Memar Marqah Book 3

1 In the name of the Lord, the Great One; there is no other besides him. On “And Moses and the Levitical priests spoke.” 2 From the great treasure that fills the life of the world let us draw our share, so that we may be sustained in the world. The treasure of the truth is great, all of it blessings, and the one who is satisfied from it is great. There is no possession like the possession of wisdom; it is the door to knowledge of the treasure. 3 Look at the great prophet Moses in his prophecy, and see how Aaron was honored in the priesthood from the day the great prophet Moses was told, “And Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.” The two met in peace, and in both of them a meeting was arranged for their mission to Pharaoh. Aaron was not appointed to the priesthood at that time, but only after Israel had been set free and came to the mountain of God in the third month and were told, “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” There Aaron was appointed to the priesthood, and he and his descendants after him were set apart for it. Moses the great taught that the tribe of Levi belonged wholly to the priesthood, because their ancestor had established it for the sake of the one who rose from it and was devoted to the Lord in great zeal. This is what is said: “And all the sons of Levi gathered to him.” When the great prophet Moses heard the words “You, and Aaron with you,” the priests were counted in only because of his descendants. So God said from the mouth of his might, “And let the priests who come near to the Lord also consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them.” From this it is understood that Aaron and his sons put on the priesthood and were set apart by it. 4 Let us make ourselves ready to take hold of wisdom until we come to reign in honor, and do not let it be said to us, “You will be empty,” for an empty place has no use. Scripture names no empty place except the pit of Joseph, and that was an honor to him. And it says elsewhere, “Are they not trees you may eat from? You may destroy the trees that you know are not fruit trees.” We ought to be like good trees that show their fruit, and to hurry to take hold of wisdom and fill our souls with what the True One taught us. It is not right for us to leave ourselves like a barren field with nothing in it. If we are like trees without fruit, no wonder that they are cut down. We were created only to learn, as is fitting, the wisdom we have inherited. 5 When Aaron was honored with the priesthood, God brought light and revealed to him what was precious in it. God called Moses from within the cloud, set him inside it and showed him the likeness of the Tabernacle and its pattern so that he could make it. He appointed fifty tasks for Aaron, forty inside it and ten outside it: ten for priestly clothing, ten for works, ten for services and ten for offerings. Look at each of them, and praise the King who is one forever. 6 The ten services: see what they are, for they are all performed inside the Tabernacle. The washbasin, in which he washes before he approaches the holy work; the altar of burnt offering; the table; the lampstand; the golden altar; the incense twice a day, morning and evening; the fire burning on the altar, never to go out; the sprinkling of the blood; the incense from inside the curtain; and the blood on the mercy seat and before it. And he has other services to perform before he approaches. 7 The ten offerings: every offering is made at its appointed time, with great care. The new moons; the vow; the freewill offering; the daily burnt offering; the Passover offering; the offering of firstfruits; the seventh month; the fast day; the Festival of Booths; and the eighth day. Let the One who commanded them be praised. 8 The ten items of priestly clothing: the breastpiece, the ephod, the robe, the sash, the turban, the woven tunic, the caps, the two stones, the holy crown, and the two linen garments for ministering. 9 There are ten other parts besides these that need not be examined. See the honor with which Aaron was honored, when he held two ranks, prophecy and priesthood. Aaron the great became a partner of the great prophet Moses time after time. The will of the True One revealed the honor of Israel: he taught them, rebuked them and warned them, and showed them, by sight and not by thought alone, the power of the Blessing and the warning of the Curse. 10 “And Moses and the Levitical priests spoke”: reflect on this saying in your mind, how the great prophet Moses sought perfection of action for the priests, giving them added rank, so that Israel would know that no action is to be done except by their hand, and would learn that they come first in every action and stand above all the tribes. For he did not say here, “And Moses and Aaron spoke,” as before. We have seen Aaron share with him in what he did before Pharaoh and in many other places, and the Levitical priests were not mentioned. The great prophet Moses wanted to put them first here, so that their greatness would be revealed and Israel would know that they hold a great rank, honored by it among all the generations of the world. That is why he said in this place, “And Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel,” to speak good things to the whole congregation.

1 “Be silent and hear.” “Be silent” to receive instruction, “and hear” what you will learn. “Be silent” was said here only so that what is your teaching and what is your correction may be revealed to you. “Be silent”: know what you do at all times. God forgives you and bears with you when you turn back to him. You cried out in Egypt, and he answered your cry and sent me with what brought about your deliverance. I killed Pharaoh and all his people before you, and the sea was split with the pillar of fire and cloud. The inhabitants of the land were alarmed when they heard what was heard of you, and what was done for your sake by all kinds of signs. After three days you grumbled against your Lord, and he did not repay you for it. He ordered you to be taught and warned, as he said, “If you will listen carefully,” so that you may grow great by it, “to the voice of the Lord your God,” a crown with which you will be great among all the nations of the world. That is why he made you hear his voice and made himself a good teacher to instruct you; “and do what is right in his eyes,” so that you may be lifted up and be upright in what you do. 2 “Hear, Israel”: he did not make you hear his voice except to give you life. That is what he prepared for you, until he made you hear his voice, and you believed and said, “We will hear and we will do.” If you walk by this word, you will be lifted up and will not fall, unless you turn and betray it. If only you had not spoken and then betrayed it! Where is your understanding? You speak, and you do not know what you are saying. You are far from the truth; how will your Lord have pity on you, and how will he deal kindly with you? You seek the covenant of Abraham and do not do his deeds. You seek the honor of Isaac and do not keep faith as he did. You seek the devotion of Jacob and do not hold to his words. You seek the kingship of Joseph and do not flee as he fled. What is this great sign I see in you? The truth set up a good book for you, and you did not want to learn from it. I made myself like a father to raise you, and you chase after what you never turn back from. Blessed is the Merciful One, who bears with you at all times. Leave your sins now and turn yourselves to listen. Be a child of today and not of tomorrow. So the truth has written for you. And now, Israel, what has gone is gone; from now on do good, so that you may be filled with every good thing and be lifted up and grow great. 3 The great prophet Moses is exalted, who pitied the congregation. His Lord said to him, “Leave me alone,” and he wanted nothing but to plead for them. Where in the world is there a prophet like the great prophet Moses, who pitied Israel as a father pities his son? No distress entered his heart except on their account, and so it is shown before us. Scripture tells that he went out and came into the land only for their sake. 4 Congregation, what has become of you? Begin to rebuke yourselves, outwardly and inwardly, with the righteousness born in you from good fathers. If you were what you were before, you would turn back to the love of the True One, for all your good fathers sought him, and those who put on goodness were good. But the men who were bound up in their sins died: they left the way that made great those who walked in it, and walked in a way that destroyed those who walked in it, and they met their evil desires. How terrible for the man whose deeds are like that! Is Cain not before you, who went after his desire, and Nimrod, and the Egyptians, the Sodomites and the worshipers of the calf? They left the truth and walked after their desires. 5 What has been said to you, Israel, has never been said to any nation, and no nation has found what you have found. If there had been hostility between you and the truth, you would not have found it. Whom have you seen in the world who made himself an enemy of the truth and prospered in what he did? I trust that you will turn back after error has shown itself among you. Whoever loves the truth will come in peace, and the whole congregation will be joyful over him and taste prosperity. 6 “Hear, Israel”: a man who hurries to hear has nothing to be ashamed of. I called to you another time and said to you, “Hear, Israel,” and made known to you what I had not made you hear before, in fuller perfection, and taught you, so that by it you would be lifted up in the world. And what did I proclaim before you? “The Lord our God is one Lord.” If you want to be looked on with favor in the world, stay faithful to what you have heard in purity, increase it in faith, make it firm in humility, possess it in obedience and let it live in your heart. 7 “Hear, Israel”: what has gone is gone; from now on walk in contentment. This day we will begin to teach you, and the priests too will speak a word with you, so that you do not stray from the path of the truth, and every man will know his place and what to do in it. The priesthood is a great rank, but it is not inherited except by work that makes its worker great. From Abraham we know this; we need not seek it from anyone besides him. Priests, consider this great honor and do not leave your rank. If the whole congregation of Israel goes astray, it can be accepted back, as the truth said, “And you shall return,” and it returned. But priests who become impure are not accepted: one who is made impure does not return to holiness, and the holy fire will destroy him, a punishment for his impurity, forever. 8 A question: why is a priest who is not accepted able to return to the standing in which he was yesterday? 9 Hear an answer to your question, so that you may be enlightened by it. A priest is holy. How can anything holy in the world become holy again once it has been made impure? If someone brings an animal to the Tabernacle as a vow or a freewill offering or as one of the other offerings, and it is whole in his hand until he presents it, but the time is not right to offer it, or a blemish comes upon it, it may still enter the Tabernacle and become a pleasing odor to the Lord. It is set apart and given to the priest. If it is made unclean in his hand or in someone else’s, the priest may eat it or do with it what God commanded, if the priest knows it is not pure when he offers it to the fire. It is not so with one from whom purity has been taken away and in whom uncleanness remains: it is not eaten and is not accepted. So the priest is like a privileged person who has fallen into sin; his privilege is taken from him. 10 Our Lord is great forever, who has revealed to us the knowledge of the congregation, all of it life and blessings. 