Old Testament Books

"Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and carry it into the tent of meeting."

"There are, however, some flying insects that walk on all fours that you may eat: those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground."

"And he shall kill the bullock before the : and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation."

"Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm."

"You are to skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces."

"Hear, O Israel: The our God is one : And thou shalt love the thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."

"I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day."

"Speak to the Israelites and say to them: "When you bring an offering to the , bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock.""

"The sons of Aaron the priest are to put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire."

"Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; (For the thy God is a jealous God among you)."

"I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live."

"You are to lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on your behalf to make atonement for you."

"He is to dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times before the , in front of the curtain of the sanctuary."

"Then Aaron's sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, including the head and the fat, on the wood that is burning on the altar."

"Of all the animals that walk on all fours, those that walk on their paws are unclean for you; whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean till evening."

"So Moses the servant of the died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the . And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day."

"Deuteronomy prohibits cult prostitution because the Hebrews were adopting the practice from their neighbors."

"Josiah “broke down the houses of the qdeshim, that were in the house of Yahweh, where the women were weaving coverings for the Asherah.” It was during his reign that a book of the Law, thought by most scholars to have been Deuteronomy, was conveniently discovered in the Temple. Although some of the manuscript may have been written earlier, many scholars think it was forged during Josiah’s reign in order to legitimate his reforms. It is in Deuteronomy that the prohibition of cult prostitution appears."

"The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms."

"He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye."

"For they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith."

"Among the earliest proponents of the northern-origin theory were A. C. Welch and Albrecht Alt. The latter saw in Deuteronomy a restoration programme drawn up in the northern kingdom some time after the catastrophe of 721 BC, i.e., the destruction of the kingdom by the Assyrians. However, Alt had shed no light on how the book arrived at the Jerusalem temple in Josiah's reign. This is the question that Nicholson wishes to answer in a very interesting monograph. Nicholson's view is that the ancient core of the Deuteronomic traditions was preserved at the major shrine in the North in the period of the judges. 'Behold there is the feast of Yahweh from year to year in Shiloh' (Judges 21.19) may be a reference to an annual covenant festival. Shechem, Gilgal and Bethel were perhaps other such centers of covenant traditions."

"I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them."

"The priest shall then take some of the log of oil, pour it in the palm of his own left hand, dip his right forefinger into the oil in his palm, and with his finger sprinkle some of it before the seven times."

"In Deuteronomy 20 and 21, God gives the Israelites a blanket policy for dealing with cities that don’t accept them as overlords: smite the males with the edge of the sword and abduct the cattle, women, and children. Of course, a man with a beautiful new captive faces a problem: since he has just murdered her parents and brothers, she may not be in the mood for love. God anticipates this nuisance and offers the following solution: the captor should shave her head, pare her nails, and imprison her in his house for a month while she cries her eyes out. Then he may go in and rape her. With a designated list of other enemies (Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites), the genocide has to be total: “Thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: But thou shalt utterly destroy them ... as the Lord thy God has commanded thee.” Joshua puts this directive into practice when he invades Canaan and sacks the city of Jericho. After the walls came tumbling down, his soldiers “utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.” More earth is scorched as Joshua “smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded.”"

"The your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude."

"And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the for his sin which he hath sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin. And if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring for his trespass, which he hath committed, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, unto the ; one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering. And he shall bring them unto the priest, who shall offer that which is for the sin offering first, and wring off his head from his neck, but shall not divide it asunder: And he shall sprinkle of the blood of the sin offering upon the side of the altar; and the rest of the blood shall be wrung out at the bottom of the altar: it is a sin offering."

"Returning to the Levitical list of sexual taboos, curiously missing from the list is any mention of masturbation."

"If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you."

"A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the ; it is holy to the ."

"Anal intercourse between men (Isur Mishkav Zachar) is what is forbidden in the Torah, and not the homosexual orientation."

"He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food."

"Keep all my decrees and laws and follow them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out."

"You may, however, present as a freewill offering an ox[a] or a sheep that is deformed or stunted, but it will not be accepted in fulfillment of a vow."

"Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly."

"If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is an act of impurity; he has dishonored his brother. They will be childless."

"The Israelites assemble at Mount Sinai and hear the Ten Commandments, the great moral code that outlaws engraved images and the coveting of livestock but gives a pass to slavery, rape, torture, mutilation, and genocide of neighboring tribes. The Israelites become impatient while waiting for Moses to return with an expanded set of laws, which will prescribe the [death penalty for blasphemy, homosexuality, adultery, talking back to parents, and working on the Sabbath. To pass the time, they worship a statue of a calf, for which the punishment turns out to be, you guessed it, death. Following orders from God, Moses and his brother Aaron kill three thousand of their companions. God then spends seven chapters of Leviticus instructing the Israelites on how to slaughter the steady stream of animals he demands of them. Aaron and his two sons prepare the tabernacle for the first service, but the sons slip up and use the wrong incense. So God burns them to death."

"The man, however, must bring a ram to the entrance to the tent of meeting for a guilt offering to the ."

"If a man sleeps with a female slave who is promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. Yet they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed."

"Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves."

"Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself."

"The life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life."

"Keep my decrees. Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material."

"The stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."

"No one is to be in the tent of meeting from the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he comes out, having made atonement for himself, his household and the whole community of Israel."

"But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the , to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness."

"He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites – all their sins – and put them on the goat's head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task."

"When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening. Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. Anyone who touches her bed will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. Anyone who touches anything she sits on will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, they will be unclean till evening. If a man has sexual relations with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean. When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period. Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period. Anyone who touches them will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. When she is cleansed from her discharge, she must count off seven days, and after that she will be ceremonially clean. On the eighth day she must take two doves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting. The priest is to sacrifice one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement for her before the for the uncleanness of her discharge."

"And the spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the , and died; and the said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat."

"And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the . It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever. And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest’s office in his father’s stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments: And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation. And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year."