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Often appears with: justice as a virtue · crime and punishment · religious persecution and toleration · forms of government · courts, trials, and pleading · equity, mercy, and pardon · contracts, oaths, and obligation · property, inheritance, and title · rank, class, and social order · marriage and betrothal · trade, markets, and merchants · taxation, tribute, and revenue
Usually: argument (348) · detachment (343) · skepticism (150) · narrative (139) · injustice endured (136) · indignation (115) · censure (100) · curiosity (99) · exhortation (82) · commentary or gloss (61)
“Blessed be God, at the end of the last year I was in very good health, without any sense of my old pain, but upon taking of cold.” Samuel Pepys, Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 02: January 1659-1660 · observation
“And he who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it, may expect to be destroyed by it, for in rebellion it has always the watchword of liberty and its ancient privileges as a rallying point.” Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince · insight
“For it is necessary either to do this or else to keep there a great number of cavalry and infantry.” Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince · observation
“Doubt not but that sin Will reign among them, as of thee begot;” John Milton, Paradise Lost · insight
“Can there be any greater evil than discord and distraction and plurality where unity ought to reign? or any greater good than the bond of unity?” Plato, The Republic · insight
“And the same expression is used about any other part of the body, which has a sensation of pain at suffering or of pleasure at the alleviation of suffering.” Plato, The Republic · vivid
“What right has he to keep me from my own?” Antigone: I urge no more; nay, wert thou willing still, I would not welcome such a fellowship. Go thine own way; myself will bury him. How sweet to die in such employ, to rest,— Sister and brother linked in love’s embrace— A sinless sinner, banned awhile on earth, But by the dead commended; and with them I shall abide for ever. As for thee, Scorn, if thou wilt, the eternal laws of Heaven.” Sophocles, Plays of Sophocles: Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Col · precept
“I am satisfied that there are many evils which can be best removed by confining our efforts to the immediate locality where such evils exist. This, however, is by no means the case with the system of slavery.” Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom · insight
“But I am bound to say that they fall short of indicating the horrible cruelties constantly practiced in the slave states.” Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom · insight
“Thus, then and now, there stand in the South two separate worlds; and separate not simply in the higher realms of social intercourse, but also in church and school, on railway and street-car, in hotels and theatres, in streets and city sections, in books and newspapers, in asylums and jails, in hospitals and graveyards.” W. E. B. Du Bois (William Edward Burghardt Du Bois), The Souls of Black Folk · vivid
“He realizes at last that silently, resistlessly, the world about flows by him in two great streams: they ripple on in the same sunshine, they approach and mingle their waters in seeming carelessness,—then they divide and flow wide apart.” W. E. B. Du Bois (William Edward Burghardt Du Bois), The Souls of Black Folk · vivid
“It is done quietly; no mistakes are made, or if one occurs, the swift arm of the law and of public opinion swings down for a moment, as when the other day a black man and a white woman were arrested for talking together on Whitehall Street in Atlanta.” W. E. B. Du Bois (William Edward Burghardt Du Bois), The Souls of Black Folk · observation
In Maryland, free Black people had to carry frequently renewed “free papers,” which described appearance; Douglass describes how slaves could escape by borrowing papers, but he relied on a sailor’s protection instead.
good luck rather than bravery. My means of escape were provided for me by the very men who were making laws to hold and bind me more securely in slavery. It was the custom in the State of Maryland to require the free colored people to have what were called free papers. These instruments they were required to renew very often, and by charging a fee for this writing, considerable sums from time to time were collected …
Douglass describes how Stuart shelters him and takes him to David Ruggles and the New York Vigilance Committee, leading to hiding, marriage to his wife (Rev. J. W. C. Pennington), and later passage to Massachusetts.
betrayer. Under this apprehension, as I suppose, he showed signs of wishing to be rid of me, and with whitewash brush in hand, in search of work, he soon disappeared. This picture, given by poor “Jake,” of New York, was a damper to my enthusiasm. My little store of money would soon be exhausted, and since it would be unsafe for me to go on the wharves for work, and I had no introductions elsewhere, the prospect for …
In New Bedford, Douglass changes his name for concealment, becomes Frederick Douglass through Nathan Johnson’s selection, and explains how Massachusetts laws and schooling amazed him after slavery.
