Day 69 of 730

¹The children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month: and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there.

²There was no water for the congregation: and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.

³The people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying, "We wish that we had died when our brothers died before the Lord!

⁴Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die there, we and our animals?

⁵Why have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in to this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink."

⁶Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and fell on their faces: and the glory of the Lord appeared to them.

⁷The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

⁸"Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water; and you shall bring forth to them water out of the rock; so you shall give the congregation and their livestock drink."

⁹Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him.

¹⁰Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels; shall we bring you water out of this rock for you?"

¹¹Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice: and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.

¹²The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them."

¹³These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.

¹⁴Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: "Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the travail that has happened to us:

¹⁵how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians dealt ill with us, and our fathers:

¹⁶and when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and brought us forth out of Egypt: and behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of your border.

¹⁷"Please let us pass through your land: we will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go along the king's highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed your border."

¹⁸Edom said to him, "You shall not pass through me, lest I come out with the sword against you."

¹⁹The children of Israel said to him, "We will go up by the highway; and if we drink of your water, I and my livestock, then will I give its price: let me only, without doing anything else, pass through on my feet."

²⁰He said, "You shall not pass through." Edom came out against him with many people, and with a strong hand.

²¹Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border, so Israel turned away from him.

²²They traveled from Kadesh: and the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.

²³The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying,

²⁴"Aaron shall be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter into the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah.

²⁵Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor;

²⁶and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be taken, and shall die there."

²⁷Moses did as the Lord commanded: and they went up into Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.

²⁸Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there on the top of the mountain: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

²⁹When all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.

¹The Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard tell that Israel came by the way of Atharim; and he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive.

²Israel vowed a vow to the Lord, and said, "If you will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities."

³The Lord listened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and the name of the place was called Hormah.

⁴They traveled from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.

⁵The people spoke against God, and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loathes this light bread."

⁶The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died.

⁷The people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord, and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us." Moses prayed for the people.

⁸The Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard: and it shall happen, that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live."

⁹Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it on the standard: and it happened, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of brass, he lived.

¹⁰The children of Israel traveled, and encamped in Oboth.

¹¹They traveled from Oboth, and encamped at Iyeabarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrise.

¹²From there they traveled, and encamped in the valley of Zered.

¹³From there they traveled, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness, that comes out of the border of the Amorites: for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

¹⁴Therefore it is said in the book of the Wars of the Lord, "Vaheb in Suphah, the valleys of the Arnon,

¹⁵the slope of the valleys that incline toward the dwelling of Ar, leans on the border of Moab."

¹⁶From there they traveled to Beer: that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, "Gather the people together, and I will give them water."

¹⁷Then sang Israel this song: "Spring up, well; sing to it:

¹⁸the well, which the princes dug, which the nobles of the people dug, with the scepter, and with their poles." From the wilderness they traveled to Mattanah;

¹⁹and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth;

²⁰and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the field of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looks down on the desert.

²¹Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,

²²"Let me pass through your land: we will not turn aside into field, or into vineyard; we will not drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king's highway, until we have passed your border."

²³Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz; and he fought against Israel.

²⁴Israel struck him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, even to the children of Ammon; for the border of the children of Ammon was strong.

²⁵Israel took all these cities: and Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its towns.

²⁶For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even to the Arnon.

²⁷Therefore those who speak in proverbs say, "Come to Heshbon. Let the city of Sihon be built and established;

²⁸for a fire has gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It has devoured Ar of Moab, The lords of the high places of the Arnon.

²⁹Woe to you, Moab! You are undone, people of Chemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Sihon king of the Amorites.

³⁰We have shot at them. Heshbon has perished even to Dibon. We have laid waste even to Nophah, Which reaches to Medeba."

³¹Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.

³²Moses sent to spy out Jazer; and they took its towns, and drove out the Amorites who were there.

³³They turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

³⁴The Lord said to Moses, "Do not fear him: for I have delivered him into your hand, and all his people, and his land; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon."

³⁵So they struck him, and his sons and all his people, until there was none left him remaining: and they possessed his land.

¹Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck!

²I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

³I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail, looking for my God.

⁴Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. I have to restore what I did not take away.

⁵God, you know my foolishness. My sins aren't hidden from you.

⁶Do not let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord God of Hosts. Do not let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel.

⁷Because for your sake, I have borne reproach. Shame has covered my face.

⁸I have become a stranger to my brothers, a foreigner to my mother's children.

⁹For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

¹⁰When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach.

¹¹When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.

¹²Those who sit in the gate talk about me. I am the song of the drunkards.

¹³But as for me, my prayer is to you, Lord, in an acceptable time. God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation.

¹⁴Deliver me out of the mire, and do not let me sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.

¹⁵Do not let the flood waters overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up. Do not let the pit shut its mouth on me.

¹⁶Answer me, Lord, for your loving kindness is good. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me.

¹⁷Do not hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me speedily!

¹⁸Draw near to my soul, and redeem it. Ransom me because of my enemies.

¹⁹You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor. My adversaries are all before you.

²⁰Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.

²¹They also gave me gall for my food. In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.

²²Let their table before them become a snare. May it become a retribution and a trap.

²³Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can't see. Let their backs be continually bent.

²⁴Pour out your indignation on them. Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them.

²⁵Let their habitation be desolate. Let no one dwell in their tents.

²⁶For they persecute him whom you have wounded. They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.

²⁷Charge them with crime upon crime. Do not let them come into your righteousness.

²⁸Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous.

²⁹But I am in pain and distress. Let your salvation, God, protect me.

³⁰I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

³¹It will please the Lord better than an ox, or a bull that has horns and hoofs.

³²The humble have seen it, and are glad. You who seek after God, let your heart live.

³³For the Lord hears the needy, and doesn't despise his captive people.

³⁴Let heaven and earth praise him; the seas, and everything that moves therein!

³⁵For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah. They shall settle there, and own it.

³⁶The children also of his servants shall inherit it. Those who love his name shall dwell therein.

¹My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within you.

²Keep my commandments and live! Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye.

³Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Tell wisdom, "You are my sister." Call understanding your relative,

⁵that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words.

⁶For at the window of my house, I looked out through my lattice.

⁷I saw among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding,

⁸passing through the street near her corner, he went the way to her house,

⁹in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness.

¹⁰Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent.

¹¹She is loud and defiant. Her feet do not stay in her house.

¹²Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner.

¹³So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him:

¹⁴"Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. This day I have paid my vows.

¹⁵Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you.

¹⁶I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.

¹⁷I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let's take our fill of loving until the morning. Let's solace ourselves with loving.

¹⁹For my husband isn't at home. He has gone on a long journey.

²⁰He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon."

²¹With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.

²²He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose.

²³Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn't know that it will cost his life.

²⁴Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth.

²⁵Do not let your heart turn to her ways. Do not go astray in her paths,

²⁶for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army.

²⁷Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.