11 “This day”: it was given to Israel concerning what was past, that it would not be asked again. Learn the excellence of wisdom, which is a good beginning for entering the good land that the truth swore to those men in their covenant, who set themselves firmly in the truth. And you, their sons, it is good for you to learn what you are to do after the crossing of the Jordan, when you come to the place that the truth has chosen, the place of blessings, the home of the angels, the house of the great Divinity, the home of his glory, the place of the forgiveness of the truth, the Lord of the world. Happy is the one who comes to it and seeks God there, for he will be answered and given everything he asks, and every good thing will be sent to him. How terrible for the one who stays away from it and bows down to anything besides it, for anger will strike him and destruction will surround him, and God is clear of him. Israel, stay faithful to the truth and come near to it; perhaps he will have pity on you, bring relief from your distress and make all your work prosper, as he did for Abraham, made Isaac great, multiplied Jacob and made Joseph prosper. 12 A holy people: this is a great honor, with which no nation besides you has been honored. So he said, “to the Lord your God.” He taught us that he enlarges his way, and he spoke these words to your fathers, and there is no one who can undo them. You too, their sons, will walk in them and go into the good land, and there do what your fathers never did, hear what they never heard, read what they never read, stand where they never stood, see what they never saw, own what they never owned, learn what they never learned, and destroy all your enemies and grow strong, as he said, “so that you may be strong.” These are ten precious deeds of surpassing worth. 13 A people holy to the Lord: you are chosen, and everyone chosen is honored in the world. 14 A people holy to the Lord your God: it is right for you to keep this rank and to obey the command of the Lord your God, for whoever hears his voice is honored. Hear the commands I give you and do not change them, for it is not right for you to change them. I did not speak with you except before witnesses, so that the word would not be spoken in vain. The first thing I did was to raise the rank of the priesthood and put them first forever. I made you steadfast, and each one is a witness over his companion. The priests are witnesses, faithful in what is holy, and you too are witnesses and a holy people. 15 The priests have seven ranks, each greater than the next: eating what is holy, the offerings, faithful care of the sanctuary and of everything that belongs to God, testimony to the truth, receiving the statutory dues, and the service of the place of worship. 16 The high priest has ten distinctions above all his brothers: he is pure and free of impurity, anointed and robed, gives the great blessing, begins and ends, judges, and lives in the sanctuary. He does not become unclean through a corpse or through the uncleanness of a foreigner. Of these ten, four belong to him and his sons, and six to him alone. Consider this great distinction and praise the Giver, whose rule does not change. Let us fear his anger and tremble at his great might; perhaps we will live. 17 See all this great honor with which the priests were honored and which they grasped in faith and peace. If you say that the high priest has distinctions beyond these, it is because his home is in the Tabernacle, and his service there is one distinction, and in the days of the Time of Disfavor his home is in Bethel, a home for remembrance, for from it they turned away and to it they will return. So the great prophet Moses said, “They will call peoples to the mountain; there they will offer sacrifices.” 18 Let him be praised, the Strong One, great and good, who does good, the Maker, the Orderer, who gives gifts and sustains souls. Come, let us make our request and bow down before him in purity: like Adam when he was afraid, Enoch when he served, Enosh when he called, Noah when he submitted, Abraham when he was tested, Isaac when he was bound, Jacob when he was oppressed, Joseph when he fled, Moses when he hid, Aaron when he was silent, Eleazar when he was faithful and Phinehas when he was zealous for God. Perhaps we will return to God’s favor, and hide away the Disfavor, and be made subject in purity, and hear what God has told us.

1 “And keep the commandments that I command you”: the great prophet Moses wanted to make this a gathering of the congregation of Israel, because God in his wisdom had shown him what would happen after his death, and the evil that would be done in the sight of the Lord. He spoke this to them as a whole, and he knew that it would not stand firm and would not be secured except through the fruitfulness of Joseph, for they would hold the good place: they would come to it, and no others would have a share in it. 2 Joseph and every branch of his are exalted, for they did not abandon the truth. When this came about and the place was possessed, Moses gave a statute to make its owner great. Only Joseph kept the way of the three righteous ones whenever he came upon it, so that he took hold of it and did not turn back to the words of evil men. So his father and the great prophet Moses raised him high, because of what they knew from the King of the world. See how the great prophet Moses spoke of what Israel would be made great by. 3 “And Moses commanded the people on that day”: the priests are not mentioned with them here, because this is a word of wisdom his Lord spoke through him, and no one is fit to share with him in this speech. 4 “And Moses commanded the people on that day, saying”: because a separation was going to take place there, he made known to them what God had said and revealed to them what they would be made great by. When he began, he divided his tribes with great prophecy, as one who is fit to rebuke and is not rebuked. And so God said to Moses at the time when he gave Jacob wisdom: he divided them and appointed which of them would serve and which of them would rebuke, and announced to them the crossing of the Jordan, and who would stand for the blessing and who would stand for the curse. People, be wide awake to what was done for his tribes, and learn to be whole. 5 Six stood for the blessing and six stood for the curse. 6 Those who stood for the blessing on the top of Mount Gerizim were Simeon, Levi, Judah and Issachar, and with them, made great in the crown of kingship, Joseph and Benjamin. 7 And six stood for the curse on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali. Set your minds on hearing these words, and turn your ears to what is now explained before you. 8 The six whom the truth set on Mount Gerizim were all sons of the chief wives, four from Leah and two from Rachel, and none of the sons of the slave women was with them. Of the sons of the chief wives, two were set with the sons of the slave women, because you will need to know why this was done. 9 Let us turn to Abraham and to what he revealed to us, and not leave him. The first thing that came to him was the announcement, and he set a table before the angels. Ishmael could do none of this, nor bear any part of what was done for the honored guests. 10 A question, now that you have heard these words: if the fathers could not go up to Mount Gerizim and stand for the blessing, how will their sons go up to Mount Gerizim? Will they go up or not? 11 You have asked rightly. The great Power wished to make known where their standing began: the four whom he placed by his will on Mount Ebal came from the slave women. The True One wished to show Israel that the sons of the slave women are not like the sons of the free wives. So Abraham held that a firstborn should not come from a slave woman, for such a son would not go up in holiness until teaching had come to those who pass by and those who arrive; and he kept back from drawing near his servant, since Ishmael was Abraham’s by a slave woman. See what was to be done with Isaac: had Sarah not perceived it, the deed of Cain would have come about then. 12 A question; listen to it concerning Asher, since he came from a slave woman and his father spoke a great word about him that reveals much good: “Asher, his food shall be rich.” He seeks what is good and stays faithful to it, and he is not content with the kinds of upheaval that come upon him. 13 “Israel”: do not say that “all” takes in everyone, for he set “all” apart from “Israel.” Notice how it is, and let your mind turn to nothing else: “all Israel” means the men, the women and the children, with no one of mixed descent among them. So he said, “When all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God,” and then he said, “Assemble the people.” Their arrangement followed an order, as he said, “your heads, your tribes.” And who are the heads if not the heads of the tribes, “your elders, your officers, every man of Israel, your little ones, your wives and your resident foreigner who is in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water”? For his place comes after all these. However great a resident foreigner may be, he has no tribe and no portion, whereas every Israelite belongs to a tribe and every tribe has its share. When the resident foreigner speaks, and when he lives among you as a resident foreigner in your land, “you shall not wrong him.” Let him be among you like the native. The great Power wished to teach Israel what humbles the heart, as he said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” This word teaches great compassion, and in what he said, “You shall not wrong him,” whether by what angers him or by what he cannot do. The priest alone serves in the place the Lord has chosen and made his home; there the foreigner’s son and the resident foreigner who lives with you may assemble. 14 Hear an answer that fits all this, and learn it with great light. At the Passover offering the resident foreigner who has come in faith may assemble with you, for that act provokes all the foreign gods. Whoever cuts away the foreskin holds the faith and is freed from his evils; he eats the Passover, walks in the way of the True One and rises early in the morning. Yet such a man cannot go up to Bethel. Keep your eyes open until this saying is made plain to you: when you make the booth in the house of your God, and in every place where one can be made, may the resident foreigner sit under it, or may a man who is not one of you live in it? As he said, “Every native in Israel shall live in booths.” And if you say that the resident foreigner gathers at the time the priest reads the holy teaching on Mount Gerizim, then the resident foreigner may assemble there, as he said, “and your resident foreigner who is within your gates.” The saying reaches back to its beginning. Turn your eyes to what he said about coming in: “when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God.” Consider this mystery and praise your Lord, who filled you with the word when he spoke of the coming of all Israel. Had he not meant others besides Israel, he would not have said “when all come,” taking in everyone of the faith who begins to keep it. 15 The great prophet Moses also spoke words of blessing about him that were said of no one else, because of the land in which he lies hidden, and the one who was struck will be made great. He will be beloved of his brothers for what he establishes for them. He will come in greatness, search out their enemy and be their redeemer, until what the True One said is revealed.