how to make an honest living. Thus, in a fortnight after my flight from Maryland, I was safe in New Bedford, a citizen of the grand old commonwealth of Massachusetts. Once initiated into my new life of freedom and assured by Mr. Johnson that I need not fear recapture in that city, a comparatively unimportant question arose as to the name by which I should be known thereafter in my new relation as a free man. The nam…
Douglass contrasts New Bedford’s anti-slavery reputation with racial exclusions: he is denied skilled work on a whaling ship despite Mr. Rodney French’s initial offer, and later notes segregated lecture access for Black residents until abolitionists intervene.
work, or more of it, in the same space of time on the plantation for Covey, the negro-breaker, than I did for myself in these earliest years of my freedom. Notwithstanding the just and humane sentiment of New Bedford three and forty years ago, the place was not entirely free from race and color prejudice. The good influence of the Roaches, Rodmans, Arnolds, Grinnells, and Robesons did not pervade all classes of its …
It continues the same narrator’s critique-lens while quoting scripture about trust in God, fair dealings and justice, covenants, and polemics against those who twist scripture or deceive believers.
restore them to thee: And there is of them to whom if thou entrust a dinar, he will not restore it to thee, unless thou be ever instant with him. This-because they say, "We are not bound to keep faith with the ignorant (Pagan) folk, and they utter a lie against God, and know they do so:" But whoso is true to his engagement, and feareth God,-verily God loveth those that fear Him. Verily they who barter their engage…
Pepys records political turmoil in London as Parliament orders changes to the common council and a letter from General Monk prompts cheers, soldiers’ support, and debates over oaths and filling House seats.
world to do; the Parliament having this day ordered that the Common- council sit no more, but that new ones be chosen according to what qualifications they shall give them. 11th. I heard the news of a letter from Monk, who was now gone into the City again, and did resolve to stand for the sudden filling up of the House, and it was very strange how the countenance of men in the Hall was all changed with joy in half …
The editor’s preface explains English new-year reckoning and then shifts to Pepys’s diary context: he had been healthy after catching cold, lived in Axe Yard with wife and servant Jane, and notes political conditions of the Rump after Lambert’s disturbance.
THE DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS M.A. F.R.S. CLERK OF THE ACTS AND SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY MAGDALENE COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE BY THE REV. MYNORS BRIGHT M.A. LATE FELLOW AND PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE (Unabridged) WITH LORD BRAYBROOKE'S NOTES EDITED WITH ADDITIONS BY HENRY B. WHEATLEY F.S.A. DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS 1660 N.S. COMPLETE JANUARY …
He explains that before Hellen and his sons gained strength in Phthiotis, Greeks used tribal names rather than “Hellenes,” and that Homer shows shared identity and collective action were still limited before Troy.
the already large population of the city to such a height that Attica became at last too small to hold them, and they had to send out colonies to Ionia. There is also another circumstance that contributes not a little to my conviction of the weakness of ancient times. Before the Trojan war there is no indication of any common action in Hellas, nor indeed of the universal prevalence of the name; on the contrary, befo…
Athenian envoys defend imperial moderation as fair dealing in Athenian contract trials, contrasting legal restraint with other powers’ use of force, and warn that Spartan rule would lose popularity.
left us would fall to you. And no one can quarrel with a people for making, in matters of tremendous risk, the best provision that it can for its interest. “You, at all events, Lacedaemonians, have used your supremacy to settle the states in Peloponnese as is agreeable to you. And if at the period of which we were speaking you had persevered to the end of the matter, and had incurred hatred in your command, we are s…
Thucydides explains how Athenian settlement patterns in Attica from early kings through Theseus’s centralization shaped reluctance to abandon ancestral townships during the summer invasion.
