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النشر الإلكتروني

BALAAM BLESSING ISRAEL.

NUMBERS XXIII.-1 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. 2 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram. 3 And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burntoffering, and I will go; peradventure the Lord will come to meet me and whatsoever he sheweth me I will tell thee. And he went to an high place. 4 And God met Balaam: and said unto him, I have prepared seven altárs, and I have offered upon every altar a búllock and a ràm. 5 And the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. 6 And he returned unto him: and, lo, he stood by his burnt-sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab. 7 And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Còme, curse me Jacob; and come, defy Israel. 8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? Or how shall I defy, whom the Lòrd hath not defied. 9 (o) For from the top of the ròcks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. 10 Who can coùnt the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his! 11 And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold thou hast blessed them altogether. 12 And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the Lord hath put in my mouth?

RAHAB CONCEALETH THE SPIES.

JOSHUA II. 1 And Joshua the son Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab, and lòdged there. 2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither

to-night of the children of Israel, to search out the country. 3 And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house for they be come to search out all the country. 4 And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There căme men unto me, but I wist not whence they were. 5 And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot nòt: pursue àfter them quickly; for ye shall overtake them. 6 But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof. 7 And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fòrds: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate.

8 And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof; 9 And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. 10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amòrites that were on the other side Jordan, Síhon and 'Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. 11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did mèlt, neither did there remain any more coùrage in any man, because of you; for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath. 12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token; 13 And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. 14 And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the Lord hath given us the Land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee. 15 Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town-wall, and she dwelt upon the wall. 16 And she said unto them, Get ye to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way.

THE CRAFTY LEAGUE OF THE GIBEONITES.

JOSHUA IX.-1 And it came to pass when all the kings which were on this side Jórdan, in the hills, and in the vallies, and in all the coasts of the great sea over against Lebánon, the Hittite, and the Amórite, the Canaanite, the Périzzite, the Hívite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof,* 2 That they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua, and with Israel with one accord.

3 And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jèricho and to Aì,t 4 They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors; and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine-bottles, old, and rént, and bound up; 5 And old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and moùldy. 6 And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country, now therefore make ye a league with us. 7 And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with you? 9 And they said unto Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and from whence come ye? 9 And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come, because of the name of the Lord thy God for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt, 10 And all that he did to the two kings of the Amòrites that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan which was at Ashtaroth. 11 Wherefore our elders, and all the inhabitants of our country, spake to us, saying, Take victuals with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants: therefore now make ye a league with us. 12 This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and it is mouldy ; 13 And these bottles of wine which we filled, were new; and

* That is, heard of the destruction of A-i, as recorded in the preceding context.

This word forms two syllables A-i-not, as vulgarly read in one syllable, Ai.

behold, they be rènt: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey. 14 And the men took of their victuals and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lòrd. 15 And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them. 16 And it came to pass at the end of three days, after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbours and that they dwelt among them.

22 And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them saying, Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying We are very far from you; when ye dwell amòng us? 23 Now Therefore ye are cursed; and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God. 24 And they answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants how that the Lord thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing. 25 And now behold, we are in thine hand: as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, dò. 26 And so did he unto them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them not. 27 And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the Lòrd, even unto this day, in the place which he should choose.

THE ALTAR OF THE TWO TRIBES.

JOSHUA XXII.-10 And when they came unto the borders of Jordan, that are in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, built there an altar by Jòrdan, a great altar, to see to.

11 And the children of Israel heard say, Behold, the chil dren of Réuben, and the children of Gád, and the half-tribe of Mánasseh, have built an àltar over against the land of Canaan, in the borders of Jordan, at the passage of the chil dren of 'Israel. 12 And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gath

ered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up to war against them. 13 And the children of Israel sent up unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the halftribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest: 14 And with him ten princes, of each chief house a prince throughout all the tribes of Israel, and each one was an head of the house of their fathers among the thousands of Israel. 15 And they came unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead, and they spake with them, saying, 16 Thus saith the whole congregation of the Lord, What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the Lord, in that ye have builded you an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the Lòrd? 17 Is the iniquity of Péor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, (although there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord,) 18 But that ye must turn away this day from following the Lord? And it will be, seeing ye rebel to-day against the Lord, that to-morrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel. 19 Notwithstanding if the land of your possession be unclean, then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the Lord, wherein the Lord's tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession among ùs: but rebel not against the Lord, nor rebel against us in building an altar besides the altar of the Lord our God. 20 Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Isráel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity.

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21 Then the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, answered, and said unto the heads of the thousands of Israel, (o) 22 The Lord God of gōds, the Lord God of gōds, he knoweth, and Israel he shall know if it be in rebellion, or if in transgression against the Lòrd, ( ... ) * save us not this day. 23 That we have built us an altar to turn from following the Lord, or if to of fer thereon burnt-offering, or meat-offering, or if to offer peace-offerings thereon, let the Lord himself require it: 24 And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our

* Parentheses always require a quicker and more flowing movement. (See Rhet. Reader, p. 14.)

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