Introduction

The following passages from the Old Testament are intended to exemplify a couple of points made by Christopher Dawson and William Irwin. One point is that the Old Testament includes different kinds of myths or stories. In this it reflects the cultures of other ancient, pre-philosophic civilizations. Myths are attempts to understand or come to terms with one’s experiences on the assumption that the world in which we live is not an inanimate It, but a living Thou with a will of its own. Thus, the accounts of events were stories about the interaction of us with the living world in which we are living.

This is not to say that the living world or “Thou” that we are describing here was understood to be divine, much less God or a god. The spirit(s) animating trees, mountain peaks, rivers, and animals, or forces of anger, shame, or joy were just that—spirits that were every bit as much part of the world as we are. If we call the world “Nature,” then we and the spirits were natural, not supernatural. The distinction between some aspects of the world as sacred and some as profane also took place in ancient times. This distinction is comparable to the later distinction between the supernatural and the natural. It is difficult, if not impossible, to generalize about the order in which different steps in this mythopoeic, or “myth-making,” process of understanding the living world took place, if indeed it did take place in an orderly procession, which is doubtful.

The understanding that trees and streams and rocks are living spirits is called animism. The understanding that the world is divine or, in fact, God is called pantheism. The idea that there are many gods is polytheism; the idea that there is but one god is monotheism.

Regarding the stories themselves, ancient cultures all had myths explaining the origin of the world. These “creation” or cosmogonic myths are represented in the Mesopotamian epic Enuma Elish, the Egyptian myth of Osiris, or the Greek stories of the origins of the gods (“theogony”) by Hesiod. “Hero myths” describe men’s interactions with the gods, typically looking back to a time when men were bigger, stronger, and just generally superior to people today or to the audience hearing the myth and when the gods or God walked the earth.

Finally, Russell Kirk explains the difference between sacred history and secular history: the Hebrew history as distinguished from the history of the Hebrews, for example. Sacred history records a people’s understanding of its relationship with its gods; secular history, a newer invention, records events for other purposes.

Keep these concepts in mind as you read the passages below. (The readings are presented in the order in which they appear in the Old Testament. Large numbers are chapters; small superscript numbers are verses. Abbreviation of translation in parentheses.) Which of the passages are myths? Which are creation myths? Hero myths? What conceptions of God (Jehovah or Yahweh) are reflected in the stories? Which passages are historical? Sacred or secular?

How is Yahweh portrayed in the scriptures over time? What is man’s relation to God in the first readings from the Old Testament? How do the portrayals of Jehovah/Yahweh change over time?

What are the earliest conceptions of justice? Of Jehovah/Yahweh’s moral commands?

You may generally assume that the early books of the Bible reflect older myths. Remember, however, that the Old Testament was written, or begun to be written, only in the sixth or fifth centuries B.C. The events recorded took place years, even hundreds of years, before they were written down. Like the myths compiled in the Greek epic poems, the Old Testament is a collection of many different stories handed down from generation to generation of Hebrews in recited poems and oral form. This handing down is called “tradition.” The written version of the Old Testament, as we know it, included some but not all of these stories and sometimes included different versions of the same stories.

(For more information on the material above see Frankfort et al, Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977); Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1987); Christopher Dawson, The Formation of Christendom (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1965, 2008) and Religion and the Rise of Western Culture (New York: Doubleday Image, 1950); and Russell Kirk, The Roots of American Order (Malibu: Pepperdine University Press, 1977).

Genesis 1 (American Standard Version—CCEL)

[Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy are the first five books of the Old Testament, called the Pentateuch.]

¹In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ²And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters ³And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. ⁴And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. ⁵And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

⁶And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. ⁷And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. ⁸And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

⁹And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. ¹⁰And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. ¹¹And God said, Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit-trees bearing fruit after their kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth: and it was so. ¹²And the earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after their kind: and God saw that it was good. ¹³And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

¹⁴And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years: ¹⁵and let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. ¹⁶And God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. ¹⁷And God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth, ¹⁸and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

²⁰And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. ²¹And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that moveth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind: and God saw that it was good. ²²And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. ²³And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

²⁴And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind: and it was so. ²⁵And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the ground after its kind: and God saw that it was good. ²⁶And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. ²⁷And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. ²⁸And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. ²⁹And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food: ³⁰and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for food: and it was so. ³¹And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Genesis 2

¹And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. ²And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. ³And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.