Athens in the different departments when the Peloponnesian invasion was impending and hostilities were being commenced. Pericles also urged his usual arguments for expecting a favourable issue to the war. The Athenians listened to his advice, and began to carry in their wives and children from the country, and all their household furniture, even to the woodwork of their houses which they took down. Their sheep and c…
In Pericles’ funeral speech, he says he must obey ancestral custom while beginning with Athens’ ancestors and then describing the democratic constitution and equal justice for citizens.
ancestors have stamped this custom with their approval, it becomes my duty to obey the law and to try to satisfy your several wishes and opinions as best I may. “I shall begin with our ancestors: it is both just and proper that they should have the honour of the first mention on an occasion like the present. They dwelt in the country without break in the succession from generation to generation, and handed it down f…
The Plataeans warn that an unjust sentence will disgrace Sparta in Greek opinion, invoke oaths and ancestral tombs, and argue that killing them violates Hellenic law because they surrendered as suppliants.
in the same way, and policy should not mean anything else than lasting gratitude for the service of good ally combined with a proper attention to one’s own immediate interest. “Consider also that at present the Hellenes generally regard you as a pattern of worth and honour; and if you pass an unjust sentence upon us in this which is no obscure cause, but one in which you, the judges, are as illustrious as we, the pr…
A Theban speaker accuses the Lacedaemonians of violating an agreement and murdering surrendered men, arguing that the prisoners must be punished under Hellenic law rather than excused by appeals to pity.
attacking persons, since you were not to be banished from your city, but brought home to your kindred, nor to be made enemies to any, but friends alike to all. “That our intention was not hostile is proved by our behaviour. We did no harm to any one, but publicly invited those who wished to live under a national, Boeotian government to come over to us; which as first you gladly did, and made an agreement with us and…
Athenian heralds argue that destroying or refusing to evacuate temples in conquered Boeotia was justified by war, invoking Greek laws about temple possession, while Boeotians reject a truce for retrieving dead on disputed grounds.
the name of the deities concerned, and of Apollo, the Boeotians invited them first to evacuate the temple, if they wished to take up the dead that belonged to them. After these words from the herald, the Athenians sent their own herald to the Boeotians to say that they had not done any wrong to the temple, and for the future would do it no more harm than they could help; not having occupied it originally in any such…
After Torone is secured, Brasidas grants truce terms for those taking refuge, then assaults Lecythus; a failed wooden defenses section collapses, causing panic, until Brasidas rushes in, takes the fort, and consecrates it.
own men in the corner of the town running out into the sea and cut off by a narrow isthmus; where they were joined by the Toronaeans of their party. Day now arrived, and the town being secured, Brasidas made a proclamation to the Toronaeans who had taken refuge with the Athenians, to come out, as many as chose, to their homes without fearing for their rights or persons, and sent a herald to invite the Athenians to a…
Magna Carta guarantees merchant safe conduct and travel, defines when departures are allowed during war, treats forest proceedings, requires lawful officials, disafforesting royal forests, and investigating evil forest customs.
(40) To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice. (41) All merchants may enter or leave England unharmed and without fear, and may stay or travel within it, by land or water, for purposes of trade, free from all illegal exactions, in accordance with ancient and lawful customs. This, however, does not apply in time of war to merchants from a country that is at war with us. Any such merchants foun…
Odysseus describes Cyclopes as uncivilized cave-dwellers without laws and assemblies, then explains their nearby island of goats and harbor, leading to the Greeks’ landing and feasting before scouting the Cyclopes.
assemblies of the people, but live in caves on the tops of high mountains; each is lord and master in his family, and they take no account of their neighbours. “Now off their harbour there lies a wooded and fertile island not quite close to the land of the Cyclopes, but still not far. It is over-run with wild goats, that breed there in great numbers and are never disturbed by foot of man; for sportsmen—who as a rule…
Odysseus lands with a small crew in a cave stocked with cheeses and flocks, planning to test whether the Cyclops is hospitable, but his men find the monster hard to deal with.
the rest of you, while I go with my ship and exploit these people myself: I want to see if they are uncivilised savages, or a hospitable and humane race.’ “I went on board, bidding my men to do so also and loose the hawsers; so they took their places and smote the grey sea with their oars. When we got to the land, which was not far, there, on the face of a cliff near the sea, we saw a great cave overhung with laurel…
Agamemnon recognizes Amphimedon and asks how the Ithacan suitors died, and Amphimedon explains that Penelope secretly delayed their wedding by weaving a burial shroud for Laertes for years before Odysseus’ return.
