Temple Scroll

Temple Scroll

[Behold, I will make a covenant.] [For it is something dreadful that I] will do [to you.] [I myself will expel from before you] the A[morites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashit]es, the Pe[rizzites, the Hivites and] the Jebusites. Ta[ke care not to make a cove]nant with the inhabitants of the country [which you are to] enter so that they may not prove a sn[are for you.] You must destroy their [alta]rs, [smash their] pillars [and] cut down their [sacred trees and burn] [their] idols [with fire]. You must not desire silver and gold so [that you may not be ensnared by them; for that would be abominable to me]. You must [not] br[ing any abominable idol] into your house [and come] under the ban together with it. You are to de[test and abominate it], for it is under the ban. You must not worship [another] go[d, for YHWH, whose name is] [Jealous], is a jealous God. Take care not to make a [covenant with the inhabitants of the country] [so that, when they whore] after [their go]ds [and] sacrifice to [them and

invite you,] [you may not eat of their sacrifices and] t[ake their daughters for your sons, and their daughters may not whore after] their [gods] and cau[se your sons to whore after them.] [Text missing] [This is what you are to offer on the altar:] t[wo y]ear[ling lambs] without blemish [every day as a continual whole burnt offering. You are to offer the first in the morning; and you are to offer the other lamb in the evening; the corresponding grain offering will be a te]nth of fine flour mixed with [a quarter of a hin of beaten oil; it is to be a continual whole burnt offering of pleasing aroma, an offering by fire] to YHWH; and the corresponding drink offering is to be a quart[er of a hin of] wine. [The priest who offers the whole burnt offering must receive the skin of] the burnt-[offering which he has offered. You are to offer the other lamb in the even]ing with the same grain-[offering as in the] morning and with the corresponding drink offering as an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to YHWH [Text missing] On the S[abbath] days you are to offer two [yearling rams without blemish and two] [tenths of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with oil, for a grain offering and the corresponding drink offering. This is the whole burnt offering of every Sabbath in addition to the continual whole burnt offering and the corresponding drink offering. On the first day of each month you are to offer a whole burnt offering to YHWH: two young bulls, one ram, seven yearling rams without blemish and a grain-offe]ring of fine flour, [three tenths of an ephah] mix[ed with half a hin of oil, and a drink offering, ha]lf a hin for [each young bull and a grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, two tenths of an ephah] with a third [of a hin, and wine for a drink offering, one third of a hinfor each ram;] [Text missing] one tenth [of fine flour for] a grain-[offering, mixed with a quarter of a hin, and wine, a quarter of a hi]n for each lamb [Text missing] a soothing [odour] to YHWH on the first day of each month. This is the burnt-offering for each month for the months of the year [Text missing] On the first day of the [first] month [the months (of the year) must start; it is to be the first month] of the year [for you. You are to do no] work. [You are to offer a male goat for a sin-offering.] It is to be offered by itself to expiate [for you. You are to offer a whole burnt offering: a bullock], a ram, [seven yearli]ng male lambs [without blemish] [Text missing] [ad]di[tional to the bu]r[nt-offering for the new moon, and a grain- offering of three tenths of fine flour mixed with oil], half a hin [for each bullock, and wi]ne for a drink offering, [half a hin, a pleasing aroma to

YHWH, and two] tenths of fine flour mixed [with oil, one third of a hin. You are to offer wine for a drink offering,] one th[ird] of a hin for the ram, [an offering by fire, of pleasing aroma to YHWH; and one tenth of fine flour], a grain-offerin[g mixed with a quarter of a hinof oil. You are to offer wine for a drink offering, a quarter of a hin] for each [ram] [Text missing] lambs and for the he-g[oat] [Text missing] [ea]ch day [Text missing] seven [year]ling [lambs] and a he-[goat] [Text missing] according to this statute. For the ordination (of the priests), one ram for each [day, and] baskets of bread for all the ra[ms of the ordination, one basket for] each [ram]. They are to divide all the rams and the baskets for the seve[n days of the ordination for each] day; according to [their] division[s, they are to offer to YHWH the right thigh] of the ram as a whole burnt offering and [the fat covering the entrails and the] two kidneys and the fat on them [and on] the loins and the whole fat tail close to the backbone and the appendage of the liver and the corresponding grain offering and drink offering according to the sta[tute. They are to take one unleavened cake from the] basket and one cake of bread with oil and [one] wafer, [and they are to put it all on the fat] together with the offering of the right thigh. Those who sacrifice must wave the rams and the baskets of bread as a wa[ve-offering be]fore YHWH. This is a whole burnt offering, an offering by fire, of pleasing aroma before YHWH. [They are to burn everything on the altar over] the whole burnt offering, to complete their ordination during the seven days of [ordination]. If the High Priest is to [minister to YHWH, whoever] has been ordained to put on the vestments in place of his father, must offer [a bull fo]r all the people and another for the priests. He is to offer the one for the priests first. The elders of the priest[s] must lay [their hands] [on] its [hea]d and after them the High Priest and all the [priests. They are to slaughter] the bull [before YHWH]. The elders of the priests must take from the blood of the bull and [place] it [with their finger on the horns of the altar] and they are to pour [the blood] around the four corners of the [altar] ledge [Text missing] [and they are to take from its blood and pl]ace it [on his right ear lobe and on the thumb of his right hand and the big toe of his] right [foot. They are to sprinkle on him and his vestments some of the blood which was on the altar] [Text missing] [he] is to be [holy] all his days. [He must not go near any dead body]. He is to [not]

defile himself [even for his father or mother,] for [he is] hol[y to YHWH, his God] [Text missing] [He is to offer on the al]tar and burn [the fat of the first bull] [Text missing] [all] the fat on the entrails and [the appendage of the liver and the two kidne]ys and the fat on the[m] and [the fat on] the loins, and the corresponding grain offering and drink-[offering according to its prescribed measure,] he is to bur[n them on the altar.] It is to be [a burnt-]offering, an offering by fire, of pleasing aroma be[fore YHWH. The flesh of the bull], its skin and offal, they are to burn outside the [sanctuary city on a wood fire] in a place reserved for sin-offerings. There they are to bur[n it with its head and legs] together with all its entrails. They are to burn all of it there except the fat. It is a sin-[offering]. He is to take the second bull, which is for the people, and by it he is to expiate [for all the people of] the congregation, by its blood and fat. As he did with the fir[st] bull, [so he is to do] with the bull of the congregation. He is to place with his finger some of its blood on the horns of the [altar, and the remainder of] its blood, he is to sprinkle o[n the f]our corners of the altar ledge, and [its fat and] the corresponding [grain-] offering and drink offering, he is to burn on the altar. It is a sin-offering for the congregation. [Text missing] They are to rejoice because expiation has been made for them [Text missing] This day [must] be a holy gathering for them, [an lasting statute throughout their generations] in every place where they live. They are to rejoice and [Text missing] [Let] them [prepare on the fourtee]nth day of the first month [between dusk and dark the Passover of YHWH]. They are to sacrifice (it) before the evening offering and must sacrifice [Text missing] men from twenty years of age and over must prepare it. They are to eat it at night in the holy courts. They are to rise early and each must go to his tent [Text missing] On the fifteenth day of this month (there is to be) a ho[ly] gathering. You are to do no work of labour on it. (It is to be) a seven-day feast of unleavened bread for YHWH. You are to offer on each of the[se] seven days a whole burnt offering to YHWH: two young bulls, a ram, and seven male lambs without blemish and a male goat for a sin-offering and the corresponding grain offering and drink offering [according to the sta]tute for the young bulls, rams, l[am]bs and the male goat. On the seventh day [(there is to be) an congregation] for [YHWH]. You are to do no work on it. [Text missing] [he-] goat for a sin-offering [Text missing] [the corresponding grain offering and drink-] offering according to the prescribed measure; one tenth of