⁴These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven. ⁵And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the earth: and there was not a man to till the ground; ⁶but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. ⁷And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. ⁸And Jehovah God planted a garden eastward, in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. ⁹And out of the ground made Jehovah God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. ¹⁰And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became four heads. ¹¹The name of the first is Pishon: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; ¹²and the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. ¹³And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth in front of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. ¹⁵And Jehovah God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. ¹⁶And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: ¹⁷but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

¹⁸And Jehovah God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him. ¹⁹And out of the ground Jehovah God formed every beast of the field, and every bird of the heavens; and brought them unto the man to see what he would call them: and whatsoever the man called every living creature, that was the name thereof. ²⁰And the man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the heavens, and to every beast of the field; but for man there was not found a help meet for him. ²¹And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof: ²²and the rib, which Jehovah God had taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. ²³And the man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. ²⁴Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. ²⁵And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Genesis 6

¹And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born unto them, ²that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all that they chose. ³And Jehovah said, My spirit shall not strive with man forever, for that he also is flesh: yet shall his days be a hundred and twenty years. ⁴The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them: the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.

⁵And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶And it repented Jehovah that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. ⁷And Jehovah said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground; both man, and beast, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; for it repenteth me that I have made them. ⁸But Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah.

Genesis 18 (ESV)

¹And the Lord appeared to [Abraham] by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. ²He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth ³and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. ⁴Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, ⁵while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” ⁶And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” ⁷And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. ⁸Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

⁹They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” ¹⁰The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. ¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. ¹²So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” ¹³The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ ¹⁴Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁵But Sarah denied it,⁵ saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

¹⁶Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. ¹⁷The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, ¹⁸seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? ¹⁹For I have chosen⁶ him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” ²⁰Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, ²¹I will go down to see whether they have done altogether⁷ according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”

²²So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. ²³Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” ²⁶And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

²⁷Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. ²⁸Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” ²⁹Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” ³⁰Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” ³¹He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” ³²Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” ³³And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Genesis 32

¹And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ²And Jacob said when he saw them, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim, which means a Camp.

³And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the field of Edom. ⁴And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye say unto my lord Esau: Thus saith thy servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now: ⁵and I have oxen, and asses, and flocks, and men-servants, and maid-servants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in thy sight. ⁶And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and moreover he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. ⁷Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed: and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies; ⁸and he said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the company which is left shall escape. ⁹And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, who saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good: ¹⁰I am not worthy of the least of all the loving-kindnesses, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two companies. ¹¹Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, the mother with the children. ¹²And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

¹³And he lodged there that night, and took of that which he had with him a present for Esau his brother: ¹⁴two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten foals. ¹⁶And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove. ¹⁷And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee? ¹⁸then thou shalt say They are thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, he also is behind us. ¹⁹And he commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him; ²⁰and ye shall say, Moreover, behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept me. ²¹So the present passed over before him: and he himself lodged that night in the company.

²²And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven children, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok. ²³And he took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had. ²⁴And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁵And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him. ²⁶And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. ²⁷And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. ²⁸And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed.^{a 29}And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. ³⁰And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, said he, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. ³¹And the sun rose upon him as he passed over Penuel, and he limped upon his thigh. ³²Therefore the children of Israel eat not the sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the hip.

^aThe name Israel may be derived from either of two verbs, one meaning ‘to persevere,’ and the other ‘to rule as a prince.’

Exodus 3

¹Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, unto Horeb. ²And the angel of Jehovah appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. ³And Moses said, I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. ⁴And when Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. ⁵And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. ⁶Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. ⁷And Jehovah said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people that are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; ⁸and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ⁹And now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: moreover I have seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. ¹¹And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? ¹²And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be the token unto thee, that I have sent thee: when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

¹³And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? ¹⁴And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. ¹⁵And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. ¹⁶Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, hath appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: ¹⁷and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁸And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, hath met with us: and now let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God. ¹⁹And I know that the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go, no, not by a mighty hand. ²⁰And I will put forth my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. ²¹And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty. ²²But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall despoil the Egyptians.