join us with his ships against Troy? It was a whole month ere we could resume our voyage, for we had hard work to persuade Ulysses to come with us.” And the ghost of Amphimedon answered, “Agamemnon, son of Atreus, king of men, I remember everything that you have said, and will tell you fully and accurately about the way in which our end was brought about. Ulysses had been long gone, and we were courting his wife, wh…
Melanthius the goatherd insults Odysseus-in-disguise and predicts violence against him and the swineherd, then joins the wooers, while Odysseus and Eumaeus reach the hall where Phemius sings and Odysseus tests the company.
two herdsmen bare him company. Now when he saw them he reviled them, and spake and hailed them, in terrible and evil fashion, and stirred the heart of Odysseus, saying: “Now in very truth the vile is leading the vile, for god brings ever like to like! Say, whither art thou leading this glutton,—thou wretched swineherd,—this plaguy beggar, a kill-joy of the feast? He is one to stand about and rub his shoulders agains…
Penelope instructs her servants to manage her image and warns Telemachus against the suitors, while Athene’s enchantment makes Penelope draw admiration as Telemachus and the suitors argue about what happened.
that she might win yet more worship from her lord and her son than heretofore. To she laughed an idle laugh, and spake to the nurse, and hailed her, saying: “Eurynome, my heart yearns, though before I had no such desire, to show myself to the wooers, hateful as they are. I would also say a word to my son, that will be for his weal, namely, that he should not for ever consort with the proud wooers, who speak friendly…
Penelope and the suitors discuss marriage terms, gifts offered by leading Achaeans, and the transition from daytime feasting to evening torchlight, with Odysseus quietly directing women servants inside.
wooers were loosened, and their hearts were enchanted with love, and each one uttered a prayer that he might be her bed-fellow. But she spake to Telemachus, her dear son: “Telemachus, thy mind and thy thoughts are no longer stable as they were. While thou wast still a child, thou hadst a yet quicker and more crafty wit, but now that thou art great of growth, and art come to the measure of manhood, and a stranger loo…
Melantho insults Odysseus and Odysseus threatens to report her to Telemachus, while Eurymachus and Odysseus exchange taunts that involve farm labor and war, escalating to violence when Eurymachus strikes a servant.
thou art, or yet more than now, while I am far away. But when thou seest thy son a bearded man, marry whom thou wilt and leave thine own house.’ “Even so did he speak, and now all these things have an end. The night shall come when a hateful marriage shall find me out, me most luckless, whose good hap Zeus has taken away. But furthermore this sore trouble has come on my heart and soul; for this was not the manner of…
Penelope explains how she delayed remarriage for three years by weaving and then unweaving a funeral robe for Laertes, until the wooers overpowered her in the fourth year.
the Achaean women in the land count it blame in me, as well might be, were he to lie without a winding sheet, a man that had gotten great possessions.’ “So spake I, and their high hearts consented thereto. So then in the daytime I would weave the mighty web, and in the night unravel the same, when I had let place the torches by me. Thus for the space of three years I hid the thing by craft and beguiled the minds of …
Penelope orders her servants to wash and clothe the stranger as a guest, but when Odysseus refuses elaborate baths and insists on resting like in past hardships, Penelope invites Eurycleia to wash him.
all these things shall surely be accomplished even as I tell thee. In this same year Odysseus shall come hither, as the old moon wanes and the new is born.” Then wise Penelope answered him: “Ah! stranger, would that this word may be accomplished. Soon shouldst thou be aware of kindness and many a gift at my hands, so that whoso met with thee would call thee blessed. But on this wise my heart has a boding, and so it …
After Eurycleia touches the scar and drops the basin, she exclaims that the stranger is Odysseus; Odysseus restrains her and demands silence so the wooers won’t be alerted.
and duly he told them all, namely how the boar gashed him with his white tusk in the chase, when he had gone to Parnassus with the sons of Autolycus. Now the old woman took the scarred limb and passed her hands down it, and knew it by the touch and let the foot drop suddenly, so that the knee fell into the bath, and the brazen vessel rang, being turned over on the other side, and behold, the water was spilled on the…
Eumaeus and other herdsmen discuss disrespect from the wooers, Melanthius taunts Odysseus, and Odysseus speaks calmly while Philoetius converses, preparing the meal and anticipating the coming killing.