fine flour [mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil and] a quarter of a hin of wine for a drink offering [Text missing] [he is to expiate] for all the guilt of the people of the congregation [Text missing] This is to be an eternal [ru]le for you [for your generations wherever you dwell.] Then they are to offer the one ram, on[ce], on the day of the waving of the sheaf. You are to count seven complete Sabbaths from the day of your bringing the sheaf of [the wave-offering. You are to c]ount until the morrow of the seventh Sabbath. You are to count [fifty] days. You are to bring a new grain offering to YHWH from your homes, [a loaf of fine fl]ou[r], freshly baked with leaven. They are firstfruits to YHWH, wheat bread, twe[lve cakes, two] tenths of fine flour in each cake [Text missing] the tribes of Israel. They are to offer [Text missing] their [grain-offerin]g and dr[ink-offering] according to the prescribed measure. The [priests] must wave [Text missing] [wave-offering with the bread of] the firstfruits. They are to b[elong to] the priests and they are to eat them in the [inner] court[yard], [as a ne]w [grain offering], the bread of the firstfruits. Then [Text missing] new bread from freshly ripened ears. [On this] da[y] there is to be [a holy gathering, an eter]nal [rule] for their generations. [They] must [do] no work. It is the feast of Weeks and the feast of Firstfruits, an eterna[l] memorial. You [must count] seven weeks from the day when you bring the new grain offering to YHW [H], the bread of firstfruits. Seven full Sabbaths [must elapse un]til you have counted fifty days to the morrow of the seventh Sabbath. [You] must [bring] new wine for a drink offering, four hins from all the tribes of Israel, one third of a hin for each tribe. They are to offer on this day with the wine twelve rams to YHWH; all the chiefs of the clans of Israel [Text missing] [r]ams and the corresponding grain offering according to the prescribed measure: two [tenths of fine flour mixed with oil, one third of a h]in of oil for a ram; with this drink offering [Text missing] seven yearling male lambs and a he-[goat] [Text missing] congregation [Text missing] their [grain- offering and drink offering] (is to be) according to the prescribed measure concerning young bulls and the ram [Text missing] to YHWH. At the quarter of the day, they are to offer [Text missing] [the r]ams and the drink offering. They are to offer [Text missing] fourteen yearling male lambs [Text missing] the burnt-offering. They are to prepare them [Text missing] and they are to burn their fat on the altar, [the fat covering the entrails] and the fat that is on them, and [the appendage of the liver with] the kidneys he is to remove and the fat on [them], and that which

is on the loins and the fat tail close to the backbone. They are to b[urn all on the altar] together with the corresponding grain offering and drink- offering, an offering by fire, of soothing odou[r before YHWH]. They are to offer every grain offering joined to a drink offering according to [the statute]. They are to take a handful from [eve]ry grain offering offered either with frankincense or dry, (this being) its [memorial portion], and burn it on the altar. They are to eat the remainder in the [in]n[er] courtyard. The priests must e[a]t it unleavened. It must not be eaten with leaven. It is to be ea[ten] on that day [before] sun[se]t. They are to salt all their offerings. You are to never allow the covenant of salt to fail. They are to offer to YHWH an offering from the rams and the lambs, the right thigh, the breast, [the cheeks, the stomac]h and the foreleg as far as the shoulder bone, and they are to wave them as a wave-offering. [The priests’] portions [must] be the thigh of the offering and the breast [Text missing] [the foreleg]s, the cheeks and the stomachs [Text missing] [as an lasting statute, from the children of Isra]el and the shoulder remaining of the foreleg [is to be for the Levites] [Text missing] an lasting statute for them and for their seed .. the princes of the Thousands [Text missing] [from] the rams and from [the lambs, one ram and one ram lamb (must belong) to the priests; to the Levites], one [ra]m, one lamb; and to every [tribe, on]e [ram], one lamb for all the tri[bes], the [twe]lve tribes of Israel. They are to eat them [on that day, in the out]er [courtyard] before YHWH. [Text missing] [the priest]s must drink there first and the Levites [second] [Text missing] the princes of the standards first [Text missing] [men of] renown. After them the whole people, from the great to the small, must begin to drink the new wine. They [must not e]a[t] any un[ri]pe grapes from the vines, for [on] this [da]y they are to expiate for the tirosh. The children of Israel must rejoice before YHWH, an eternal [rule] for their generations in every place where they live. They are to rejoice on [this] d[ay for they have begun] to pour out an intoxicating drink offering, the new wine, on the altar of YHWH, year by year. [You sha]ll count from that day seven weeks, seven times (seven days), forty-nine days; there is to be seven full Sabbaths; until the morrow of the seventh Sabbath you are to count fifty days. You are to then offer new oil from the homes of [the tr]ibes of the ch[ildren of Is]rael, half

a hin from a tribe, new beaten oil [Text missing] oil on the altar of the whole burnt offering, firstfruits before YHWH. [Text missing] [must expi]ate with it for all the congregation before [YHWH] [Text missing] with this oil, half a hin [Text missing] [according to the st]atute, a whole burnt offering, an offering by fire, of soothing [odour to YHWH] [Text missing] [With] this oil they are to light the lamps [Text missing] the princes of the Thousands with [Text missing] fourteen [yearling] m[ale lamb]s and the corresponding grain offering and drink offering [Text missing] [for the lambs and] the rams. The Levites must slaughter [Text missing] [and] the priests, the sons of Aaron, [must spri]nkle their blood [on the altar all around] [Text missing] [and] they are to burn their fat on the altar of the [whole burnt offering] [Text missing] [and the corresponding grain offering] and drink offering, they are to burn over the fats [Text missing] [an offering by fire, of pleasing aroma to] YHWH. They are to take away fr[om] [Text missing] the right thigh and the breast [Text missing] the cheeks and the stomach is to be the priests’ portion according to the prescribed measure concerning them. (They are to give) to the Levites the shoulder. Afterwards they are to bring them (the offerings) out to the children of Israel, and the children of Israel must give the prie[st]s one ram, one lamb, and to the Levites, one ram, one lamb, and to each tribe, one ram, one lamb. They are to eat them on that day in the outer courtyard before YHWH, an lasting statute for their generations, year by year. Afterwards they are to eat from the olives and anoint themselves with the new oil, for on this day they are to expiate for [al]l [the o]il of the land before YHWH once yearly. They are to rejoice [Text missing] The High Priest must offer the [whole burnt offering of the Levites] first, and afterwards he is to send up in smoke the whole burnt offering of the tribe of Judah, and w[hen he] is sending it up in smoke, they are to slaughter before him the male goat first and he is to lift up its blood in a bowl to the altar and with his finger he is to pu[t some] of the blood to the four horns of the alta[r] of the whole burnt offering and to the four corners of the altar ledge, and must toss the blood towards the bas[e] of the altar ledge all around. He is to burn its fat on the altar, the fat covering the entrails and that over the entrails. The appendage of the liver with the kidneys he is to remove as well as the fat over them and on the loins. He is to send up in smoke all of them on the altar together with the corresponding grain offering and drink offering, an offering by fire of pleasing aroma to YHWH. And [Text missing] the flesh, of [soothing] odour; it