Exodus 14

¹And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, ²Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn back and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-zephon: over against it shall ye encamp by the sea. ³And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. ⁴And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he shall follow after them; and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host: and the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah. And they did so. ⁵And it was told the king of Egypt that the people were fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was changed towards the people, and they said, What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us? ⁶And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him: ⁷and he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over all of them. ⁸And Jehovah hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: for the children of Israel went out with a high hand. ⁹And the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baal-zephon.

¹⁰And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians were marching after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto Jehovah. ¹¹And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to bring us forth out of Egypt? ¹²Is not this the word that we spake unto thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it were better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness. ¹³And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah, which he will work for you to-day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. ¹⁴Jehovah will fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

¹⁵And Jehovah said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. ¹⁶And lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go into the midst of the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall go in after them: and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. ¹⁸And the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have gotten me honor upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. ¹⁹And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud removed from before them, and stood behind them: ²⁰and it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud and the darkness, yet gave it light by night: and the one came not near the other all the night.

²¹And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and Jehovah caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. ²²And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. ²³And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. ²⁴And it came to pass in the morning watch, that Jehovah looked forth upon the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and discomfited the host of the Egyptians. ²⁵And he took off their chariot wheels, and they drove them heavily; so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for Jehovah fighteth for them against the Egyptians.

²⁶And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. ²⁷And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and Jehovah overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. ²⁸And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, even all the host of Pharaoh that went in after them into the sea; there remained not so much as one of them. ²⁹But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. ³⁰Thus Jehovah saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore. ³¹And Israel saw the great work which Jehovah did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared Jehovah: and they believed in Jehovah, and in his servant Moses.

Exodus 17

¹And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, by their journeys, according to the commandment of Jehovah, and encamped in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. ²Wherefore the people stove with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why strive ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt Jehovah? ³And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore hast thou brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? ⁴And Moses cried unto Jehovah, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They are almost ready to stone me. ⁵And Jehovah said unto Moses, Pass on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and they rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thy hand, and go. ⁶Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the striving of the children of Israel, and because they tempted Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah among us, or not?

⁸Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. ⁹And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to-morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. ¹⁰So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. ¹²But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. ¹³And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. ¹⁴And Jehovah said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. ¹⁵And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi; ¹⁶And he said, Jehovah hath sworn: Jehovah will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

Exodus 21

¹These are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. ² If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve thee; in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. ³ With what raiment he came in, with the like let him go out: if having a wife, his wife also shall go out with him. ⁴ But if his master gave him a wife, and she hath borne sons and daughters; the woman and her children shall be her master's: but he himself shall go out with his raiment. ⁵ And if the servant shall say: I love my master and my wife and children, I will not go out free: ⁶ His master shall bring him to the gods, and he shall be set to the door and the posts, and he shall bore his ear through with an awl: and he shall be his servant forever. To the gods... Elohim. That is, to the judges, or magistrates, authorized by God. ⁷ If any man sell his daughter to be a servant, she shall not go out as bondwomen are wont to go out. ⁸ If she displease the eyes of her master to whom she was delivered, he shall let her go: but he shall have no power to sell her to a foreign nation, if he despise her. ⁹ But if he have betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. ¹⁰ And if he take another wife for him, he shall provide her a marriage, and raiment, neither shall he refuse the price of her chastity. ¹¹ If he do not these three things, she shall go out free without money.

¹² He that striketh a man with a will to kill him, shall be put to death. ¹³ But he that did not lie in wait for him, but God delivered him into his hands: I will appoint thee a place to which he must flee. ¹⁴ If a man kill his neighbour on set purpose, and by lying in wait for him: thou shalt take him away from my altar that he may die. ¹⁵ He that striketh his father or mother, shall be put to death. ¹⁶ He that shall steal a man, and sell him, being convicted of the guilt, shall be put to death. ¹⁷ He that curseth his father or mother, shall die the death.

¹⁸ If men quarrel, and the one strike his neighbour with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed: ¹⁹ If he rise again and walk abroad upon his staff, he that struck him shall be quit, yet so that he make restitution for his work, and for his expenses upon the physicians. ²⁰ He that striketh his bondman, or bondwoman, with a rod, and they die under his hands, shall be guilty of the crime. ²¹ But if the party remain alive a day or two, he shall not be subject to the punishment, because it is his money. ²² If men quarrel, and one strike a woman with child and she miscarry indeed, but live herself: he shall be answerable for so much damage as the woman's husband shall require, and as arbiters shall award. ²³ But if her death ensue thereupon, he shall render life for life, ²⁴ Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵ Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. ²⁶ If any man strike the eye of his manservant or maidservant, and leave them but one eye, he shall let them go free for the eye which he put out. ²⁷ Also if he strike out a tooth of his manservant or maidservant, he shall in like manner make them free.