company. He went on his way to the assembly-place to join the goodly-greaved Achaeans. But the good lady Eurycleia, daughter of Ops son of Peisenor, called aloud to her maidens: “Come hither, let some of you go busily and sweep the hall, and sprinkle it, and on the fair-fashioned seats throw purple coverlets, and others with sponges wipe all the tables clean, and cleanse the mixing bowls and well-wrought double beak…
Odysseus spares the minstrel Phemius and Medon after Telemachus intervenes, then orders the dead cleared, the hall cleaned, and the captive women served punishment outside, while he searches for any survivors hiding.
on the ground between the mixing-bowl and the high seat inlaid with silver, and himself sprang forward and seized Odysseus by the knees, and besought him and spake winged words: “I entreat thee by thy knees, Odysseus, and do thou show mercy on me and have pity. It will be a sorrow to thyself in the aftertime if thou slayest me who am a minstrel, and sing before gods and men. Yea none has taught me but myself, and th…
Odysseus and Telemachus privately plan a disguise and a staged celebration so Penelope will treat Odysseus as a stranger while they prepare to kill the wooers without warning the town.
he hath indeed come home, verily we shall be ware of each other the more surely, for we have tokens that we twain know, even we, secret from all others.” So she spake, and the steadfast goodly Odysseus smiled, and quickly he spake to Telemachus winged words: “Telemachus, leave now thy mother to make trial of me within the chambers; so shall she soon come to a better knowledge than heretofore. But now I go filthy, an…
Du Bois argues that the proposed linear schooling sequence was historically impossible in the South because the social separation of races prevented white or Northern teachers from establishing common schools without training Black teachers.
work, then simple schools should have taught him to read and write, and finally, after years, high and normal schools could have completed the system, as intelligence and wealth demanded. That a system logically so complete was historically impossible, it needs but a little thought to prove. Progress in human affairs is more often a pull than a push, a surging forward of the exceptional man, and the lifting of his d…
He lists major ways people in shared communities contact each other—physical proximity, economic relations, political relations, intellectual exchange, social life, and religious enterprise—then begins explaining how Black and white Southerners meet, starting with residential segregation.
must ask, what are the actual relations of whites and blacks in the South? and we must be answered, not by apology or fault-finding, but by a plain, unvarnished tale. In the civilized life of to-day the contact of men and their relations to each other fall in a few main lines of action and communication: there is, first, the physical proximity of home and dwelling-places, the way in which neighborhoods group themsel…
Du Bois argues that Southern segregation by color is not the same as social-class clustering, so whites and blacks usually encounter each other’s worst traits, unlike slavery’s patriarchal contact, which shaped beliefs about freedom and race interests.
colors meet in close proximity. Even in the country something of this segregation is manifest in the smaller areas, and of course in the larger phenomena of the Black Belt. All this segregation by color is largely independent of that natural clustering by social grades common to all communities. A Negro slum may be in dangerous proximity to a white residence quarter, while it is quite common to find a white slum pla…
Du Bois argues over Negro suffrage by tracing how Americans shifted from universal suffrage ideals after the French Revolution to acceptance of suppression, concluding that disfranchisement aims to eliminate Black political power.
the modern world is the power of the ballot; and this brings me to a consideration of the third form of contact between whites and blacks in the South,—political activity. In the attitude of the American mind toward Negro suffrage can be traced with unusual accuracy the prevalent conceptions of government. In the fifties we were near enough the echoes of the French Revolution to believe pretty thoroughly in universa…
Du Bois shifts to the “atmosphere” of the South, describing a color line that outsiders barely see at first, then grows undeniable as life flows in two streams—culminating in arrests of a Black man and white woman in Atlanta.
economic life, and a swaying and lifting and sinking of human hearts which have made this land a land of mingled sorrow and joy, of change and excitement and unrest. The centre of this spiritual turmoil has ever been the millions of black freedmen and their sons, whose destiny is so fatefully bound up with that of the nation. And yet the casual observer visiting the South sees at first little of this. He notes the g…
Du Bois describes how Atlanta’s racial segregation prevents real intellectual exchange between Black and white people, despite everyday contact, and argues the South’s color-line blocks otherwise well-meaning social and philanthropic efforts.
of public opinion swings down for a moment, as when the other day a black man and a white woman were arrested for talking together on Whitehall Street in Atlanta. Now if one notices carefully one will see that between these two worlds, despite much physical contact and daily intermingling, there is almost no community of intellectual life or point of transference where the thoughts and feelings of one race can come …
The LORD institutes Passover for Israel: slaughtering a spotless male lamb, marking doorposts with blood, eating roasted meat with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and observing it as an everlasting holy custom.
