are you, Israel! Who is like you, a people whose redemption is from before the Lord, the shield of your help, the buckler of your armies, and the strong sword of your majesty? Your enemies will be scattered before you, and you, house of Israel, when you labor in the Torah and keep the commandments, will tread on the necks of their kings.”

Moses Sees the Promised Land

1 And Moses went up from the plain of Moab to the mountain of Nebo, to the top of the height that is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan of Caesarea. 2 And all the land of Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the western sea. 3 And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city that produces palm trees, which is Zeir. 4 And the Memra of the Lord said to him, to Moses the prophet, “This is the land that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘To the descendants of your children I will give it.’ See it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.”

The Death, Burial, and Mourning of Moses

5 And Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of the Moabites, at the command of the decree of the Memra of the Lord. 6 And He buried him in the valley in the land of the Moabites, opposite the idol of Peor, and no man knows his grave to this day. 7 And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old at the time he was gathered in. His eyes had not grown dim, and the splendor of his face had not changed. 8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, and the days of weeping in the mourning for Moses were completed.

Joshua Receives the Spirit of Wisdom

9 And Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him, and the children of Israel listened to him and did as the Memra of the Lord had commanded Moses.

Moses’s Prophecy and Miracles

10 And no prophet has arisen again in Israel like Moses, whom the Memra of the Lord knew, speech to speech. 11 In all the signs and the wonders and the distinct miracles that the Memra of the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land. 12 And in all the mighty hand and all the great manifestations that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.