is to be [an offering by fire to YHWH. Thus they must do to every] young bull, and to every ram and to [every lamb] and its limbs (?) must remain apart. The corresponding [grain offering] and drink offering is to be on it, an [eternal] rule for your generations before YHWH. After this whole burnt offering he is to offer the whole burnt offering of the tribe of Judah separately. As he has done with the whole burnt offering of the Levites, so must he do with the whole burnt offering of the children of Judah after the Levites. On the second day he is to first offer the whole burnt offering of Benjamin and after it he is to offer the whole burnt offering of the children of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh together. On the third day, he is to offer the whole burnt offering of Reuben separately, and the whole burnt offering of Simeon separately. On the fourth day he is to offer the whole burnt offering of Issachar separately and the whole burnt offering of Zebulun separately. On the fifth day he is to offer the whole burnt offering of Gad separately and the whole burnt offering of Asher separately. On the sixth day [he is to offer the whole burnt offering of Dan separately and the whole burnt offering of Naphtali separately] [Text missing] In the [seventh] m[onth, on the first day of the month, you are to have] a sacred rest, a remembrance announced by a trumpet blast, a [holy] ga[thering. You are to offer a whole burnt offering, an offering by fire, of pleasing aroma be]fore YHWH. You are to o[ffer on]e [young bull,] one ram, seve[n] ye[ar]ling [lamb]s [without blemish and one male goat for a sin- offering, and] the corresponding grain offering and drink offering according to the prescribed measure concerning the[m, of pleasing aroma to YHWH, in addition to] the continual [holocaus]t [and the holo]caust of the new moon. Afterwards [you are to offer] this [whole burnt offering] at the third part of the day, an lasting statute for your generation[s wherever you dwell.] You are to rejoice on this day. On it you are to do no work. A sacred rest must this day be for you. The tenth of this month is the Day of Atonement. You are to mortify yourselves. For any person who does not mortify himself on this selfsame day is to be cut off from his people. You are to offer on it a whole burnt offering to YHWH: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs, one male goat for a sin-offering, in addition to the sin-offering of the atonement and the corresponding grain offering and drink offering according to the prescribed measure concerning the young bull, the ram, the lambs and the male goat. For the sin-offering of the atonement you are to offer

two rams for whole burnt offering. The High Priest must offer one for himself and his father’s house [Text missing] [The High Prie]st [must cast lots on the two goats,] o[ne] lot for YHWH and one for Azazel. He is to slaughter the goat [on] which [YHWH’s lot has fallen and must lift up] its blood in a golden bowl which is in [his ha]nd, [and do] with its blo[od as he has done with the blood of] his young bull and must expiate with it for all the people of the congregation. He is to send up in smoke its fat and the corresponding grain-and drink offering on the altar of the whole burnt offering. Its flesh, skin and dung they are to burn beside his young bull. It is a sin- offering for the whole congregation. He is to expiate with it for all the people of the congregation and it is to be forgiven to them. He is to wash his hands and feet of the blood of the sin-offering and must come to the living goat and must confess over its head the iniquities of the children of Israel together with all their guilt, all their sins. He is to put them on the head of the goat and despatch it to Azazel in the desert by the hand of the man who is waiting ready. The goat must bear all the iniquities of (the children of Israel). [Text missing] [and he is to expiate] for all the children of Israel and it is to be forgiven to them [Text missing] Afterwards he is to offer the young bull, the r[a]m, and [the lambs, according to] the [sta]tute relating to them, on the altar of the whole burnt offering, and the [ho]locaust will be accepted for the children of Israel, an lasting statute for their generations. Once a year this day is to be for them a memorial. They are to do no work on it, for it is to be [to] them a Sabbath of sacred rest. Whoever must do work on it or must not mortify himself on it, is to be cut off from the midst of his people. A Sabbath of sacred rest, a holy gathering must this day be for you. You are to sanctify it as a memorial wherever you dwell and you are to do no work. On the fifteenth day of this month [Text missing] [the corresponding] grain- offering [and drink offering, all on] the altar, an offering by fire, of s[oothing odour to YHWH. On] the second [day:] twelve young bulls, [two rams, four]teen [lambs] and one male goat [for a sin-offerin]g [and the corresponding gr]ai[n-offering and drink offering] according to the prescribed measure concerning the young bulls, the ram[s], the lambs [and] the he- goat; it is an offering by fire, of pleasing aroma to YHWH. On the third day eleven young bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs and one male goat for a sin-offering and the corresponding grain offering and

drink offering according to the prescribed measure concerning the young bulls, the rams, the lambs and the male goat. On the fo[ur]th day ten young bulls, two rams, fourteen yearling male lambs and one male goat for a sin-offering and the corresponding grain- offering and drink offering for the young bulls, [the rams, the lambs and the male goat [Text missing] On the fifth day [Text missing] and the corresponding grain offering] and drink-offer[ing] [Text missing] in the house on which I [must cause] my name to rest [Text missing] whole burnt offerings, [each on its] day according to the law of this statute, always from the children of Israel in addition to their freewillofferings in regard to all that they offer, their drink-offerings and all their gifts that they are to bring to me in order to be acceptable. I must accept them and they is to be my people and I is to be for them for ever. I will dwell with them for ever and ever and will sanctify my [sa]nctuary by my glory. I will cause my glory to rest on it until the day of creation on which I must create my sanctuary, establishing it for myself for all time according to the covenant which I have made with Jacob in Bethel. [Text missing] You are to make [Text missing] for stairs, a stair[case] [Text missing] in the house which you are to build [Text missing] You [must make] a staircase north of the Temple, a square house, twenty cubits from one corner to the other alongside its four corners. Its distance from the wall of the Temple is to be seven cubits on the north-west. You are to make the width of its wall four cubits [Text missing] like the Temple and its inside from corner to corner twelv[e cubits.] (There is to be) a square column in its middle, in the centre; its width four cubits on each side around which the stairs wind [Text missing] XXXI In the upper chamber of [this] ho[use you are to make a ga]te opening to the roof of the Temple and a way (is to be) made through this gate towards the entrance [Text missing] of the Temple by which one can reach the upper chamber of the Temple. Overlay with gold [a]ll this stairhouse, its walls, its gates and its roof, from inside [and from] outside, its column and its stairs. [You] must do everything as I tell you. You are to make a square house for the laver in the south-east, on all its sides, (each) twenty-one cubits; fifty cubits distant from the altar. The width of the wall is to be four cubits, and the height [t]wenty cubits [Text missing] Make gates for it on the east, on the north and on the west. The width of the gates is to be four cubits and the height seven [Text missing] You are to

make in the wall of this house, on the inside, recesses, and in them [Text missing] one cubit (in) width and their height four cubits above the ground. They is to be overlaid with gold on which they are to place their clothes which they have worn on arrival. Above the house of [Text missing] when they come to minister in the sanctuary. You are to make a trench around the laver beside its house and the trench must go [from the house of] the laver to a cavity. It must descend [rapid]ly to the ground where the water must flow and disappear. It must not be touched by any man for it is mingled with the blood of the whole burnt offering. XXXIII They are to sanctify my people in the sacred vestments which [Text missing] You are to make a house east of the house of the [l]av[er] according to the measurement of [the house of the bas]in. Its wall is to be at a distance of seven cubits from the wall of the house of the laver. Its whole building and rafters is to be like (those of) the house of the laver. It must have two gates on the north and the south, one opposite the other, according to the measurement of the gates of the house of the laver. Inside all the walls of this house must have apertures, their width (and depth) two cubits each and their height four (?) with which the entrails and the feet are raised to the altar. When they have completed the sending up in smoke [Text missing] They close the wheels and [Text missing] and tie the horns of the young bulls to the rings and [Text missing] by the rings. Afterwards they are to slaughter them and collect [the blood] in bowls and toss it around the altar base. They are to open the wheels and strip the skin of the young bulls from their flesh and cut them up into pieces, salt the pieces, wash the entrails and the legs, salt them and send them up in smoke on the fire which is on the altar, each young bull with its pieces beside it and the corresponding grain offering of fine flour on it, the wine of the drink offering beside it and some of it on it. The priests, the sons of Aaron, must send everything up in smoke on the altar, an offering by fire, of pleasing aroma before YHWH. You are to make chains hanging from the rafters of the twelve columns [Text missing] whoever is not a priest must die, and whoever [Text missing] [a prie]st who must come [Text missing] and he is not clothed in the [holy] vest[ments in which] he was ordained, they too is to be put to death and must not pro[fane the san]ctuary of their God, thus incurring the iniquity of mortal guilt. You are to sanctify the environs of the altar, the Temple, the laver and the