And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying: This month shall be your chief month: even the first month of the year shall it be unto you. Speak ye unto all the fellowship of Israel saying: that they take the tenth day of this month to every household, a sheep. If the household be too few for a sheep, then let him and his neighbour that is next unto this house, take according to the number of s…
Israel is instructed against false testimony and corrupt justice, to help enemies’ animals, to protect the poor and aliens, to observe sabbatical rest, hold three yearly feasts, and obey God’s angel and conquest prohibitions.
Thou shalt not accept a vain tale, neither shalt put thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil: neither answer in a matter of plea that thou wouldest to follow many turn aside from the truth, neither shalt thou paint a poor man's cause. When thou meetest thine enemy's ox or ass going astray, thou shalt bring them to him again. If thou see thine enemy's ass s…
The design of the tabernacle is specified: curtains, coverings, boards, sockets, bars, the veil dividing holy and most holy places, and the arrangement of ark, table, and candlestick.
And thou shalt make an habitation with ten curtains of twined byss, Iacinth, scarlet and purple, and shalt make them with cherubins of broidered work. The length of a curtain shall be twenty eight cubits, and the breadth four and they shall be all of one measure: five curtains shall be coupled together one to another: and the other five likewise shall be coupled together one to another. Then shalt thou make loops of …
God commands Moses to hew two new stone tablets for the covenant, meets him on Mount Sinai, warns against making compacts with Canaanites, and gives laws including Sabbath and the Passover feast of unleavened bread.
And the LORD said unto Moses: hew the two tables of stone like unto the first that I may write in them the words which were in the first two tables, which thou brakest. And be ready against the morning that thou mayst come up early unto the mount of Sinai and stond {stode} me there upon the top of the mount. But let no man come up with thee, neither let any man be seen thorowout all the mount, neither let sheep nor o…
Laws cover diagnosing leprosy-like plague in a house in Canaan: the owner reports it, priests inspect for spreading wall marks, quarantine the house, then scrape, replace stones, or demolish if it persists.
when ye be come unto the land of Canaan which I give you to possess: if I put the plague of leprosy in any house of the land of your possession, let him that owneth the house go and tell the priest saying: me think that there is as it were a leprosy in the house. And the priest shall command them to rid all things out of the house, before the priest go in to see the plague: that he make not all that is in the house u…
If the house plague does not spread after new plastering, the priest makes it clean by sprinkling a ritual involving two birds, cedar/cypress wood, hyssop, and purple cloth, with the living bird released outside the town.
and take the cypress {cedar} wood, the hyssop, the purple and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird and in the running water, and sprinkle upon the house seven times, and cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cypress wood, and the hyssop, and the purple cloth. And he shall let the living bird flee out of the town into th…
Regulations define uncleanness from a running issue of the flesh, requiring washing, evening isolation, contagion through couches and objects, broken or rinsed vessels, and cleansing through a seven-day count and sacrifices.
And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron saying: Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them: every man that hath a running issue in his flesh, is unclean by the reason of his issue. And hereby shall it be known when he is unclean. If his flesh run, or if his flesh congeal by the reason of his issue, then he is unclean. Every couch whereon he lieth and every thing whereon he sitteth shall be unclean. He that t…
Rules require Israelites to bring ox, lamb, or goat offerings to the door of the tabernacle rather than slaughtering in the field, forbidding offerings to devils and forbidding eating blood, since blood is used to make atonement.
And the LORD talked with Moses saying: speak unto Aaron and unto his sons and unto all the children of Israel and say unto them, this is the thing which the LORD charged saying: whatsoever he be of the house of Israel that killeth an ox, lamb or goat in the host or out of the host and bringeth them not unto the door of the tabernacle of witness, to offer an offering unto the LORD before the dwelling place of the LORD…
The LORD commands Israel to avoid Egyptian and Canaanite practices and stresses obedience to judgments, forbidding uncovering relatives’ “secrets,” and outlawing incest, adultery, same-sex male sex, and bestiality, warning that the land will be defiled and expel offenders.