1 Why did he not stand on Mount Gerizim with those destined for the blessing, and live there until what is hidden there is revealed? Turn your mind back to the earlier words and know that a foreigner cannot go up to Mount Gerizim. For we see four, and not one of them was set apart from his fellow. Had one gone up and three stayed behind, we would say that one was chosen by lot and another rejected; but one decision applies to all of them. From this you have learned that a foreigner cannot go up to Mount Gerizim or stand in the place of the blessing, and this is a warning to the assembly of Israel that no foreigner may appear among them. 2 What shall we say of the resident foreigner, or of his son who has come over quietly from the foreigners? God said, “As the resident foreigner, so the native.” Again he said of him, “Let him celebrate with you at your festival,” and further, “He shall assemble with you and hear the priest read the teaching,” though he may not read it himself. All the service of Israel falls to them, to be done in humility. So said the Great One. Thanks to the Mighty One, who gives teaching that makes those who learn it great and sets them on a high step. Let us praise him for the strength with which he has filled us, and let us submit to him in faith. 3 Let us return to the words we were speaking of, for there we saw Reuben and Zebulun standing among the four. Hear what will lift your mind. Reuben seeks to make his wrong known with his own mouth, as a warning that it should not be done again, and so that you may know that our Lord is just and shows no partiality, neither to the great nor to the small. Zebulun too teaches from his mouth what becomes of those who wander over the face of all the land. Jacob understood where he would live when he said, “Zebulun shall live by the shore of the sea, a haven for ships,” and the great prophet Moses understood that this was his going out, when he said, “Be joyful, Zebulun, as you go out.” 4 Let us move on from here and examine this: there are six men and twelve sayings. Did they all speak with one mouth, or was each saying spoken by one man after another? Let us pass from here to the men of the blessing, for from them we learn that these resemble those in their deeds. What people have said about this they said at length, and it is now set out before you. Levi is the one who carries out the blessing and pronounces it, and all the others come and listen. So the great prophet Moses, faithful and honored with every honor, said and sealed what he said: “The service of the congregation is great, which pleases the Lord of the world.” Who is like these two great ones in every deed, Moses and Aaron, through whom the prophet and the priest were made complete? Look at the head of this section, where the great prophet Moses begins and speaks with greatness before his congregation. 5 “And Moses and the priests spoke”: the wise one has made their answers plain. That is why they said that only Levi pronounced the blessing, and all the others are his witnesses. 6 Some people put forward another view about Joseph: that he was the one who pronounced the blessing. When they were asked about this saying, they said of Joseph that he was the master of the place. To what they said, those who know the matter replied: “Joseph is blessed and his land is blessed, and the kingdom is his; the priesthood is not in his hand. Even if Joseph were the master of the house and all his brothers gathered in it, it would not be said of him, ‘to minister and to bless.’ That belongs to the tribe of Levi alone.” 7 Some people said, “How can one man speak and have his voice heard throughout the camp?” Aaron was like Moses when he spoke on Mount Sinai, and the whole congregation heard. The one who said this spoke rightly, with mighty wisdom. 8 Listen to an answer that will firm up your knowledge and broaden your mind. Whatever is done to please God, there will be signs for him that make him great, until everything he does turns to his help and makes him great in all that is done. This work pleases God. It enlarges the knowledge that comes from him and fills it with his spirit, all of it wisdom. If you want to know the secrets of his words, set your mind where the True One is and leave the desire of the self, which brings no benefit, for we now intend to set out a saying by which we will come to know the secrets of understanding. 9 Of those who are counted in the words, some belong to the blessing and some to the curse, yet we see that only a saying of cursing is written before us, and no saying of blessing is spoken to us. So we must know what to look for, that we may hold a completeness in which nothing is lacking. What do you read when you read what is written before you, “These shall stand to bless the people”? What are these words for? The words of our God are all true, and his greatness said, “These shall stand to bless the people,” yet no blessing is said there over the people by the Levites. Why then would they stand on Mount Gerizim, and what is the blessing that is said over the people? It is good for you to understand that the first thing done would be the blessing of the people, to soothe their hearts, and that they might understand the greatness of the rank by which the congregation is made great. Our great Lord wrote before us what holds our life and the length of our days, and what gives us relief on the last day. He wrote Genesis before us and all the good things in it. From this we say that the words of the blessing come first, for the work of faith begins with words of comfort, not with words of suffering. 10 From the start of Genesis there is blessing and good; so he said, “And he blessed,” and “look, it was very good.” When you seek understanding of this, begin by reading the sections “And if you obey,” after which come blessing, honor and peace, and then “But if you do not obey.” From this you will understand that God always puts the blessing before the curse. So he did here: he put the blessing first and the curse last. So God said, “These shall stand to bless the people.” The beginning is from the crossing, as he said, “when you cross over,” so that they may do what pleases God and give thanks to the Great One who filled their place and set up a likeness of their fathers. They crossed the Jordan in peace and broke their enemies, and on the day they entered the place that had been promised to them, there was great joy among them, and his strength made them great. So the blessing was set out for them, and they were made great by the thanksgiving for what had been done for them. From this it is said that we begin with the blessing before the curse. Understand this, then: do not turn aside from it, and learn from it what will be shown to you in the world with honor. 11 Let us understand what the blessing was, in full knowledge and with abundant wisdom, at the head of the matter. Let us begin by giving thanks to the great King who has made us rulers in every honor, made us heirs to what was our fathers’, and established for us what he decreed for them in his greatness. When the thanksgiving was complete they recited the blessing once given to Abraham, and to Isaac as well when his service was complete, and with which he honored them. When they heard what the Great One had promised them, they spoke with great humility and strong faith, and all the people stood to listen. 12 There are ten great blessings. Three were spoken to Abraham by the mouth of God: “And I will bless you and make your name great”; “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed”; and “I will surely bless you and greatly multiply your descendants.” Three to Isaac: “God blessed Isaac his son”; “And by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves”; and “The Lord blessed him.” And one to Jacob: “And in you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves.” These are seven, for the righteous of the world. 13 Three came from the mouth of the great prophet Moses: “to give you a blessing today”; at the completion of the work of the Tabernacle, “and Moses blessed them”; and on Mount Sinai, “and may he bless you as he has promised you.” Then there is Noah’s blessing, given when he offered sacrifice before Mount Gerizim and was promised increase. 14 A question; hear it. Where do we get this great knowledge, that Noah sacrificed nowhere but before it, and not in some place far from it? The answer: it was not a mountain left bare by the waters of the Flood, since all the mountains were covered, as he said, “All the high mountains were covered.” From it the dove brought the olive leaf, because it is good, and from it came good news. That is why it was called “the good mountain”: the waters of the Flood did not reach it, and no living being died on it to make it impure. It is the house of God and the home of the angels, the place where prayers are answered, the place of the Shekhinah, the place of forgiveness, the place of blessing, the place of the pilgrimage feasts, the place of the glory of the Lord, at all times visible, and the world is in honor through it. Thanks to God who chose it and made it a holy place, toward which every holy thing is turned. 15 When this place had been crowned with all this, Noah came and sought to sanctify it, and he did a holy work, a holy congregation’s work without blemish. He took from every clean animal, for he could not do a pure act in an unclean place, since he knew that every place had been made unclean by the corruption of all living things. As the Great One promises, so he does, for it is his way to carry out what he says. So the first to be blessed there was Noah: where he sacrificed, there he was blessed. From this we understand that our Lord and Creator does no work except in its proper place. 16 When he called Abraham and Abraham went in obedience to his will, see what was said to him: “And I will bless you.” He tied the blessing to that place, until he came to the place and was blessed. The blessing of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, and the blessing of Joseph are revealed there, and so he said, “Blessed by the Lord be his land.” 17 The great prophet Moses also spoke five blessings: one in the sea, one at the going out, and three at the foot of Mount Sinai. These three are the ones that were said to Abraham, and he taught them their meaning, for they were worthy of it. He began by telling him, “Your descendants shall be like the stars of heaven,” in greatness, and the great prophet Moses said at Mount Sinai, “Today you are like the stars of heaven. May he add to you a thousand times as many as you are,” which looks to the day when he will come and bless you. Understand from these answers the rank that was theirs: Moses spoke the three blessings that were said to Abraham to make them great, and so renewed them at Mount Gerizim, the place of worship. 18 Be ready to hear a question: from where did he bring them out? Turn your eyes and listen. The answer to your question is every blessing God spoke, from Noah to Jacob; see how it is. Consider the blessing of Noah, fix it in your heart and learn it: “God blessed Noah and his sons.” And so he said to Abraham, and also to Isaac, and further to Jacob: the blessing went out to no one among them except to them and to their descendants together. Look at what was said to them about the land: it was given to them as a portion only for them and their descendants together. This is what the great prophet Moses told them when he first came to redeem them, teaching them that they would inherit the land he swore to their fathers to give them. In every question Moses asked, his question was about their possessing the land. Those who denied it did not see it; it was their sons who went up there. From this you understand that when this was to be done, the blessing would be spoken before the curse, so that they would know that God had crowned their kingdom with it, and know that they were worthy of this great honor, which cannot be measured. 19 They killed their enemies by the strength of God and crossed the Jordan as Jacob had crossed it. He was empty of the world’s goods, yet rich in merit. See how he was honored and praised God when the angel met him after his great crossing, in glorious honor. At his first crossing he crossed with his staff; at the second he crossed rich. So he said, “For with only my staff I crossed this Jordan,” and he gave thanks to God who enriched him after his poverty. So God wanted his descendants to multiply their thanksgiving for what he had given them. Therefore it is our duty to understand the secret of this act, so that we may be among those who know the glory of God and give thanks for it. 20 By this act Moses looked to the day on which they would cross the Jordan, to do these two things that bear witness against you from what is heard from your own mouths. If you do what pleases, the blessing you pronounced with your own mouths will be upon you; and if you do evil, the curse you spoke with your own mouths will be upon you for safekeeping, and you will be turned away from the blessing. Do not forget this covenant and do not abandon the truth, so that you may be at rest here and there. 