colonnade and they is to be most holy for ever and ever. You are to make a place west of the Temple, a colonnade of pillars standing around for the sin-offerings and the guilt-offerings, divided from one another, the sin-offerings of the priests, the male goats, and the sin-offerings of the people and their guilt-offerings. None of these is to be mingled one with another, for their places is to be divided from one another in order that the priests may not err concerning all the sin- offerings of the people, and all the rams (?) of the guilt-offerings, (thus) incurring the sin of guilt. The birds for the altar: he is to prepare turtledoves [Text missing] from the corner of [Text missing] [to the corne]r of the gat[e, one hundred and twenty cubits.] The gate (is to be) forty [cubits] wide. Each side is to be [according to this measurement. The wid]th of [its wa]ll is to be seven cubits, [and] its [height forty]-five [cubits to the raft]ers of [its] roof. The width of its ch[ambers] (is to be) twenty-six cubits from corner to corner. The gates of entrance and exit: the gate is to be fourteen cubits wide and [tw]enty-eight cubits high from the threshold to the lintel. The height of the rafters above the lintel is to be fourteen cubits. (The gate is to be) roofed with a panelling of cedar wood overlaid with pure gold. Its doors is to be overlaid with fine gold. From the corner of the gate to the second angle of the courtyard, (there is to be) one hundred and twenty cubits. Thus is to be the measurement of all these gates of the inner courtyard. The gates must lead inside into the courtyard. XXXVII You are to make [in]side the court[yard] seats for the priests, and tables in front of the seats, in the inner colonnade by the outer wall of the courtyard, places made for the priests and their sacrifices, for the firstfruits and the tithes, for their peace-offering sacrifices which they are to sacrifice. The sacrifices of the peace-offerings of the children of Israel must not be mingled with the sacrifices of the priests. In the four corners of the courtyard you are to make for them a place for cooking-stoves where they are to seethe their sacrifices [and] sin- offerings. [Text missing] There they are to eat [Text missing] the bird, the turtle-dove and the young pigeons [Text missing] You are to make a second [co]urtyard aro[u]nd [the in]ner [courtyard], one hundred cubits wide, and four hundred and eighty cubits long on

the east side, and thus is to be the width and length of all its sides: to the south, to the west and to the north. Its wall is to be [fo]ur cubits wide and twenty-eight cubits high. Chambers is to be made in the wall outside and between each chamber there is to be three-[and-a-half cubits] [Text missing] that all the congregation of the children of Israel may bow down before me [Text missing] No woman must come there, nor a child until the day that he has fulfilled the rule [Text missing] [and has paid for] himself [a ransom] to YHWH, half a shekel, an lasting statute, a memorial in every place where they live. The shekel (consists of) twenty gerahs. When they are to collect from him the half-shekel [Text missing] to me. Afterwards they are to enter from the age of twenty [Text missing] The na[mes of the g]ates of this [co]urtyard sha[ll b]e according to the nam[es of] the children of Is[ra]el: Simeon, Levi and Judah in the east; Reuben, Joseph and Benjamin in the south; Issachar, Zebulun and Gad in the west; Dan, Naphtali and Asher in the north. Between each gate the measurement (is to be): from the north-eastern corner to the gate of Simeon, ninety- nine cubits, and the gate twenty-eight cubits. From this gate of Simeon to the gate of Levi, ninety-nine cubits, and the gate, twenty-eight cubits. From the gate of Levi to the gate of Judah [Text missing] You are to make a third courtyard [Text missing] to their daughters and to the strangers who [were] born [Text missing] [wi]de around the middle courtyard [Text missing] in length about one thousand six [hundred] cubits from one corner to the next. Each side is to be according to this measurement: on the east, the south, the west and the no[rt]h. The wall is to be seven cubits wide and forty-nine cubits high. Chambers is to be made between its gates along the foundation as far up as its ‘crowns’ (= crenellations: Yadin). There is to be three gates in the east, three in the south, three in the west and three in the north. The gates is to be fifty cubits wide and their height seventy cubits. Between one gate and another there is to be three hundred and sixty cubits. From the corner to the gate of Simeon, three hundred and sixty cubits. From the gate of Simeon to the gate of Levi, likewise. From the gate of Levi to the gate of Judah, likewise three [hundred and] sixty (cubits). [Text missing] From the gate of Issachar [to the gate of Zebulun, three] hundred [and sixty] cubits. From the gate of Zebulun to the gate of Gad, three hundred and sixty cubits. From the ga[te of] Gad to the northern corner, three hundred and sixty cubits. From this corner

to the gate of Dan: three hundred and sixty cubits. Thus from the gate of Dan to the gate of Naphtali, three hundred and sixty cubits. From the gate of Naphtali to the gate of Asher, three hundred and sixty cubits. From the gate of Asher to the eastern corner, three hundred and sixty cubits. The gates must jut outwards from the wall of the courtyard seven cubits, and extend inwards from the wall to the courtyard thirty-six cubits. The entrance of the gate is to be fourteen cubits wide and twenty-eight cubits high up to the lintel. The rafters at the doorways (?) is to be of cedar wood and overlaid with gold. The doors is to be overlaid with pure gold. Between each gate inwards you are to make storehouses, [rooms and colonnades.] The room is to be ten cubits wide, twenty cubits long, and four[teen] cubits high [Text missing] with cedar wood. The wall is to be two cubits wide. On the outside there is to be storehouses. [The storehouse is to be ten cubits wide and] twenty cubits [long]. The wall is to be two cubits wide [and fourteen cubits high] up to the lintel. Its entrance is to be three cubits wide. [You are to make in this way] all the storehouses and the [corresponding] rooms. The colon[nade] [Text missing] is to be ten cubits [wi]de. Between each gate [you are to make eight]een storehouses and the corresponding eight[een] rooms [Text missing] You are to make a staircase next to the walls of the gates towards the colonnade. Winding stairs must go up to the second and third colonnades and to the roof. You are to build storehouses and corresponding rooms and colonnades as on the ground floor. The second and the third (levels) must follow the measurement of the lower one. On the roof of the third you are to make pillars roofed with rafters from one pillar to the next (providing) a place for tabernacles. The (pillars) is to be eight cubits high and the tabernacles is to be made on their (roof) each year at the feast of the Tabernacles for the elders of the congregation, for the princes, the heads of the fathers’ houses of the children of Israel, the captains of the thousands, the captains of the hundreds, who will ascend and dwell there until the sacrificing of the whole burnt offering on the festival which is the feast of the Tabernacles, each year. Between each gate there is to be [Text missing] on the days of the firstfruits of the corn, of the w[ine (tirosh) and the oil, and at the festival of the offering of] wood. On these days (the tithe) is to be eaten. They