And the LORD talked with Moses saying: speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God. Wherefore after the doings of the land of Egypt wherein ye dwelt, see that ye do not: neither after the doings of the land of Canaan, whether I will bring you, neither walk ye in their ordinances, but do after my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: for I am the LORD your God. Keep the…
God commands Moses to instruct Israel to be holy, keep Sabbaths, avoid idols, observe food and offering rules, leave harvest leftovers for the poor, reject lying and violence, and judge justly.
And the LORD spake unto Moses saying: speak unto all the multitude of the children of Israel, and say unto them. Be holy for I the LORD your God am holy. See that ye fear every man his father and his mother, and that ye keep my Sabbaths, for I am the LORD your God. Ye shall not turn unto idols nor make you gods of metal: I am the LORD your God. When ye offer your peaceofferings unto the LORD, ye shall offer them that…
God tells Moses to warn Israel that child sacrifice to Moloch, spiritism, curses, and various sexual crimes and bestial acts are punishable by death, and that Israel must remain distinct and holy.
And the LORD talked with Moses saying: tell the children of Israel, whosoever he be of the children of Israel or of the strangers that dwell in Israel, that giveth of his seed unto Moloch he shall die for it: the people of the land shall stone him with stones. And I will set my face upon that fellow, and will destroy him from among his people: because he hath given of his seed unto Moloch, for to defile my sanctuary …
Laws define priestly purity and restrictions on mourning, shaving, marriage, and eligibility to offer sacrifices, excluding priests with physical deformities from approaching the altar while allowing them to eat certain holy bread.
And the LORD said unto Moses: speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron and say unto them: A priest shall defile himself at the death of none of his people, but upon his kin that is nye unto him: as his mother, father, son, daughter and brother: and on his sister as long as she is a maid and dwelleth nye him and was never given to man: on her he may defile himself. But he shall not make himself unclean upon a ruler of…
Aaron and priests must avoid uncleanness when handling holy offerings, obey rules for who may eat them, and present acceptable, unblemished animals; worship practices specify timing and consumption limits.
And the LORD communed with Moses saying: bid Aaron and his sons that they abstain from the hallowed things of the children of Israel which they have hallowed unto me, that they pollute not mine holy name: for I am the LORD. Say unto them: whosoever he be of all your seed among your generation after you, that goeth unto the hallowed things which the children of Israel shall have hallowed unto the LORD, his uncleanness…
God orders perpetual lamp oil, bread of remembrance on the Sabbath, and then recounts a blasphemy case: Selamith’s son is brought before Moses and stoned, with “eye for eye” style restitution laws.
And the LORD spake unto Moses saying: command the children of Israel that they bring unto thee, pure oil olive beaten for lights to pour into the lamps always, without the vail of testimony {witness} within the tabernacle of witness. And Aaron shall dress them both evening and morning before the LORD always. And if shall be a law for ever among your children after you. And he shall dress the lamps upon the pure candl…
In Mount Sinai instructions, God establishes a land Sabbath after six years, counts seven sabbatical cycles to a fiftieth Jubilee year of liberty, and outlines land rest and agricultural non-harvest rules.
And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai saying, speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them: When ye be come in to the land which I give you, let the land rest a Sabbath unto the LORD. Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt cut thy vines and gather in thy fruits. But the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land. The LORD's Sabbath it shall be, and thou shalt neither sow…
God commands Israel not to exploit poorer brothers through usury or harsh bondage, but to treat them as hired servants until jubilee, while allowing purchases from surrounding peoples.
Thou shalt not lend him thy money upon usury, nor lend him of thy food to have advantage by it for I am the LORD your God which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. If thy brother that dwelleth by thee wax poor and sell himself unto thee, thou shalt not let him labour as a bondservant doeth: but as an hired servant and as a sojourner he shall be with thee, and shall…
God forbids idols and commands Sabbath observance and reverence for the sanctuary, promising agricultural prosperity and security if Israel follows His ordinances, but curses and defeat if they disobey.