21 We want to understand how they pronounced the blessing so that six hundred thousand heard. Levi, the one who carries out the blessing, begins, as is fitting for him, for no one goes before him. If you want to understand how he pronounced the blessing, be silent and listen: Levi begins and speaks with a loud voice, and God answers him with a voice, until the whole congregation hears. So it was with Aaron when he went into the Tabernacle with the great prophet Moses, and the voice came out from between the cherubim to Moses: “Speak to Aaron and to his sons: This is how you shall bless the children of Israel.” From the Mighty One’s own mouth he received the great name, went out to the gate of the Tent of Meeting, lifted his voice in great awe and blessed the congregation, and they all heard. 22 “The Lord bless you”: he clothed them in awe. And he went on to say to them, “and keep you”: when they were clothed in awe, they became worthy of being kept. 23 “The Lord make his face shine upon you”: the one who keeps is kept, and favor rests on him. “And be gracious to you”: see how great this is, and hold on to it. When you receive the grace of your God, you will grow great with it at all times. 24 “The Lord lift up his face to you”: a great kingdom that is not taken away. 25 “And give you peace,” in this world and in the one to come. Happy is the one whose portion it is! As Aaron spread out the blessing, his voice carried until the whole congregation heard; so it was with Levi when he pronounced the blessing. God helped him until all the people heard. 26 Good congregation, whom God has made mighty and for whom he established what he swore to their fathers: this day your hand is filled, and all the honor with which you have been set apart from all peoples is made known. “You are a people holy to the Lord your God,” more than the fathers who came out of Egypt in honor and all died in the wilderness. They did not see this place, but you have reached it. In greatness you killed the enemies who ruled your lands, and not one enemy is left hidden among you. You will be blessed like Noah, who came here and grew in fruitfulness into a world of peace. You will multiply with abundant fruit, and the world will be settled through you in joy. You will possess the land and do in it what pleases God, and no anger will rest on you. You will grow strong and great like Abraham when he came here and was tested, bound Isaac his son, laid him on the altar and sought to do what he had been told. God knew the purity of his heart; he opened his garden, sent his redemption, and he heard, beyond all who came before him, the blessing spoken from the middle of heaven: “For I will surely bless you.” It will be yours until every nation of the world comes to you. “And I will greatly multiply your descendants”: let this never leave you. He made you like the stars of heaven, because you are a holy people, and he gave all these lands to your descendants. Give thanks to God, who has filled you in this way, “and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves.” Remain faithful to the Good One; this will last for you. 27 These words were spoken only on condition of deeds that please; then you possess what God has said. Do deeds by which your kingdom will last, and walk as Isaac walked when he saw his Lord and was richly blessed, and your kingdom will be as great as his. He blessed him, and he went to Beersheba. And there is also the blessing of Jacob, with which he was blessed in his dream: twelve words, all of them good. 28 You will grow great through the word the great prophet Moses spoke when he stood to sing by the sea, with your fathers: “You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance, the place for your home,” the word by which your coming to this mountain is established in faith, today and at every time. “And you are as numerous as the stars of heaven.” Take hold of this honor with strength. Let it raise you above every people, for they are impure and you are holy; they bow down to the stars of heaven, and you to the God of gods. “May the Lord, the God of your fathers, add to you a thousand times as many as you are,” through the greatness of this word, for today and for tomorrow: today for good, and tomorrow for completion. “And bless you as he has promised you.” Walk in truth, and this will last for you.

1 Congregation, be subject to God and give thanks to him at all times for the honor in the house of your Lord. You stand in great splendor. You have killed your enemies, and you have heard the blessing. Set your heart and do not turn to the right or to the left, for the curse is before you. Set your heart and guard your soul, and stay away from it with all your strength, so that you do not stand under a great curse and become naked among all creatures, despised and rejected, with everything coming to an end for you. Favor would be hidden from you and the truth taken from you; righteousness would leave you and evil would make its home in you. You would have abandoned Sarah and her righteousness and walked after Naamah; abandoned Rebekah and her seeking and gone to Tamar; abandoned Miriam the prophet and walked with Cozbi; abandoned Mount Gerizim, Bethel, and gone to Sodom; abandoned the great prophet Moses and turned aside with Korah; abandoned Phinehas and clung to Zimri. 2 What is this long delay, that you have abandoned your good fathers, to whom you were once faithful? How can you give up your holiness and remain unholy forever? Would you let your place lie waste, when it need not be so? Glory, you should never be rejected; priest, you should never be made impure! What is this long delay, that you have blinded your understanding, shown yourself overturned, and acted like a man who neither knows nor hears? It is fitting for you now to sit down and listen to the words of the curses. Guard yourself inwardly and outwardly, and understand which deed is good for you: the one by which you will possess the blessing, or the one by which you will possess the curse. 3 “See, the blessing is before you, and the curse is before you.” Set your heart: do not abandon the blessing whose son you are, which makes you great, and turn away from the curse, for it is not yours, and it is not fitting for you to come near it. Your fathers are the righteous of the world, who grew great through the blessing, and it has come to you. It is not right that you should become different from them, so that it would be said, “Yes, you are their son, but a son not like his fathers.” Whom will he resemble in the world? Do not abandon the truth, for God has chosen you. So let us never cease from his praise. Come, let us know the strength of the Mighty One, bow down to the Great One, and kneel before him for what we have heard. Let us hurry to learn and not abandon it, and let us stand by what we have been given to do. 4 Reuben will rise, open his mouth and speak the words of the curse. Let a man who hears multiply words and speak to us, so that the answer may be heard: why does Reuben begin the words? And let no one else say to us, “You need not look into this saying.” 5 Hear the answer of those to whom it was said, whether he heard what was said to him or did what was done. Every person does as the faith of the world requires, until he knows what his reward will be. No one seeks what is not fitting for him, as Korah did when he sought a rank that had not been given to him; see what his reward was, and there is no need to say more. When Levi stood and began the blessing, that was the rank that had been entrusted to him. So too Reuben will rise and speak words of rebuke to the congregation, beginning with himself, and say a word that God revealed and spoke with a mighty mouth. 6 “Cursed is the man who makes a carved image or any likeness”: he sought to strengthen it with a curse. On Mount Sinai he said, “You shall not make yourself a carved image,” and they went and made the calf. He said, “or any likeness,” and they sacrificed and bowed down to Baal Peor. So he strengthened it with a curse, so that the one who does it would have no redemption. God knew this, and so he told the great prophet Moses that he would hide his favor from them because of their doings, and let them go after their own desires. If they did this, they would deserve the curse. The twelve tribes stood to listen, and they understood that this act would strike them, though it was said only of the one who does it. How terrible for us! The saying of Jacob our father about the last days will not stand over us, for every tribe knows what will come of it and what its reward will be for its deeds. How terrible for us in this place, if there is anyone who does it! If only the one who hears would pay attention to the warnings. We fear that it may not be done. “Amen” is the seal: it stands for three witnesses, righteous, great and honored, divinity, prophecy and priesthood, should they be roused. 7 Let us give thanks to the One who lives by himself forever, the guardian of life for those who take counsel with the truth. The Mim reveals great honor, which no one has the strength to grasp. It has set up for us a good peace, revealed to us in every generation, and from it comes what will be for the world. It bears witness for us, and so it will be over us. How terrible for us if we step outside this great boundary, for we would find ourselves in a wasteland, and how terrible for anyone who stands there. Let us turn our faces from those who do evil, and swear at all times that we will not come near the curse, for we fear that we may be swept away in sins that keep growing and overtake us, as the angels said to Lot when they brought him out, “Have pity on your soul, so that you are not swept away.” They held on to him until he was saved, and they did not let go of him until he reached the place he had asked of them. So it will be with us, if we do not tremble with zeal of spirit. 8 Know the rank of Nun, and seek it with perfect understanding. Let us not leave it or abandon it, and let us not cease from its honor or flee from it. Let us make it great at all times, for through it we are redeemed from every harsh judgment. How terrible for us if we have no understanding by which to know what is good for us and to stand by what our Lord has commanded us. If you want to understand, learn, and do not let your heart turn from understanding. Seek for yourself what your Lord wants of you, do not stay away from your Lord, and know that he is merciful and compassionate. He does not accept the guilty until they repent. 9 Here we finish the first saying and speak of the second. We are troubled by a saying that brings fear to everyone who hears it. When God proclaimed the Ten Words, he did not add a warning to every word with a curse. Let us say “Amen” to what we say. Our Lord knows what we do not know of the evil of our deeds. How terrible for us, for we have no understanding by which to know what our Lord seeks of us, though he seeks of us nothing but what is good for us. So let us give thanks to him for it, serve before his greatness for all this glory, and bow before his might; perhaps he will have compassion on us. 10 “Cursed is the one who treats his father and his mother with contempt.” This saying gathers ten commandments: one from heaven and one from the earth, one from the heart and one from the mind, two that make the body grow and keep it standing, one from your grandfather and one from your grandmother, on whom your upbringing and your learning rest, one from Joseph and one from Ephraim, two of lofty strength, one from the angels and one from the Glory. All of these complete what was done for Israel. Look at each one of them: it speaks a word of wisdom that enlarges the one who learns it. 11 Heaven said: “I nurse you with good milk, and from my storehouses come the good things you are supplied with. Do not make me hurl my anger at you and bring a punishment on you beyond measure. After I have pitied you, shall I leave you hunted down through the world? Remember what you heard of Cain, when he asked his Lord, ‘Where shall I go, and where shall I hide from your anger?’ Whoever is driven from land to land is never hidden from me. Where can he go, when I hang over him? In the countryside or in the town, you stand under me, in a judgment without limit.” 