must not put aside anything from it from one year to another. For they are to eat it in this manner. From the feast of the Firstfruits of the corn of wheat they are to eat the corn until the next year, until the feast of the Firstfruits, and (they are to drink) the wine from the day of the festival of Wine until the next year, until the day of the festival of the Wine, and (they are to eat) the oil from its festival, until the next year, until the festival, the day of offering the new oil on the altar. Whatever is left (to last beyond) their festivals is to be sanctified by being burnt with fire. It must no longer be eaten for it is holy. Those who live within a distance of three days’ walk from the sanctuary must bring whatever they can bring. If they cannot carry it, they are to sell it for money and buy with it corn, wine, oil, cattle and sheep, and must eat them on the days of the festivals. On working days they must not eat from this in their weariness for it is holy. On the holy days it is to be eaten, but it must not be eaten on working days. [Text missing] You are to allot [the rooms and the corresponding chambers. From the gate of Simeo]n to the gate of Judah is to be for the priests [Text missing] All that is to the right and to the left of the gate of Levi, you are to allo[t] to Aaron, your brother, one hundred and eight rooms and corresponding chambers and two tabernacles which are on the roof. (You are to allot) to the sons of Judah (the area) from the gate of Judah to the corner: fifty-four rooms and corresponding chambers and the tabernacle that is over them. (You are to allot) to the sons of Simeon (the area) from the gate of Simeon to the second corner: their rooms, the corresponding chambers and tabernacles. (You are to allot) to the sons of Reuben (the area) from the corner which is beside the sons of Judah to the gate of Reuben: fifty-two rooms and the corresponding chambers and tabernacles. (The area) from the gate of Reuben to the gate of Joseph (you are to allot) to the sons of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh. (The area) from the gate of Joseph to the gate of Benjamin (you are to allot) to the sons of Kohath from the Levites. (The area) from the gate of Benjamin to the western corner (you are to allot) to the sons of Benjamin. (The area) from this corner to the gate of Issachar (you are to allot) to the sons of Issachar. (The area) from the gate (of Issachar) [Text missing] the second (= incoming) [priestly course] must enter on the left [Text missing] and the first (= outgoing) must leave on the right. They must not

mingle with one another nor their vessels. [Each] priestly course must come to its place and they are to stay there. One must arrive and the other leave on the eighth day. They are to clean the rooms, one after the other, when the first (priestly course) leaves. There is to be no mingling there. No man who has had a nocturnal emission must enter the sanctuary at all until three days have elapsed. He is to wash his garments and bathe on the first day and on the third day he is to wash his garments and bathe, and after sunset he is to enter the sanctuary. They must not enter my sanctuary in their impure uncleanness and render it unclean. No man who has had sexual intercourse with his wife must enter anywhere into the city of the sanctuary where I cause my name to abide, for three days. No blind man must enter it in all his days and must not profane the city where I abide, for I, YHWH, abide amongst the children of Israel for ever and ever. Whoever is to purify himself of his flux must count seven days for his purification. He is to wash his garments on the seventh day and bathe his whole body in running water. Afterwards he is to enter the city of the sanctuary. No one unclean through contact with a corpse must enter there until he has purified himself. No leper nor any man smitten (in his body) must enter there until he has purified himself and has offered [Text missing] [Text missing] [No] unclean bird must fly over [my] sanctua[ry] [Text missing] the roofs of the gates [Text missing] the outer courtyard [Text missing] be in my sanctuary for ever and ever all the time that I [abide] among them. You are to make a terrace round about, outside the outer courtyard, fourteen cubits wide like the entrances of all the gates. You are to make twelve steps (leading) to it by which the children of Israel must ascend there to enter my sanctuary. You are to make a one-hundred-cubits-wide ditch around the sanctuary which must divide the holy sanctuary from the city so that no one can rush into my sanctuary and defile it. They are to sanctify my sanctuary and hold it in awe because I abide among them. You are to make for them latrines outside the city where they are to go out, north-west of the city. These is to be roofed houses with holes in them into which the filth must go down. It is to be far enough not to be visible from the city, (at) three thousand cubits.

You are to make three areas to the east of the city, divided from one another, where the lepers, those suffering from a flux and men who have had a (nocturnal) emission [Text missing] Their cities [is to be] pure [Text missing] for ever. The city which I will sanctify, causing my name and [my] sanctuar[y] to abide [in it], is to be holy and pure of all impurity with which they can become impure. Whatever is in it is to be pure. Whatever enters it is to be pure: wine, oil, all food and all moistened (food) is to be clean. No skin of clean animals slaughtered in their cities is to be brought there (to the city of the sanctuary). But in their cities they may use them for any work they need. But they must not bring them to the city of my sanctuary, for the purity of the skin corresponds to that of the flesh. You must not profane the city where I cause my name and my sanctuary to abide. For it is in the skins (of animals) slaughtered in the sanctuary that they are to bring their wine and oil and all their food to the city of my sanctuary. They must not pollute my sanctuary with the skins of animals slaughtered in their country which are tainted (= unfit for the Temple). You cannot render any city among your cities as pure as my city, for the purity of the skin of the animal corresponds to the purity of its flesh. If you slaughter it in my sanctuary, it is to be pure for my sanctuary, but if you slaughter it in your cities, it is to be pure (only) for your cities. Whatever is pure for the sanctuary, is to be brought in skins (fit) for the sanctuary, and you must not profane my sanctuary and my city where I abide with tainted skins. [Text missing] [the cormorant, the stork, every ki]nd of [heron,] the hoop[oe and the bat] [Text missing] You may eat [the following] flying [insects]: every kind of great locust, every kind of long-headed locust, every kind of green locust, and every kind of desert locust. These are among the flying insects which you may eat: those which walk on four legs and have legs jointed above their feet to leap with them on the ground and wings to fly with. You must not eat the carcass of any bird or beast but may sell it to a foreigner. You must not eat any abominable thing, for you are a holy people to YHWH, your God. You are the sons of YHWH, your God. You must not gash yourselves or shave your forelocks in mourning for the dead, nor must you tattoo

yourselves, for you are a holy people to YHWH, your God. You must not profane your land. You must not do as the nations do; they bury their dead everywhere, they bury them even in their houses. Rather you are to set apart areas in the midst of your land where you are to bury your dead. Between four cities you are to designate an area for burial. In every city you are to set aside areas for those stricken with leprosy, with plague and with scab, who must not enter your cities and profane them, and also for those who suffer from a flux; and for menstruating women, and women after childbirth, so that they may not cause defilement in their midst by their impure uncleanness. The leper suffering from chronic leprosy or scab, who has been pronounced unclean by the priest [Text missing] with cedar wood, hyssop and [Text missing] your cities with the plague of leprosy and they is to be unclean. If a man dies in your cities, the house in which the dead man has died is to be unclean for seven days. Whatever is in the house and whoever enters the house is to be unclean for seven days. Any food on which water has been poured is to be unclean, anything moistened is to be unclean. Earthenware vessels is to be unclean and whatever they contain is to be unclean for every clean man. The open (vessels) is to be unclean for every Israelite (with) whatever is moistened in them. On the day when the body is removed from there, they are to cleanse the house of all pollution of oil, wine and water moisture. They are to rub its (the house’s) floor, walls and doors and must wash with water the bolts, doorposts, thresholds and lintels. On the day when the body is removed from there, they are to purify the house and all its utensils, hand-mills and mortars, all utensils of wood, iron and bronze and all utensils capable of purification. Clothes, sacks and skins is to be washed. As for the people, whoever has been in the house or has entered the house must bathe in water and must wash his clothes on the first day. On the third day they are to sprinkle purifying water on them and must bathe. They are to wash their garments and all the utensils in the house. On the seventh day they are to sprinkle (them) a second time. They are to bathe, wash their clothes and utensils and is to be clean by the