Ye shall make you no idols, nor graven image, neither rear you up any pillar, neither ye shall set up any image of stone in your land to bow your selves thereto: for I am the LORD your God; keep my Sabbaths and fear my sanctuary. For I am the LORD. If ye shall walk in mine ordinances and keep my commandments and do them, then I will send you rain in the right season and your land shall yield her increase and the tree…
After confession, Israel’s hearts are humbled and an atonement is made; God remembers His covenants with Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham and promises not to utterly destroy them in enemy lands.
And they shall confess their misdeeds and the misdeeds of their fathers in their trespasses which they have trespassed against me, and for that also that they have walked contrary unto me. Therefore I also will walk contrary unto them, and will bring them into the land of their enemies. And then at the least way their uncircumcised hearts shall be tamed, and then they shall make an atonement for their misdeeds. And I…
God sets rules for vows and valuations of persons, animals, houses, and dedicated fields, including a requirement to add a fifth for redemption and special status for holy things and tithes.
And the LORD spake unto Moses saying: speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them: If any man will give a singular vow unto the LORD according to the value of his soul, then shall the male from twenty years unto forty be set at fifty sicles of silver, after the sicle of the sanctuary, and the female at thirty sicles. And from five years to twenty the male shall be set at twenty sicles, and the female at ten s…
Israel is commanded to remove lepers, those with bodily discharges, and those defiled by death from the camp, and laws are given for restitution, priestly property, and the ordeal of jealousy for an unfaithful wife.
And the LORD spake unto Moses saying: command the children of Israel that they put out of the host, all the lepers and all that have issues and all that are defiled upon the dead, whether they be males or females ye shall put them out of the host, that they defile not the tents among which I {ye} dwell. And the children of Israel did so, and put them out of the host: even as the LORD commanded Moses, so did the child…
In Sinai’s wilderness, Israel keeps Passover and makes a rule for those defiled by a corpse to celebrate a month later, alongside instructions about not breaking bones and travel by cloud.
And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year, after they were come out of the land of Egypt saying: let the children of Israel offer Passover in his season: even the fourteenth day of this month at even they shall keep it in his season, according to all the ordinances and manners thereof. And Moses bade the children of Israel that they should offer Passover, and they…
God tells Moses how Israelite and stranger offerings are to be made in the Promised Land, specifying flour, oil, wine, and rules that one ordinance and law apply to both.
And the LORD spake unto Moses saying: speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them: when ye be come into the land of your habitation which I give unto you, and will offer an offering upon the fire unto the LORD, whether it be a burntoffering or a special vow or freewill offering or if it be in your principal feasts to make a sweet savour unto the LORD, of the oxen or of the flock. Then, let him that offereth h…
God commands Moses to assign Israel’s tribal inheritances in Canaan by defined boundaries, and orders leaders—Eleazar, Joshua, and named tribal lords—to divide the land among the nine and a half tribes.
And the LORD spake unto Moses saying: command the children of Israel and say unto them: when ye come into the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall unto your inheritance, the land of Canaan with all her coasts. And your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, so that your south quarter shall be from the side of the salt sea eastward, and shall fetch a compass from the …
In Moab by the Jordan near Jericho, Moses receives laws for giving Levitical cities and suburbs, establishing six cities of refuge, and regulating murder, accidental killing, blood avengers, witnesses, and blood-guilt purification.
And the LORD spake unto Moses in the fields of Moab by Iordan Iericho saying: command the children of Israel, that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession: cities to dwell in. And ye shall give also unto the cities of the Levites, suburbs round about them. The cities shall be for them to dwell in, and the suburbs for their cattle, possession and all manner beasts of theirs. And the suburbs o…
Gileadite elders of Machir’s Manasse lines ask Moses to prevent inheritance from moving tribes through daughters, explaining the jubilee rule, and Moses orders that Zelaphead’s daughters marry within their father’s tribe.
And the ancient heads of the children of Gilead the son of Machir the son of Manasse of the kindred of the children of Ioseph, came forth and spake before Moses and the princes which were ancient heads among the children of Israel and said: The LORD commanded my lord to give the land to inherit by lot to the children of Israel. And then my lord commanded in the name of the LORD to give the inheritance of Zelaphead ou…