[The eye-for-an-eye rule of retribution is called the lex talionis. See the following two passages.]

Leviticus 24 (Knox)

¹³ And this was the word the Lord gave Moses: ¹⁴ Take the blasphemer beyond the confines of the camp; let all those who were listening lay their hands on his head, and let the whole people put him to death by stoning. ¹⁵ Tell the Israelites this: The man who curses his God will be held to account for it; ¹⁶ he blasphemed the Lord’s name, and he must die. Be he citizen or stranger, he must be stoned by the whole people; death for the blasphemer. ¹⁷ Death, too, for anyone who smites a man and kills him. ¹⁸ If he injures a beast, he can make it good; one beast will do as well as another; ¹⁹ but if he causes injury to one of his fellow-countrymen, he must pay for it in the same coin, ²⁰ making amends for broken limb with broken limb, for eye with eye, for tooth with tooth; the loss he inflicted, he must undergo. ²¹ Restitution for harm done to a beast; for harm done to a man, punishment. ²² Your award must be the same, whether it was citizen or stranger that did the wrong; it is a just God you worship.

Deuteronomy 19 (Knox)

¹⁵ Whatever be the offence or crime a man is charged with, it shall not suffice for one witness to appear against him; every question must be settled by the voice of two witnesses or more. ¹⁶ It may be that a false witness will appear, accusing a man of this or that misdeed. ¹⁷ When such a claim is made, the two parties will be brought forward in the Lord’s presence, before the priests and judges then in office; ¹⁸ and if these, after careful examination, find that the witness gave false evidence against his fellow-Israelite, ¹⁹ they must inflict on him the same punishment he would have brought on this brother of his. Thou must rid thyself of the plague, ²⁰ so that others may be warned by hearing of it, and none dare to do the like again. ²¹ No pity must be shewn him; life must answer for the life he would have sworn away, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Leviticus 19 (Knox translation)

¹¹ Do not steal, and lie, and deceive one another. ¹² Do not violate the honour of thy God by swearing falsely in my name; the Lord’s name. ¹³ Do not wrong thy neighbour or despoil him by violence; do not withhold the wages of thy hired servants till morning comes. ¹⁴ Do not miscall the deaf, or put a stumbling-block in the blind man’s way; thou hast the vengeance of thy God to fear; the Lord’s vengeance. ¹⁵ Do not pervert justice by giving false awards, whether by taking a man’s poverty into account,^a or by flattering the great; give every man his just due. ¹⁶ Do not whisper calumnies in the public ear, and swear away thy neighbour’s life; the Lord hears thee. ¹⁷ Do not nurse resentment against thy brother; put thyself in the right by confronting him with his fault. ¹⁸ Do not seek revenge, or bear a grudge for wrong done to thee by thy fellow-citizens; thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; thy Lord is his.^b

^a Literally, according to the Hebrew text, ‘shewing partiality towards the poor’; cf. Ex. 23.3.

^b ‘Thy neighbour’; literally, according to the Latin, ‘thy friend’, but cf. verse 13 above, where the Latin renders the same Hebrew word by ‘neighbour’, and Lk. 10.27.

Deuteronomy 4

4 ¹And now, O Israel, hearken unto the statutes and unto the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which Jehovah, the God of your fathers, giveth you. ²Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of Jehovah your God which I command you. ³Your eyes have seen what Jehovah did because of Baal-peor; for all the men that followed Baal-peor, Jehovah thy God hath destroyed them from the midst of thee. ⁴But ye that did cleave unto Jehovah your God are alive every one of you this day. ⁵Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as Jehovah my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the midst of the land whither ye go in to possess it. ⁶Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, that shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. ⁷For what great nation is there, that hath a god so nigh unto them, as Jehovah our God is whensoever we call upon him? ⁸And what great nation is there, that hath statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