evening of (the impurity contracted) from the dead so as to (be fit to) touch their pure things. As for a man who has not been rendered unclean on account of [Text missing] they have been unclean. No longer [Text missing] until they have sprinkled (them) the second [time] on the seventh day and is to be clean by the evening at sunset. Whoever touches the bone of a dead person in the fields, or one slain by the sword, or a dead body or the blood of a dead person, or a tomb, he is to purify himself according to the rule of this statute. But if he does not purify himself according to the prescribed measure of this law, he is unclean, his uncleanness being still in him. Whoever touches him must wash his clothes, bathe and he is to be clean by the evening. If a woman is with child and it dies in her womb, as long as it is dead in her, she is to be unclean like a tomb. Any house that she enters is to be unclean with all its utensils for seven days. Whoever touches it is to be unclean till the evening. If anyone enters the house with her, he is to be unclean for seven days. He is to wash his clothes and bathe in water on the first (day). On the third day he is to sprinkle and wash his clothes and bathe. On the seventh day he is to sprinkle a second time and wash his clothes and bathe. At sunset he is to be clean. As for all the utensils, clothes, skins and all the materials made of goat’s hair, you are to deal with them according to the prescribed measure of this law. All earthenware vessels is to be broken for they are unclean and can no more be purified ever. All creatures that teem on the ground you are to proclaim unclean: the weasel, the mouse, every kind of lizard, the wall gecko, the sand gecko, the great lizard and the chameleon. Whoever touches them dead [Text missing] [and whatever com]es out of the[m] [Text missing] [is to be] unclean [to you.] You are to [not] render yourselves unclean by th[em. Whoever touches them] dead is to be unclean un[til the] evening. He is to wash his clothes and bathe [in water and at] sun[set] he is to be clean. Whoever carries any of their bones, their carcass, skin, flesh or claw must wash his clothes and bathe in water. After sunset he is to be clean. You are to forewarn the children of Israel about all the impurities. They must not render themselves unclean by those of which I tell you on this mountain and they must not be unclean. For I, YHWH, abide among the children of Israel. You are to sanctify

them and they is to be holy. They must not render themselves abominable by anything that I have separated for them as unclean and they is to be holy. You are to establish judges and officers in all your towns and they are to judge the people with just judgement. They must not be partial in (their) judgement. They must not accept bribes, nor must they twist judgement, for the bribe twists judgement, overturns the works of justice, blinds the eyes of the wise, produces great guilt, and profanes the house by the iniquity of sin. Justice and justice alone must you pursue that you may live and come to inherit the land that I give you to inherit for all days. The man who accepts bribes and twists just judgement is to be put to death. You must not be afraid to execute him. You must not do in your land as the nations do. Everywhere they sacrifice, plant sacred trees, erect sacred pillars and set up carved stones to bow down before them and build for them [Text missing] You must not plant [any tree as a sacred tree beside my altar to be made by you.] You must not erect a sacred pillar [that is hateful to me.] You must not make anywhere in your land a carved stone to bow down before it. You must not sacrifice to me any cattle or sheep with a grave blemish, for they are abominable to me. You must not sacrifice to me any cattle or sheep or goat that is pregnant, for this would be an abomination to me. You must not slaughter a cow or a ewe and its young on the same day, neither must you kill a mother with her young. Of all the firstlings born to your cattle or sheep, you are to sanctify for me the male animals. You must not use the firstling of your cattle for work, nor must you shear the firstling of your small cattle. You are to eat it before me every year in the place that I must choose. Should it be blemished, being lame or blind or (afflicted with) any grave blemish, you must not sacrifice it to me. It is within your towns that you are to eat it. The unclean and the clean among you together (may eat it) like a gazelle or a deer. It is the blood alone that you must not eat. You are to spill it on the ground like water and cover it with dust. You must not muzzle an ox while it is threshing. You must not plough with an ox and an ass (harnessed) together. You must not slaughter clean cattle or sheep or goat in any of your towns, within a distance of three days’ journey from my sanctuary. It is rather in my sanctuary that you are to

slaughter it, making of it a whole burnt offering or peace-offering. You are to eat and rejoice before me in the place on which I choose to set my name. Every clean animal with a blemish, you are to eat it within your towns, away from my sanctuary at a distance of thirty stadia. You must not slaughter it close to my sanctuary for its flesh is tainted. You must not eat in my city, which I sanctify by placing my name in it, the flesh of cattle, sheep or goat which has not entered my sanctuary. They are to sacrifice it there, toss its blood to the base of the altar of whole burnt offering and must burn its fat. [When I extend your frontiers as I have told you, and if the place where I have chosen to set my name is too distan]t, and you say, ‘I will eat meat’, because you [l]ong for it, [whatever you desire,] you may eat, [and you may slau]gh[ter] any of your small cattle or cattle which I give you according to my blessing. You may eat it within your towns, the clean and the unclean together, like gazelle or deer (meat). But you are to firmly abstain from eating the blood. You are to spill it on the ground like water and cover it with dust. For the blood is the life and you must not eat the life with the flesh so that it may be well with you and with your sons after you for ever. You are to do that which is correct and good before me, for I am YHWH, your God. But all your devoted gifts and votive donations you are to bring when you come to the place where I cause my name to abide, and you are to sacrifice (them) there before me as you have devoted and vowed them with your mouth. When you make a vow, you must not tarry in fulfilling it, for surely I will require it of you and you are to become guilty of a sin. You are to keep the word uttered by your lips, for your mouth has vowed freely to perform your vow. When a man makes a vow to me or swears an oath to take upon himself a binding obligation, he must not break his word. Whatever has been uttered by his mouth, he is to do it. When a woman makes a vow to me, or takes upon herself a binding obligation by means of an oath in her father’s house, in her youth, if her father hears of her vow or the binding obligation which she has taken upon herself and remains silent, all her vows must stand, and her binding obligation which she has taken upon herself must stand. If, however, her father definitely forbids her on the day that he hears of it, none of her vows or binding obligations which she has taken upon

herself must stand, and I will absolve her because (her father) has forbidden her [when he] h[eard of them. But if he annuls them after] the da[y that he has] hea[rd of them, he is to bear] her guilt: [her] fa[ther has annulled them. Any vow] or binding oath (made by a woman) [to mortify herself,] her husband may confi[rm it] or annul it on the day that he hears of it, and I will absolve her. But any vow of a widow or a divorced woman, whatever she has taken upon herself must stand in conformity with all that her mouth has uttered. Everything that I command you today, see to it that it is kept. You must not add to it, nor detract from it. If a prophet or a dreamer appears among you and presents you with a sign or a portent, even if the sign or the portent comes true, when he says, ‘Let us go and worship other gods whom you have not known!’, do not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer, for I am testing you to discover whether you love YHWH, the God of your fathers, with all your heart and soul. It is YHWH, your God, that you must follow and serve, and it is him that you must fear and his voice that you must obey, and you must hold fast to him. That prophet or dreamer is to be put to death for he has preached rebellion against YHWH, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to lead you astray from the path that I have commanded you to follow. You are to rid yourself of this evil. If your brother, the son of your father or the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is like your own self, (seeks to) entice you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods whom you have not known’, neither you, [nor] your [fa]thers, some of the gods [of the peoples that are round about you, whether near you or far off from you], from the one end of the earth to [the other, you must not yield to him or listen to him, nor must your eye pity] him, nor must you spare [him, nor must you conceal him; but you are to kill him; your hand is to be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. You are to stone him to death with stones because he sought to] draw you away [from me who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And all Israel must hear, and fear, and never again do such an evil