12 The earth said: “I am the one who carries you. At every time I bring out my riches for you, and at every time I give you hope of life. Do not leave me with nothing; what then would hold your form together? Otherwise I will show you great hostility, until I make an end of you in creation, and you will stand in ruin, with no one to pity you in distress, no one to rescue you in judgment, no one to set you free under the curse, and no one to show you mercy. Discipline yourself inside and out, and do not come near the doing of evil, so that you do not end up under the curse. Whoever is cursed is cast off and is never accepted, for in the place of forgiveness and the place of blessing witnesses have been set up against the one who turns your wisdom away from what this saying means. They will declare with their own mouths what they heard, and they cannot escape it.” 13 When heaven and earth had finished speaking with the congregation, the heart began, and the mind spoke with it, the one rebuking the other, while the body stood between them in fear and trembling at what they said. 14 The mind said to the heart: “Make yourself ready and fold your wings for what you are about to hear. Give it your attention and do not turn aside, or everything will be thrown into confusion and rise up in great ruin. That would not be right for you, and you could not bear it. Do not let destruction show itself, for it is not in your power to drive it away. If you place yourself in a house of grief, I will demand your blood from you, as he said, ‘And your blood I will surely require,’ and you will be there in great distress and misery, which is not fitting for you. Turn yourself away from evil things and keep the commandments, and do not fall sick through doing evil and grow weak, for you cannot heal yourself. It is your duty to keep your soul whole, as he told you, ‘And guard your soul,’ by doing good. You will be redeemed and will redeem others. So he spoke when he asked you to love the Lord your God for your own good.” 15 The mind said to the heart: “Have you heard these words?” 16 The heart answered: “Brother mind, we come from you, and you are the spring from which we drink. From you we prepare a lamp with pure oil, until your light quenches all darkness. You come before body, soul and spirit, and of you it is said in our knowledge and in our understanding: ‘You are the head of creation; who can be compared with you?’ Thanks be to the Mighty One, who has given you such strength and made you worthy of all honor. Do not rebuke me until you have rebuked yourself. Through you I stand; I and the five senses lean on you, and when you appear, we go out.” Now we have heard what these two said. 17 Now let us hear a word wholly good, as though Abraham said to his sons: “For your sake the True One made me great in what I asked. I set my prayers before him and asked much, as well as I knew how, until it was revealed and my Lord accepted me. He made you great and revealed to me the secret of a good assembly. Happy is the one who gives thanks to the Great One for it, for all of it comes from him and all of it is in his hand. At his word it is done, and by his great grace it is given. Let this abundance not be turned now from truth to falsehood through evil. My prayer should never be changed from a multitude past counting to a number that can be counted, and that the harvest stored up for Isaac and all that was his, the redemption that was his, the blessing that was heard from heaven, the covenants made with him and the oath sworn to him should all be changed by your hands. The descendants of Abraham should never be scorned in the world and driven from every place, made unholy after holiness, cursed after blessing and impure after purity. This conduct is not fitting for you, and it was not your fathers’ way. Look at what was done for them and remember it, and do not forget that your enemies were killed at the start by signs and crushed before you, while you stood in every honor. What is this great guilt, that you would exchange honor for evil? Do not abandon the precious thing God has given you, or you will be stripped of it and the enemies of the truth will be delighted, and you will stand in harsh judgment, waiting for any good thing that will never come. You will say that you are good, but it will not be so, and God will be found righteous against you in everything you do. Let us give thanks to our Lord, who is by himself, at every time and season, and let us fill ourselves with what our Lord has filled us with.” 18 See Joseph and Ephraim speaking with all Israel, a speech full of rebuke. It is as though Joseph said: “You have come to my house; do what I did. Let no one live in my house who turns away from the good deed I did. Whoever keeps the deed Abraham did will go up to the place where he prayed, will keep what he kept, and will not leave that place. When he was tested there, he was shown mercy, and there he was made great with the blessing. Whoever learns the submission of Isaac will stand in the place where morning is fair. Whoever keeps what Jacob kept will find rest where he found rest and will grow great in what he saw. These are the companions of the truth, who loved their Lord and whom he loved, and you are now the keepers of the place. Do not do anything that provokes God. Praised be the Merciful One, whose mercies are abundant, whose strength and goodness cannot be counted.” 19 See Ephraim answering his father, a word of great benefit: “If you seek men who did good and established the place and will go to it, let them be men who serve, who honor and who are faithful, as they were at first. Do not let them be men who turn aside from the path of truth, but like those who went before them, who trusted in God truly and acted as their fathers acted, not changing what they were told. But I fear that evil conduct will lead to every judgment and will be destroying and oppressive, cursing and ruining in every warning. After a time wholly good will come a time wholly of ruin.” Truly, so it is, from what is spoken by the angels and by the Glory as well. 20 The Glory said: “The great name is within me, and I do not overlook the one who rebels in action. When a man goes astray, I declare him forfeit, and so it is said of me, ‘For he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is within him.’” 21 The angels also said: “Congregation, cling to your Lord and serve him faithfully, for redemption and destruction are in our hands, in our hands guilt and in our hands toil, in our hands killing and in our hands mercy. All of it is in our hands. Guard yourself and learn the path of truth. You need not ask what we did from Adam to Noah, with Abraham and Lot, with Isaac and the men of Sodom, with Jacob and Joseph and with the great prophet Moses in everything he did. We stood with Adam and made his first state great. We appeared to Noah and honored him. We stood with Abraham at his announcement, and so with Isaac in the greatness of his goodness, and we met Jacob as well as a company. We were sent only to these good and perfect ones. You need not ask about the deed of Lot and the men of Sodom, which is laid out before you. If you want to understand what is in our hands, come to Jacob. On the ladder of his dream we were going up and coming down on it, and the Glory stood above it and announced a great blessing. In his dealings with Laban and his meeting with Esau we counseled him, and the Glory honored him and blessed him at the Jabbok and at Luz, and announced to him his coming in and his going out. All of this was complete for him and for his descendants after him, generation after generation. If you keep this good state, you will prosper in both worlds. But if you turn aside from the path of truth, what happened to the men of Sodom will begin with you. So the True One wrote, ‘Like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.’ We will come and reveal ourselves, and we will not appear until a great judgment beyond measure is done, a judgment with no lack in it.” The Mighty One is great who makes us his witnesses. Let us take our stand in truth before the True One, and stand in every upright deed, with no lack in it and wholly pleasing. 22 And the Glory, as though saying again: “Congregation, keep what is yours away from me, for do I not have a mighty deed to show? I killed and I crushed, I destroyed and I made alive, and with you I did all of it when I stood at the sea and showed you every wonder and brought you across with mighty signs by the power of God. Look at these deeds of mine and fix them in your heart. Do not rebel against me, and do not come near evil, until you are made great in the hand of your Lord and are honored in my hands. Otherwise I will make an end of you from the world of the living, release every kind of curse on you and set you in bitter distress. If you discipline yourself inside and out, in secret and in the open, you will be in the world above, a holy and treasured people, and what was promised to your fathers will hold good for you, for our Lord is merciful and gracious; so he described himself.” 23 Let us give thanks and praise to the Great One, bow to his divinity and serve him at every time and love him without ceasing, for he is our Maker, our Shaper and our Creator. Let the mind take this word to heart, receive it with deep faith and awe, and be quick to praise God, who has no equal. Nothing lasts forever but his power. Perhaps honor will remain with us, and he will set us free from this evil, for he gives relief to those he loves and gives them light. Let us say in fear and reverence: There is no God but One. 24 The third warning: “Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker; and all the people shall say, Amen.” Look at this word and learn its secret, and do not turn to the right or to the left, for it holds ten portions: five for the priests, one for the princes, two for the judges and two for the congregation. Praised be the One who said it and revealed these words to us. 25 The five for the priests: Let there be no change in the service that God decreed for them. What does changing it bring, except a fall? The priesthood should never fall! What was divided for them throughout the land, like the portions of all the good of Israel, and what was given them of the portions, you are to set out for each one according to his work. Do not leave him without the bread of his Lord to eat, and do not lie against your neighbor, so that he leaves the place and shame comes upon him. 26 What was said to the princes: Look at how it stands and learn it, so that your wisdom grows. Let no one rise up to speak falsely. It will turn on him to destroy his soul, his neighbor’s place will become desolate, and it will be torn up for someone who has no right to it. 27 What was said to the judges: Consider how it stands and learn it with all your strength, and you will prosper in every deed. Do not favor the poor and do not honor the rich, or your rank will fall and you will receive your reward from me for it. 28 What was said to the congregation: Learn it with your understanding and grow in knowledge by it until you are lifted up, and make it a shield before you that keeps away from you everything that comes from evil. It is the word written before you, “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself,” so that you may live at all times in peace. This is the whole of what was said to us; set it before you as a shining light. Give it your mind and do not change these words, or you will fall short and stand in ruin. Do not let your heart rest on what you own so that it hardens, or I will strip you of everything in your hand. Do not let your eye reach out for what belongs to your neighbor; that would be guilt in you. Do not take for yourself what belongs to a Levite; I am the judge. Do not raise your voice against a priest in your sanctuary; I am his portion, and you will fall. Do not use your power against the three who are poor, the needy, the orphan and the widow; my power is greater than yours. Do not seek five things in which you have no share. If you seek wealth, I will make you poor; if you take into your hand what was not handed to you; if you seek interest on what is in your hand; if you do wrong, set truth aside, lift your hand or hold back your words; if you love yourself: all this is evil, and I will repay you for it. 29 If you grasp outstretched hands in yours, you will suffer every blow. If you seek interest on what is in your hand, I will make you poor. If you do wrong, I am a just judge. If you hold back your words, in a moment I will bring your ruin to light. If you love yourself in evil, I hate it and will destroy it. My great might shows favor to no one except to establish the truth. I did not leave this word bare, but bound it with a curse, so that you would not turn aside and stand under punishment. Whoever dies in it, I will exact it from him. If he thinks he can act in secret, none of his deeds is hidden from me, for to me the hidden is as plain as the revealed, and no deed that is done is concealed from me. Let us all know this secret and not turn away from it. Praised be the One who says and does all he wishes. Let us give thanks to his power, bow before his greatness, testify and say: There is no God but One.