⁹Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes saw, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but make them known unto thy children and thy children's children; ¹⁰the day that thou stoodest before Jehovah thy God in Horeb, when Jehovah said unto me, Assemble me the people, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. ¹¹And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. ¹²And Jehovah spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of words, but ye saw no form; only ye heard a voice. ¹³And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. ¹⁴And Jehovah commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

¹⁵Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of form on the day that Jehovah spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire. ¹⁶Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, ¹⁷the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flieth in the heavens, ¹⁸the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth; ¹⁹and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Jehovah thy God hath allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven. ²⁰But Jehovah hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as at this day. ²¹Furthermore Jehovah was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance: ²²but I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan; but ye shall go over, and possess that good land. ²³Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of Jehovah your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image in the form of anything which Jehovah thy God hath forbidden thee. ²⁴For Jehovah thy God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.

²⁵When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have been long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image in the form of anything, and shall do that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah thy God, to provoke him to anger; ²⁶I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over the Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. ²⁷And Jehovah will scatter you among the peoples, and ye shall be left few in number among the nations, whither Jehovah shall lead you away. ²⁸And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. ²⁹But from thence ye shall seek Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt find him, when thou searchest after him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. ³⁰When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, in the latter days thou shalt return to Jehovah thy God, and hearken unto his voice: ³¹for Jehovah thy God is a merciful God; he will not fail thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

³²For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from the one end of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? ³³Did ever a people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? ³⁴Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Jehovah your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? ³⁵Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that Jehovah he is God; there is none else besides him. ³⁶Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he made thee to see his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire. ³⁷And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt; ³⁸to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as at this day. ³⁹Know therefore this day, and lay it to thy heart, that Jehovah he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath; there is none else. ⁴⁰And thou shalt keep his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days in the land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, forever.

⁴¹Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising; ⁴²that the manslayer might flee thither, that slayeth his neighbor unawares, and hated him not in time past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live: ⁴³namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.

⁴⁴And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel: ⁴⁵these are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt, ⁴⁶beyond the Jordan, in the valley over against Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, when they came forth out of Egypt. ⁴⁷And they took his land in possession, and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising; ⁴⁸from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, even unto mount Sion (the same is Hermon), ⁴⁹and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.

Deuteronomy 6

6 ¹Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it; ²that thou mightest fear Jehovah thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. ³Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as Jehovah, the God of thy fathers, hath promised unto thee, in a land flowing with milk and honey. ⁴Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah: ⁵and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. ⁶And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart; ⁷and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. ⁸And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. ⁹And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates.

¹⁰And it shall be, when Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee, great and goodly cities, which thou buildest not, ¹¹and houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and cisterns hewn out, which thou hewedst not, vineyards and olive-trees, which thou plantedst not, and thou shalt eat and be full; ¹²then beware lest thou forget Jehovah, who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ¹³Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God; and him shalt thou serve, and shalt swear by his name. ¹⁴Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples that are round about you; ¹⁵for Jehovah thy God in the midst of thee is a jealous God; lest the anger of Jehovah thy God be kindled against thee, and he destroy thee from off the face of the earth.

¹⁶Ye shall not tempt Jehovah your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. ¹⁷Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of Jehovah your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee. ¹⁸And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of Jehovah; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which Jehovah sware unto thy fathers, ¹⁹to thrust out all thine enemies from before thee, as Jehovah hath spoken.

²⁰When thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah our God hath commanded you? ²¹then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt: and Jehovah brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; ²²and Jehovah showed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his house, before our eyes; ²³and he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. ²⁴And Jehovah commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Jehovah our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day. ²⁵And it shall be righteousness unto us, if we observe to do all this commandment before Jehovah our God, as he hath commanded us.

2 Samuel 7 (ESV)

¹Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, ²the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” ³And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.”

⁴But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, ⁵“Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? ⁶I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. ⁷In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges¹ of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’ ⁸Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. ⁹And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. ¹⁰And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, ¹¹from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. ¹²When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, ¹⁵but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. ¹⁶And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me.² Your throne shall be established forever.’” ¹⁷In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

I Kings 19 (KJV)

And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. ²Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time. ³And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.

⁴But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. ⁵And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. ⁶And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. ⁷And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. ⁸And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

⁹And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? ¹⁰And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. ¹¹And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: ¹²And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. ¹³And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? ¹⁴And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. ¹⁵And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: ¹⁶And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. ¹⁷And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. ¹⁸Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.