thing] among you. If in on[e of your cities in which I] give you to dw[ell] you hear this said: ‘Men, [s]ons of [Beli]al have arisen in your midst and have led astray all the inhabitants of their city saying, “Let us go and worship gods whom you have not known!”,’ you are to inquire, search and investigate carefully. If the matter is proven true that such an abomination has been done in Israel, you are to surely put all the inhabitants of that city to the sword. You are to place it and all who are in it under the ban, and you are to put the beasts to the sword. You are to assemble all the booty in (the city) square and must burn it with fire, the city and all the booty, as a whole-offering to YHWH, your God. It is to be a ruin for ever and must never be rebuilt. Nothing from that which has been placed under the ban must cleave to your hand so that I may turn from my hot anger and show you compassion. I will be compassionate to you and multiply you as I told your fathers, provided that you obey my voice, keeping all my commandments that I command you today, to do that which is correct and good before YHWH, your God. If among you, in one of your towns that I give you, there is found a man or a woman who does that which is wrong in my eyes by transgressing my covenant, and goes and worships other gods, and bows down before them, or before the sun or the moon, or all the host of heaven, if you are told about it, and you hear about this matter, you are to search and investigate it carefully. If the matter is proven true that such an abomination has been done in Israel, you are to lead out that man or that woman and stone him (to death) with stones. [Text missing] [You are to go to the Levitical priests o]r to the [j]u[dges then in office]; you are to seek their guidance and [they] must pro[nounce on] the matter for which [you have sought their guidance, and they are to procl]aim the(ir) judgement to you. You are to act in conformity with the law that they proclaim to you and the saying that they declare to you from the book of the Law. They are to issue to you a proclamation in truth from the place where I choose to cause my name to abide. Be careful to do all that they teach you and act in conformity with the decision that they communicate to you. Do not stray from the law which they proclaim to you to the right or to the left. The man who does not listen but acts arrogantly without obeying the priest who is posted there

to minister before me, or the judge, that man must die. You are to rid Israel of evil. All the people must hear of it and is to be awe-stricken, and none must ever again be arrogant in Israel. When you enter the land which I give you, take possession of it, dwell in it and say, ‘I will appoint a king over me as do all the nations around me!’, you may surely appoint over you the king whom I will choose. It is from among your brothers that you are to appoint a king over you. You must not appoint over you a foreigner who is not your brother. He (the king) must definitely not acquire many horses, neither must he lead the people back to Egypt for war to acquire many horses and much silver and gold, for I told you, ‘You are to never again go back that way’. He must not acquire many wives that they may not turn his heart away from me. He must not acquire very much silver and gold. When he sits on the throne of his kingdom, they are to write for him this law from the book which is before the priests. LVII This is the law [that they are to write for him] [Text missing] [They are to count,] on the day that they appoint hi[m] king, the sons of Israel from the age of twenty to sixty years according to their standard (units). He is to install at their head captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties and captains of tens in all their cities. He is to select from among them one thousand by tribe to be with him: twelve thousand warriors who must not leave him alone to be captured by the nations. All the selected men whom he has selected is to be men of truth, God-fearers, haters of unjust gain and mighty warriors. They is to be with him always, day and night. They are to guard him from anything sinful, and from any foreign nation in order not to be captured by them. The twelve princes of his people is to be with him, and twelve from among the priests, and from among the Levites twelve. They are to sit together with him to (proclaim) judgement and the law so that his heart must not be lifted above them, and he is to do nothing without them concerning any affair. He must not marry as wife any daughter of the nations, but must take a wife for himself from his father’s house, from his father’s family. He must not take another wife in addition to her, for she alone is to be with him all the time of her life. But if she dies, he may marry another from his father’s house, from his family. He must not twist judgement; he is to take no bribe to twist a just judgement and must not covet a field

or a vineyard, any riches or house, or anything desirable in Israel. He is to (not) rob [Text missing] When the king hears of any nation or people intent on plundering whatever belongs to Israel, he is to send for the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds posted in the cities of Israel. They are to send with him (the captain) one tenth of the people to go with him (the king) to war against their enemies, and they are to go with him. But if a large force enters the land of Israel, they are to send with him one fifth of the warriors. If a king with chariots and horses and a large force (comes), they are to send with him one third of the warriors, and the two (remaining) divisions must guard their city and their boundaries so that no marauders invade their land. If the war presses him (the king) hard, they are to send to him half of the people, the men of the army, but the (other) half of the people must not be severed from their cities. If they triumph over their enemies, smash them, put them to the sword and carry away their booty, they are to give the king his tithe of this, the priests one thousandth and the Levites one hundredth from everything. They are to halve the rest between the combatants and their brothers whom they have left in their cities. If he (the king) goes to war against his enemies, one fifth of the people must go with him, the warriors, all the mighty men of valour. They are to avoid everything unclean, everything shameful, every iniquity and guilt. He must not go until he has presented himself before the High Priest who must inquire on his behalf for a decision by the Urim and Tummim. It is at his word that he is to go and at his word that he is to come, he and all the children of Israel who are with him. He must not go following his heart’s counsel until he (the High Priest) has inquired for a decision by the Urim and Tummim. He is to (then) succeed in all his ways on which he has set out according to the decision which [Text missing] and they are to disperse them in many lands and they are to become a h[orror], a byword, a mockery. With a heavy yoke and in extreme want, they are to there serve gods made by human hands, of wood and stone, silver and gold. During this time their cities must become a devastation, a laughing-stock and a wasteland, and their enemies must devastate them. They are to sigh in the lands of their enemies and scream because of the heavy yoke. They are to cry out but

I will not listen; they are to scream but I will not answer them because of their evil doings. I will hide my face from them and they are to become food, plunder and prey. None must save them because of their wickedness, because they have broken my covenant and their soul has loathed my law until they have incurred every guilt. Afterwards they will return to me with all their heart and all their soul, in conformity with all the words of this law, and I will save them from the hand of their enemies and redeem them from the hand of those who hate them, and I will bring them to the land of their fathers. I will redeem them, and increase them and exult over them. I will be their God and they is to be my people. The king whose heart and eyes have gone astray from my commandments must never have one to sit on the throne of his fathers, for I will cut off his posterity for ever so that it must no more rule over Israel. But if he walk after my rules and keep my commandments and do that which is correct and good before me, no heir to the throne of the kingdom of Israel is to be cut off from among his sons for ever. I will be with him and will save him from the hand of those who hate him and from the hand of those who seek his life. I will place all his enemies before him and he is to rule over them according to his pleasure and they must not rule over him. I will set him on an upward, not on a downward, course, to be the head and not the tail, that the days of his kingdom may be lengthened greatly for him and his sons after him. [Text missing] and all their wave-offerings. All their firstling male [bea]sts and all [Text missing] of their beasts and all their holy gifts which they are to sanctify to me together with all their holy gifts of praise and a proportion of their offering of birds, wild animals and fish, one thousandth of their catch, and all that they are to devote, and the proportion of the booty and the plunder. To the Levites must belong the tithe of the corn, the wine and the oil that they have sanctified to me first; the shoulder from those who slaughter a sacrifice and a proportion of the booty, the plunder and the catch of birds, wild animals and fish, one hundredth; the tithe from the young pigeons and from the honey one fiftieth. To the priests must belong one hundredth of the young pigeons, for I have chosen them from all your tribes to attend on me and minister (before me) and bless