1 We now set it out: it is like a lamp shining before us that drives away all darkness, for its greatness is seen and it makes us strong in great understanding, good for those who hold it. See the secret of this great word and hold on to it, and never turn away from it. 2 “Cursed is the one who leads a blind man astray on the road; and all the people shall say, Amen,” with a loud voice. This word holds twelve commandments; look at them and consider them. This word does not concern someone whose eyes are blind, but a person who sees and hears. A man who asks about the truth: do not hold back the answer to his question. A man who seeks to learn knowledge: do not leave him without teaching. A man who wanders on the path of evil: do not abandon him, or you will bear his guilt. A man who speaks slander: do not delight in it, or you will bear guilt. A man who brings a rumor to be heard for evil: do not accept it, and I will not overlook his ruin. A man who is caught in guilt and does not understand its secret: turn him from his path. A man who leaves himself empty of wisdom: do not take pleasure in his condition. A man who hurries to stand in evil: bring him back from his path and turn the judgment away from him. A man who speaks words he does not understand and is criticized: help him toward the truth. A man who stands in a place of ruin and does not know it: turn him away from that place. A man who teaches you what he does not understand: show him the truth and do not let him wander. A man who does not understand the secret of what he does: set him on the truth and take your reward. If none of those mentioned listens or is helped, I am a hard judge: he will be turned away from the blessing and remain in the curse, and in this world I will repay him for every deed according to what he did. 3 A man who asks about the truth and hears the answer, but is not changed: I will exact it from him. A man who stands firm in uprightness, and the truth is revealed to him, but he does not see it: he is not upright and not worthy of mention. He stays wretched in his life and in his death, and I will never accept his prayer, for he is worse than Pharaoh, who put the question “Who is the Lord?” to the great prophet Moses. He asked a true question, and when the light was revealed to him he turned back and said, “Who is the Lord?” His heart planned an evil thing, and so I acted against him by revealing every wonder and turning his heart as it had been turned at first. 4 A man who is set on learning: if he is taught and changes for good, his deeds are good; but if his deeds are false, the curse is upon him, and I am more righteous than he. See his reward and what I do to him: he places himself under a heavy curse beyond measure, and at his end he receives a severe penalty. 5 A man who walks on the path of evil without knowing it, and you leave him: you will receive the sentence of the curse, and he will turn back from it only because you did not turn him. If he does not turn back and does not listen to you when you speak to him, it falls on his own head. If he does not turn back and does not listen to your words, see what my power will bring on him: I will set him among the creatures in great retribution and judgment, and I am more righteous than he. 6 A man who speaks blasphemy: if he is wise, I am his judge, and you need not rebuke him among people; I will rebuke him with many plagues. If he does not know what he is saying and he learns from you, happy are you and he both. If he is wise in what he says and does not listen to the words spoken, truth will be taken away from him and the curse will be upon him. On Mount Sinai I warned against it and decreed that it should never be done, and so I have bound him in a curse. No blasphemer in the world has any hope of standing. Whoever blasphemes among people blasphemes against the Lord, for he denies him. Because of what he says he has no standing before me. I will wipe out his memory from under heaven, because he changed my word, and I will destroy his life. 7 A man who speaks falsely and does not learn the truth: I will repay him, so that no one walks in his place. If he walks on the path of truth, it is good for him; if he is not taught, he will be killed in the judgment. 8 A man who stands in guilt, even if he acted without intent, has no pardon for the guilt if he was taught it and turned away from it. Nothing lightens it: the judgment on every part of the guilt he committed is revealed in every generation. 9 Whoever lets his adultery be seen will be judged, because he has exposed his wickedness and cannot hide it. Everyone who is wise in his guilt and turns back from it has his repentance accepted. If someone sees a thief, he must not look away from him; and if he looks away, he knows about it. There is no guilt except what I have made known to you. It makes the heart impure and turns the mind astray, and it turns a person from honor to evil and sets a person among dishonor. He sees light and cannot walk by it. If this conduct is done in open defiance, I will stretch out my hand and kill him by my power and set him in judgment, and he will have no redemption from it forever. 10 A man who turns away from wisdom: if he seeks and you do not teach him, then what I told you stands against you. If he does not seek and abandons wisdom, his standing turns against him. 11 A man who clings to doing guilt, if he does it knowingly, the curse rests on him, and the guilt is heavy, because he did a deed that provokes my greatness. I will do to him what he planned to do to his good brothers. If he sets himself on evil, he will find himself in great distress; I will destroy him, and he will have no memory in the world. 12 A man who speaks words he does not understand, and words whose secret he does not grasp, and you leave him without teaching what has been set out before you: it is truly yours to answer for. But if he did not wish to hear the teaching, it falls on him, and you are clear of it. 13 Look at the words a man says without knowing their secret, and give it your mind. Do not let them become something you rely on, do not pay attention to them and do not hold to these words: those who practice divination, enchanters, sorcerers, astrologers, those who pass their sons and daughters through fire, those who bow to idols, charmers, mediums, wizards and those who seek the dead. Rid yourself of all these with all your strength, for there is no good in any of them. 14 A man who stands in a place that is wholly ruinous and is harming himself by being there, and does not understand it: look at that place yourself and know that it is a place of foreign gods, against which he warned on Mount Sinai in general and which he set out in the plain of Moab in detail. These are the sun, the moon, the stars and the whole army of heaven, every likeness above and below, male and female, animal, bird, crawling creature and the fish of the sea. Do not stand in any of these places, or you will harm yourself, lead your mind astray and turn your heart, for there is no place of worship except the place God chose for his Glory. If you hear of a man or a woman going to one of these places, do not let them alone: your hand shall be against them first, and the hand of all the people afterward, so that the curse does not come upon you. Know that in these places many disgraces are gathered, each greater than the last. A carved image or any likeness is not fit for you to look at, an evil altar must not fill your eyes, you are not to stand in an evil assembly, and you are not to come near them, for your Lord has warned you against all of these. 15 A man who tells you a false report: keep yourself back from hearing his words. He is the man I warned you about, for he gathers seven evils. He likens himself to the righteous of earlier times, to whom I revealed in dreams of the night what would honor them, and he says that he is like Moses in performing a sign or a wonder, so that you would turn aside from the light of truth and abandon your fathers, the roots of merit. Abraham will not pray for you; I set up one like him in his dream and in his speech. Isaac will not have pity on you, since you left his place, and I chose a place for you. Jacob will not love you, in return for everything he founded. 16 A man who does not understand the secret of the deed he does: keep apart from him, so that you stay far from the curse, and do the kind of deeds that draw you close to God. 17 A man who owns wealth and withholds from it what I commanded: I will call him to account and destroy everything he holds. Thanks be to God, who is good to those who love him and shows them the way to prosper. Let us thank his greatness for it always, and praise his name as far as our strength allows, not as far as he deserves. 18 We set out a section that adds light for us, and from it we go up to a boundary wholly of faith. Its teaching is life, and leaving it is death. Happy are those who learn it, and how terrible for those who leave it. 19 “Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due to the resident foreigner, the orphan and the widow.” He brings forward ten evil deeds. See how he set the resident foreigner first and then named the orphan and the widow. Consider what this word gathers of the secrets laid in it: for the resident foreigner seven commandments, for the orphan seven and for the widow six. Here I reveal to you those for the resident foreigner. See what they are, and know that the work of our God is wholly good. “You shall not wrong him,” in word or in deed, so that he does not grieve over what he left behind or turn away from what he has come to. “As the native among you”: let him no longer do the deeds he did in his former time. This one law holds three precious commandments. First, let him read in the teachings of truth until he has learned the whole teaching of blessing. Second, let him do what comes into his hand in full; and if he evades it, let him be judged by it as you are. Third, let him not depart from the command or slip out from under the decree: one law, what holds for Israel holds for him. Do not sink from good to evil in his presence, and do not abandon him, but let him join with you in all your joys and rest with you when God gives you rest. All this is for the resident foreigner; you are not to abandon him, for God’s treasure is in these seven. It is not for priest or judge to pass him by, but to establish the truth as your Lord required, and you are never to turn away from him, for I have commanded all this. 20 The seven for the orphan: give your mind and do not overlook any one of them. Look at them and consider them as you hear. Your heart will not speak for you if you do to him what harms him. Do not leave him sick at heart, while he can join with you in your house, and gather in my house, in my sanctuary, at my festivals and in all the honors with which I honored you. What belonged to his fathers is to be his, small and great alike, and what I taught you, you are to teach him, so that he does not grow up empty of wisdom; for I set up myself and my prophet as your scribes from the day I made you hear my voice on Mount Sinai and showed you my might, and commanded Moses to explain the law and revealed its secret to him. Where is there anyone like Moses, whom the Lord sent, a righteous messenger, faithful in the hidden and the revealed? Concerning the widow he spoke a true word from God; for the orphan and the widow there are six commandments. Thanks be to the King who exists by himself and never changes. Let us give thanks with a pure heart full of reverence, magnify his power, testify and say: There is no God but One.

1 We set out a section wholly pleasing before we enter the city. At its beginning and at its end the Great One rebuked, in a word wholly good in this world and the next, warning against evil deeds. It holds ten disgraces. 2 “Cursed is the one who has sex with his father’s wife.” This is a great disgrace, and how terrible for anyone who comes near this evil deed, with the disgraces it gathers, each of them deadly. He makes his father’s bed impure and leaves him a man betrayed. If he fathers offspring, the child is born of adultery, and he betrays his father and his mother together and joins the flesh of the two as one. He uncovers his father’s nakedness and has sex with his mother. 3 Hear a question: from where does the mingling come, when a man has sex with her? Go to the place of nakedness and read it, and you will know its secret. No man may approach any of his own flesh: “None of you shall approach any of his own flesh to uncover nakedness.” This is a person’s own nakedness. Let him not bring himself near an evil sentence, for God spoke many words about nakedness: “You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife,” and he made it plain in the saying, “it is your brother’s nakedness.” We come next to the word “has sex with”: that deed is the fall of an unengaged virgin when a man has sex with her, and of a man who has sex with his father’s wife. All these testify to this word, and there is no need to search further, for all ten have been set before you. Hear them and praise your Lord, who warned you against coming near evil things. Do not become impure, do not dishonor your fathers’ bed, and do not bring to light a deed that is not fitting in the world, for such a deed kills itself and destroys its own fruit. Its father is cursed at all times and falls from his height, and he brings his fathers down with him. So Jacob said, “Reuben, my firstborn, you made my bed unholy.” In this evil deed, consider this matter and keep yourself apart from it forever, for the angel spoke and revealed to him that this disgrace had not come about by his hand, and he restrained him with great force; he never came to him except to calm his heart and to have pity on him in every deed he did. 4 People said about Reuben’s deed that no seed may ever arise from such an evil deed. So his father rebuked him and made him know his fall, saying, “My firstborn, you who were the first to come from my body,” and in him he had hoped for good. His mind was turned, he made his goodness unholy, and He wrote of him a disgrace that will never be wiped away. How terrible for us if we do not stay away from this evil deed and come near it, for fear for ourselves that we be swept away in this great evil and stand under a great curse from God and from our fathers. Let us bow before our Lord, who is merciful and gracious and turns away no one who asks. Let us give thanks to his greatness for his great kindness and goodness, and say: There is no God but One. 5 “Cursed be anyone who has sex with any kind of animal.” This is an evil deed, the most hateful of all, for it is made up of twelve kinds of impurity, and each one of them carries the death penalty: making the decree impure, breaking the covenant, corrupting the species, making the seed unholy, mixing the waters, putting a thing where it does not belong, wasting the seed, ruining oneself, turning aside from good to evil, setting aside the will of the Lord, leaving the blessing and letting the curse rest on oneself, all for the sake of a desire that was never permitted to him. 6 Keep with you all that is written before you and do not turn away from it, or you will die. Whoever makes the decree impure will never again come near to purity, and he will be killed in judgment. Whoever breaks the covenant will be killed, as he said, “That person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” Whoever corrupts the species will be killed, as he said, “Whoever has sex with an animal shall surely be put to death.” Whoever makes the seed unholy will be killed, as he said, “making my sanctuary impure and my holy name unholy.” Whoever mixes the waters falls under the saying, “for he takes a life in pledge.” Whoever ruins himself and puts a thing where it does not belong receives the same judgment. 7 The six that remain are explained the same way. Whoever sows his seed in wickedness will reap thorns and thistles, and it will be shown to him that the ground was bad and had nothing sound in it. Look, I am showing you this deed so that it will not destroy you. If evil people come and set false words before you, do not keep silent with them. Whoever has sex with an animal is not to survive this evil deed; he is to be put to death, and the animal with him. So too the people of a land who consent to such a deed shall be killed, the land shall be burned, and its memory shall come to an end. Whoever leaves the way of the True One and walks in another shall be burned where he stands, for God wants the land kept clean of such things. Whoever does the deed of the people of Sodom shall be burned as they were. Whoever has sex with an animal gains nothing good by it; he dies, and the animal with him. Whoever breaks down the fence of righteousness and does what his fathers never did comes under the curse. Praise to the One whose kingdom never changes, all of it his and all of it leading to him; may he be praised and exalted forever. There is no God but One. 8 “Cursed be anyone who has sex with his sister.” He warned against this evil beforehand, and so everyone who does it is cursed. 9 We present a great section and fill our hearts from the river of wisdom, so that we may be crowned with all honor, for we come first to a saying like the one before it. 10 “Cursed be anyone who has sex with his mother-in-law.” This is an evil deed made up of ten kinds of impurity, and whoever does it drives himself out of righteousness. How terrible for the person who commits this evil deed and takes on ten kinds of impurity, every one of them evil. He makes the body impure of his mother-in-law, uncovers her nakedness, makes her bed unholy and commits adultery himself. He brings together three disgraces, each of them a grave abomination: he raises evil fruit, fathers children of adultery and makes evil flourish in the world. He makes two seeds unholy and brings a curse into the tribe. After this there is no need to look further into the matter. How terrible for the person who does this evil deed, commits adultery in his heart, abandons the truth, loses the blessing and receives ruin in this world and torment in the next. His Lord warned him, and he did not pay attention to the warning. He hid from the truth, turned aside from the way of righteousness and walked in the way of the people of the Flood, of whom it was said, “for all living beings had corrupted its way on the earth.”

1 People, come and fill your minds with what is set before you of true speech, all of it good. 2 “Cursed be anyone who strikes his neighbor in secret.” Whoever lies in ambush on the road to kill someone, as one kills an cursed serpent, comes under the curse. Whoever lays a hand on his neighbor in secret, or drives him from his faith, falls under the curse. Whoever sees his neighbor going on an evil road and does not help him passes into the curse. Whoever knows that his neighbor is walking on a road where a wild beast lurks and does not warn him earns the curse for it and takes on the guilt; his Lord is angry with him and will never accept him. Let us guard ourselves against such deeds and turn away from them, for we are the children of good people who loved the truth, kept the covenant and left evil behind. Let us never turn from their ways. Let us stand where they stood, give thanks to our Lord who gave us all this, praise his greatness at every time and always say, “There is no God but One.” 3 We present a section on this saying, all of it instruction and merit for us. 4 “Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to strike down a life.” He is the one who puts himself forward to kill with his own hand. He commits a deed worse than Cain’s, when Cain killed his brother in cunning. He seeks to raise himself up and does not understand the punishment for killing. He has done evil and gained nothing, and nothing was given to him. He has hidden himself from the will of his Lord and is left cast out and abandoned, punished in ten ways in which there is nothing good. How terrible for the person on whom even one of them falls: first the curse, the loss of the produce of the land and of his sowing, guilt too great to be carried, being driven from the face of the earth, his repentance never accepted, his fruit uprooted, great torment such as there has never been, the sky darkened above him and the earth made narrow beneath him. 5 So he showed here that such a person will not go free of innocent blood. He taught you and wrote before you that he will not go free of the blood of Abel, and that he dealt with Cain as an example, so that no one would ever again do as he did. “Whoever does as Cain did, I will not let him escape ten punishments, one punishment for each deed. Whoever kills his neighbor, I will make his children orphans; I will do to him the evil he did to his neighbor. Whoever takes his neighbor’s portion, which I gave him, I will take from him in turn. Whoever takes a life by force and kills his neighbor, I will kill with many punishments. If there was hatred between them and he took revenge with his own hand, he is my enemy; how terrible for him! If he thinks he will rise high, I will bring him down to the ground. If he thinks he will be repaid for his deed and has not remained faithful to me, I will show him my power. If he thinks he can show the strength of his hand, I will reveal the weakness of his hand. If he wants to make his might known, I will reveal my might. If he thinks his fruit is established by his own desire, I will keep it from him in every way. If his secret thought is evil, I will reveal his heart to all the people of his generation, so that no one will act to provoke God, and people will know that nothing is beyond me.” 6 Let us bow before his greatness, serve him and turn away from people whose deeds are like these and whose minds are evil. How terrible for them for what they have done to themselves. Let us never approve such deeds or take them as our pattern; let us know instead that our Lord is merciful and gracious. Every heart’s secret is known to him, with all that lies hidden there, and nothing good or evil is beyond him. If someone seeks him with a pure heart, he will find him; but if he seeks him with an evil purpose, he will not listen to him and will turn a curse on him, as he did with Pharaoh when Pharaoh sought him with an evil purpose. He wrote of him, “and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.” See what this hardening was, and add to your understanding as you grow wise. He did not harden his heart except because of three deeds that they did before him, signs of disturbance that put him in great terror, until his house stood in an uproar that threw everything into confusion. The third was because of the word spoken to Abraham, “the guilt of the Amorites is not yet complete.” 7 Greatness belongs to the Mighty One, who remains the same through the generations and those that follow them. Let us give thanks to his greatness, bow before his might, bear witness and say, “There is no God but One.”