my name, he and his sons always. If a Levite come from any town anywhere in Israel where he sojourns to the place where I will choose to cause my name to abide, (if he come) with an eager soul, he may minister like his brethren the Levites who attend on me there. He is to have the same share of food with them, besides the inheritance from his father’s family. When you enter the land which I give you, do not learn to practise the abominations of those nations. There is to be found among you none who makes his son or daughter pass through fire, nor an augur or a soothsayer, a diviner or a sorcerer, one who casts spells or a medium, or wizards or necromancers. For they are an abomination before me, all who practise such things, and it is because of these abominations that I drive them out before you. You is to be perfect towards YHWH, your God. For these nations that [Text missing] to ut[ter a word] in [my] n[ame which I have n]ot comman[ded him to] utter, or wh[o speaks in the name of oth]er go[ds], that prophet is to be put to death. If you say in your heart, ‘How must we know the word which YHWH has not uttered?’, when the word uttered by the prophet in the name of YHWH is not fulfilled and does not come true, that is not a word that I have uttered. The prophet has spoken arrogantly; do not fear him. A single witness may not come forward against a man in the matter of any iniquity or sin which he has committed. It is on the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses that a case can be established. If a malicious witness comes forward against a man to testify against him in a case of a crime, both disputants must stand before me and before the priests and the Levites and before the judges then in office, and the judges must inquire, and if the witness is a false witness who has testified falsely against his brother, you are to do to him as he proposed to do to his brother. You are to rid yourselves of evil. The rest must hear of it and is to be awe-stricken and never again must such a thing be done in your midst. You are to have no mercy on him: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. When you go to war against your enemies, and you see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, be not afraid of them, for I am with you who brought you out of the land of Egypt. When you approach the battle, the priest must come forward to speak to the army and say

to them, ‘Hear, Israel, you approach [Text missing] ’ [Text missing] [and another man must use its fruit. If any man has betrothed a woman but has not yet married her, he is to return] home. Otherwise he may die in the war and another man may take her. [The] of[ficers must continue] to address the army and say, ‘If any man is afraid and has lost heart, he is to go and return. Otherwise he may render his kinsmen as faint-hearted as himself.’ When the judges have finished addressing the army, they are to appoint army captains at the head of the people. When you approach a city to fight it, (first) offer it peace. If it seeks peace and opens (its gates) to you, then all the people found in it must become your forced labourers and must serve you. If it does not make peace with you, but is ready to fight a war against you, you are to besiege it and I will deliver it into your hands. You are to put all its males to the sword, but the women, the children, the beasts and all that is in the city, all its booty, you may take as spoil for yourselves. You may enjoy the use of the booty of your enemies which I give you. Thus must you treat the very distant cities, those which are not among the cities of these nations. But in the cities of the peoples which I give you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive any creature. Indeed you are to utterly exterminate the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, the Girgashites and the Perizzites as I have commanded you, that they may not teach you to practise all the abominations that they have performed to their gods. [Text missing] [a heifer with which] he has not worked, which [has not drawn the yoke. The elders of] that city [must bring down] the heifer to a ravine with an ever-flowing stream which has never been sown or cultivated, and there they are to break its neck. The priests, the sons of Levi, must come forward, for I have chosen them to minister before me and bless my name, and every dispute and every assault is to be decided by their word. All the elders of the city nearest to the body of the murdered man must wash their hands over the head of the heifer whose neck has been broken in the ravine. They are to declare, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it happen. Accept expiation for thy people Israel whom thou hast redeemed, O YHWH, and do not permit the guilt of innocent blood to

rest among thy people, Israel. Let this blood be expiated for them.’ You are to rid Israel (of the guilt) of innocent blood, and you are to do that which is correct and good before YHWH, your God. When you go to war against your enemies, and I deliver them into your hands, and you capture some of them, if you see among the captives a pretty woman and desire her, you may take her to be your wife. You are to bring her to your house, you are to shave her head, and cut her nails. You are to discard the clothes of her captivity and she must dwell in your house, and bewail her father and mother for a full month. Afterwards you may go to her, consummate the marriage with her and she will be your wife. But she must not touch whatever is pure for you for seven years, neither must she eat of the sacrifice of peace-offering until seven years have elapsed. Afterwards she may eat. [Text missing] [the firstfruits of his virility; he has the right of the first-born.] If a man has a disobedient and rebellious son who refuses to listen to his father and mother, nor listens to them when they chastise him, his father and mother must take hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his place. They are to say to the elders of his town, ‘This son of ours is disobedient and rebellious; he does not listen to us; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ All the men of his city must stone him with stones and he is to die, and you are to rid yourselves of evil. All the children of Israel must hear of it and be awe-stricken. If a man slanders his people and delivers his people to a foreign nation and does evil to his people, you are to hang him on a tree and he is to die. On the testimony of two witnesses and on the testimony of three witnesses he is to be put to death and they are to hang him on the tree. If a man is guilty of a capital crime and flees (abroad) to the nations, and curses his people, the children of Israel, you are to hang him also on the tree, and he is to die. But his body must not stay overnight on the tree. Indeed you are to bury him on the same day. For he who is hanged on the tree is accursed of God and men. You must not pollute the ground which I give you to inherit. If you see your brother’s ox or sheep or donkey straying, do not neglect them; you are to indeed return them to your brother. If your brother does not live near you, and you do not know who he is, you are to bring the animal to your house and it is to be with you until he claims (it). [Text missing]

[Wh]en a bird’s nest happens to lie before you by the roadside, on any tree or on the ground, with fledglings or eggs, and the hen is sitting on the fledglings or the eggs, you must not take the hen with the young. You are to surely let the hen escape and take only the young so that it may be well with you and your days is to be prolonged. When you build a new house, you are to construct a parapet on the roof so that you do not bring blood-guilt on your house if anyone should fall from it. When a man takes a wife, has sexual intercourse with her and takes a dislike to her, and brings a baseless charge against her, ruining her reputation, and says, ‘I have taken this woman, approached her, and did not find the proof of virginity in her’, the father or the mother of the girl must take the girl’s proof of virginity and bring it to the elders at the gate. The girl’s father must say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to be this man’s wife; he has taken a dislike to her and has brought a baseless charge against her saying, “I have not found the proof of virginity in your daughter.” Here is the proof of my daughter’s virginity.’ They are to spread out the garment before the elders of that city. The elders of that city must take that man and chastise him. They are to fine him one hundred pieces of silver which they are to give to the father of the girl, because he (the husband) has tried to ruin the reputation of an Israelite virgin. He must not [Text missing] [When a virgin betrothed to a man is found by another man in the city and he lies with her, they are to bring both of them to the gate] of that city and stone them with stones and they is to be put to death: the girl because she has not shouted (for help, although she was) in the city, and the man because he has dishonoured his neighbour’s wife. You are to rid yourselves of evil. If the man has found the woman in the fields in a distant place hidden from the city, and raped her, only he who has lain with her is to be put to death. To the girl they are to do nothing since she has committed no crime worthy of death. For this affair is like that of a man who attacks his neighbour and murders him. For it was in the fields that he found her and the betrothed girl shouted (for help), but none came to her rescue. When a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed, but is suitable to him according to the rule, and lies with her, and he is found out, he who has lain with her must give the girl’s father fifty pieces of silver and she

is to be his wife. Because he has dishonoured her, he may not divorce her all his days. A man must not take his father’s wife and must not lift his father’s skirt. A man must not take the wife of his brother and must not lift the skirt of his brother, the son of his father or the son of his mother, for this is unclean. A man must not take his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother, for this is abominable. A man must not take his father’s sister or his mother’s sister, for this is immoral. A man must not take the daughter of his brother or the daughter of his sister for this is abominable. (A man) must not take [Text missing]