1 We present a great section and consider this last saying, which gathers up every kind of warning for the priests and the Levites, the heads and the tribes, the officers, the overseers, the elders, the judges and the whole congregation: a word that stands from now forever. 2 “Cursed be anyone who does not uphold all the words of this law by doing them.” Some people have said that the saying belongs to this section, and they took as their proof the earlier word, “and the priest shall carry out all this law for her.” But it was said that the one is not like the other, for many commandments are spoken of there: the law of the burnt offering, the ordination offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering and the peace offerings. This law gathers them all in, as he said, “This is the law,” and said the same of what comes after it. He said of the infection of leprosy, “This is the law of a leprous infection,” and so for the menstruating woman, for the woman who is unclean and for the Passover. This law gathers all of these in. It is the one that the great prophet Moses wrote and gave to the priests who carried the ark of the Lord’s covenant and to all the elders of Israel. Whoever changes a single rule of it enters into the curse. Whoever breaks through a fence of it enters into the curse. Whoever is warned by a priest with my words and changes them enters into the curse. Whoever is guided by a judge and rebels enters into the curse. Whoever sets himself against God enters into the curse in this world, and in the next he will be in great suffering. 3 How terrible for us if we bring on ourselves the ruin our own deeds earn. How evil the suffering we would be in, and we would have no strength to bear it! How bitter the distress we would fall into, and we would have no strength to bear it! How great the burning we would be cast into, and we would have no strength to stand its flames! How complete the overturning we would suffer, and we could not bear the curse! How deep the blindness we would be led into, and we would have no strength to walk in it! 4 How long will the warnings go on without our taking warning? How long the judgments, and still we do not fear the True One? He rebuked us for what we did before him, and when we did not listen, he cursed us. When we did not listen to this one or to that one, our Lord turned his face from us and left us in the hand of our enemies in fierce anger, until the righteous have no pity on us and the prophet Moses does not plead for us. Even if the prophet Moses prayed for us while we were in our wickedness, his prayer would not be received, because a righteous man’s prayer does nothing for a sinner who remains in his guilt. When Abraham prayed for Abimelech, Abimelech was innocent, and the prayer was accepted. When Moses prayed for Pharaoh, Pharaoh was in his wickedness, and the prayer was not accepted. 5 Keep doing worthy deeds, and you will be enriched with two good things: your own good fortune and the good fortune of the righteous, and whatever you wish will be done for you. You are not asked to do what is beyond your strength. All that is asked of you is that, as far as you are able, you love your Lord and do not love wickedness. If it were not in you to do this, God would not have asked it of you. Whoever loves wickedness and does it, how will his portion stand before his Lord in this world or the next? 6 If a person has an enemy in a place, how can he face living with him? 7 If a person is an enemy to the one he needs, how can he face asking him for good? 8 If a person’s companion disagrees with him because of his hostility, how can he ask him for peace after that hostility? 9 If a person has a companion walking beside him on the road and wrongs him, how can he receive kindness from him? 10 If a person stands before one greater than himself and raises his hand against him, how can he hope to stand? 11 If a person asks a king for what he needs and covers it with deceit, how can good be done for him? 12 If a person is sick with pain and seeks healing from a healer, but does not listen to his words, how can the healer take away his illness? 13 I have made all of this known to you so that you may understand it and turn your eyes to what you need to do, for your Creator brings you near to him and shows you what makes for your good. Do not set yourself up as an enemy of God. You would be cursed, and you would have no one to set you free. Spare yourself, outwardly and inwardly. Do not join with those who do wickedness, and do not leave those who do good. Come to your Lord with an open heart and he will receive you, for he is merciful and gracious to those who pass on and to those who come after. Blessed be he for his gifts, and may he be exalted for all his deeds. People, come and praise him and be drawn to his oneness, and do not turn aside to the right or to the left, so that we may find mercy in both worlds.

1 We present a great and powerful section, in which we see how the great prophet Moses and the Levitical priests brought to an end, with all Israel, all these words that came before, and in which we see how he called the leaders, and they all came to him quickly. He began by saying to them, “Come close to hear what is good for you. You are the ones God chose to be a holy and treasured people out of all the nations. My Lord has commanded me to do this.” He appointed Joshua as well, with the leaders, for he was one of them; so he said of the tribe of Ephraim, “Joshua son of Nun.” At that moment he laid his hand on him to make him great. And who are the leaders whom Moses commanded, of whom he said, “one leader each day”? They are the ones he gathered with great strength. 2 See how great the standing of the great prophet Moses is, and magnify the Power who set him over everything. When Joshua’s rank was raised high, see how many kinds of honor were done for him: God called no one to be appointed except Joshua, until the time of deliverance should be revealed. Moses laid his hand on no one except Joshua, raising him to the rank of one entrusted with the whole congregation. So it says, “and he laid his hands on him and commissioned him,” and it also says of him, “full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him.” 3 Ten times his memory was raised high: when he killed Amalek and his people, it was said of him, “and put it in Joshua’s hearing”; when it was said to the great prophet Moses, “Come up to me,” and Moses went up with Joshua his servant; when he was set up as successor; in the priesthood of Eleazar, when his memory was raised again; at the time he was commissioned; at the time it was made known that he would destroy the seven kings; when he went up to spy out the land; at the time he was honored to hear the word of the Lord of the world; and at the time the great prophet Moses went up Mount Nebo and laid his hand on him. “And the children of Israel listened to him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.” 4 Greatness belongs to our God, who revealed his wisdom to us so that we may learn from it what gives us life, for “that is your life and the length of your days.” Blessed are we if we are worthy of it. Let us be wholehearted at all times and serve him at all times. 5 When the great prophet Moses had finished commanding the leaders, he called next for the heads of the tribes. He gathered them and seated them according to their ranks, as they would sit in the Tabernacle at the time of offering. So he seated them, and in their hearing he set out all the decrees and all the judgments, what had passed and what was still to come. 6 After that he called the Levites and said to them, “Good tribe, you who have been made great in the world by what you have done, as you served yesterday and the day before, do not fall short of it, for God has chosen you and loves you.” They answered him with one voice, with a pure heart and an undivided mind: “If we abandon your commands, what will we have to remember? If we cast away your words, how will we be helped? If we let your decrees fall, how will we keep hold of the paths of your law? We will not turn aside, and we will never hold back the words of praise to the Merciful One, whose mercies last with the generations and those after them, all our days. We will say the true word: There is no God but One.” 7 After this he called the judges of the congregation, and when they had gathered he said, “Judges, uphold the truth and do not shrink from judgment. Do not take bribes, and do not be afraid of anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Judge the small and the great alike.” When they heard this word from the great prophet Moses, they all answered with one voice, “Everything you have asked of us we will hear and do, adding nothing and leaving nothing out.” 8 When he had finished commanding the judges, he called the scribes and urged them to make their teaching sound and their speech complete. 9 After them he called the elders and commanded them, saying, “It is your duty to honor the elders’ rank with which God has honored you. An elder in whom there is no wisdom has no honor; a wise child is worth more than a foolish elder. You are to honor the face of an elder who honors himself with knowledge. Who can honor one who makes himself of no account? An elder should be wise, for every elder sits to teach, as it is said, ‘from the age of fifty years they shall withdraw,’ and sits to teach in the Tabernacle at the appointed time, as it is said, ‘and he shall assist his brothers in the Tent of Meeting.’ Do not say that ‘assist’ here means service, for service in the Tabernacle is not for Israel; it belongs to the Levites, and within them it is given over to Aaron and his sons.” Consider these words and praise the One who spoke them. He said, “to keep the charge,” and then said, “but they shall do no work.” So Moses commanded these elders with teaching that brings them honor. They answered him, “We will not depart from your word or turn aside from it.” Greatness belongs to our God, who revealed to the children of his beloved, through his faithful prophet, what would raise them high in both worlds. 10 When he had finished commanding the elders, he commanded the scribes and the teachers: “Write it down for yourselves and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, as it is said, ‘and in the heart of every skilled person I have put skill.’ Do not forget what God has taught you, and set yourselves firmly on the truth, for God’s gate stands open and the truth lies uncovered. Go in peacefully: the treasure of life is in front of you. Come and take your fill, so that you do not leave this world empty of knowledge and stand naked. Teach Israel until it stays faithful to the truth.” They answered with fearful hearts, “Great prophet, we will never depart from what you have commanded us.” 11 After all these speeches he called the whole congregation of Israel and began to say to them: “You people whom the Lord has made great, whose birth he made pure, whom he chose out of righteous fathers, to whom he swore by his power and with his great might! He set you free with great strength and carried you on eagles’ wings, sustained you from heaven and filled your need, and he gave you ten great names: kings, a holy people, a treasured possession, chosen, a firstborn son, priests, an inheritance, and tens of thousands. You who are clothed with these names, act in a way that is worthy of these good things, and do not turn aside from what I have taught you.” 12 When they heard this good word from the great prophet Moses, they all answered with one voice: “If we abandon this, what will we lean on? To whom will we draw near? On whom will we rely?” When the great prophet Moses heard these words from them, he said, “If only their heart were always like this!” 13 He turned again and called the priests as well, and made them witnesses over Israel and over themselves, the ones of whom the True One said, “to serve and to bless in the name of the Lord.” “You have heard what the congregation said. Be witnesses between the True One and them, and do not forget this great standing, or what the Lord of the world has given you. He brought you near to himself and made your food a holy food, and what is left of your food is holy. So your whole body is holy. Do not make it impure with abominations, and do not make it unholy with sins, or the congregation will die and the shame will be on you. Let your mouths be pure to pronounce the blessing; do not make them impure with words of cursing. Let your mouths speak words of forgiveness; do not make them unholy with lies. Your hearts are a treasury for the great Name; do not soil them with evil thoughts.” 14 They answered him with a humble heart and a bowed head: “Great prophet, our master, whose speech gives life to us and to the whole congregation with us, we will not break your covenant or turn from your commands.” When the great prophet Moses heard the words of the priests and of the whole congregation, he stood before them, with the congregation standing before him, and began to praise the Most High, the King of heaven and earth: “You are our God, our Lord and our Creator, and we are the children of your servants with whom you were pleased. Keep for us what you established with our fathers, and do not let our enemies rule over us, but hurry to set us free, for you are compassionate and merciful, and every good thing is your way. Blessed be your holy name forever.” 15 There is no God but One.