The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 5: Deuteronomy

U >> Unknown >> The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 5: Deuteronomy

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Eunuch... By these are meant, in the spiritual sense, such as are barren
in good works. Ibid. Into the church... That is, into the assembly or
congregation of Israel, so as to have the privilege of an Israelite, or
to be capable of any place or office among the people of God.

23:2. A mamzer, that is to say, one born of a prostitute, shall not
enter into the church of the Lord, until the tenth generation.

23:3. The Ammonite and the Moabite, even after the tenth generation
shall not enter into the church of the Lord for ever:

23:4. Because they would not meet you with bread and water in the way,
when you came out of Egypt: and because they hired against thee Balaam,
the son of Beor, from Mesopotamia in Syria, to curse thee.

23:5. And the Lord thy God would not hear Balaam, and he turned his
cursing into thy blessing, because he loved thee.

23:6. Thou shalt not make peace with them, neither shalt thou seek their
prosperity all the days of thy life for ever.

23:7. Thou shalt not abhor the Edomite, because he is thy brother: nor
the Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land.

23:8. They that are born of them, in the third generation shall enter
into the church of the Lord.

23:9. When thou goest out to war against thy enemies, thou shalt keep
thyself from every evil thing.

23:10. If there be among you any man, that is defiled in a dream by
night, he shall go forth out of the camp,

23:11. And shall not return, before he be washed with water in the
evening: and after sunset he shall return into the camp.

23:12. Thou shalt have a place without the camp, to which thou mayst go
for the necessities of nature,

23:13. Carrying a paddle at thy girdle. And when thou sittest down, thou
shalt dig round about, and with the earth that is dug up thou shalt
cover

23:14. That which thou art eased of: (for the Lord thy God walketh in
the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thy enemies to
thee:) and let thy camp be holy, and let no uncleanness appear therein,
lest he go away from thee.

No uncleanness... This caution against suffering any filth in the camp,
was to teach them to fly the filth of sin, which driveth God away from
the soul.

23:15. Thou shalt not deliver to his master the servant that is fled to
thee.

23:16. He shall dwell with thee in the place that shall please him, and
shall rest in one of thy cities: give him no trouble.

23:17. There shall be no whore among the daughters of Israel, nor
whoremonger among the sons of Israel.

23:18. Thou shalt not offer the hire of a strumpet, nor the price of a
dog, in the house of the Lord thy God, whatsoever it be that thou hast
vowed: because both these are an abomination to the Lord thy God.

23:19. Thou shalt not lend to thy brother money to usury, nor corn, nor
any other thing:

23:20. But to the stranger. To thy brother thou shalt lend that which he
wanteth, without usury: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all thy
works in the land, which thou shalt go in to possess.

To the stranger... This was a dispensation granted by God to his people,
who being the Lord of all things, can give a right and title to one upon
the goods of another. Otherwise the scripture everywhere condemns usury,
as contrary to the law of God, and a crying sin. See Ex. 22.25; Lev.
25.36, 37; 2 Esd. 5.7; Ps. 14.5; Ezech. 18.8, 13, etc.

23:21. When thou hast made a vow to the Lord thy God, thou shalt not
delay to pay it: because the Lord thy God will require it. And if thou
delay, it shall be imputed to thee for a sin.

23:22. If thou wilt not promise, that shalt be without sin.

23:23. But that which is once gone out of thy lips, thou shalt observe,
and shalt do as thou hast promised to the Lord thy God, and hast spoken
with thy own will and with thy own mouth.

23:24. Going into thy neighbour's vineyard, thou mayst eat as many
grapes as thou pleasest: but must carry none out with thee:

23:25. If thou go into thy friend's corn, thou mayst break the ears, and
rub them in thy hand: but not reap them with a sickle.

Deuteronomy Chapter 24

Divorce permitted to avoid greater evil: the newly married must not go
to war: of men stealers, of leprosy, of pledges, of labourers' hire, of
justice, and of charity to the poor.

24:1. If a man take a wife, and have her, and she find not favour in his
eyes, for some uncleanness: he shall write a bill of divorce, and shall
give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.

24:2. And when she is departed, and marrieth another husband,

24:3. And he also hateth her, and hath given her a bill of divorce, and
hath sent her out of his house or is dead:

24:4. The former husband cannot take her again to wife: because she is
defiled, and is become abominable before the Lord: lest thou cause thy
land to sin, which the Lord thy God shall give thee to possess.

24:5. When a man hath lately taken a wife, he shall not go out to war,
neither shall any public business be enjoined him, but he shall be free
at home without fault, that for one year he may rejoice with his wife.

24:6. Thou shalt not take the nether, nor the upper millstone to pledge:
for he hath pledged his life to thee.

24:7. If any man be found soliciting his brother of the children of
Israel, and selling him shall take a price, he shall be put to death,
and thou shalt take away the evil from the midst of thee.

24:8. Observe diligently that thou incur not the stroke of the leprosy,
but thou shalt do whatsoever the priests of the Levitical race shall
teach thee, according to what I have commanded them, and fulfil thou it
carefully.

24:9. Remember what the Lord your God did to Mary, in the way when you
came out of Egypt.

24:10. When thou shalt demand of thy neighbour any thing that he oweth
thee, thou shalt not go into his house to take away a pledge:

24:11. But thou shalt stand without, and he shall bring out to thee what
he hath.

24:12. But if he be poor, the pledge shall not lodge with thee that
night,

24:13. But thou shalt restore it to him presently before the going down
of the sun: that he may sleep in his own raiment and bless thee, and
thou mayst have justice before the Lord thy God.

24:14. Thou shalt not refuse the hire of the needy, and the poor,
whether he be thy brother, or a stranger that dwelleth with thee in the
land, and is within thy gates:

24:15. But thou shalt pay him the price of his labour the same day,
before the going down of the sun, because he is poor, and with it
maintaineth his life: lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it be
reputed to thee for a sin.

24:16. The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the
children for the fathers, but every one shall die for his own sin,

24:17. Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger nor of the
fatherless, neither shalt thou take away the widow's raiment for a
pledge.

24:18. Remember that thou wast a slave in Egypt, and the Lord thy God
delivered thee from thence. Therefore I command thee to do this thing.

24:19. When thou hast reaped the corn in thy field, and hast forgot and
left a sheaf, thou shalt not return to take it away: but thou shalt
suffer the stranger, and the fatherless and the widow to take it away:
that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works of thy hands.

24:20. If thou have gathered the fruit of thy olive trees, thou shalt
not return to gather whatsoever remaineth on the trees: but shalt leave
it for the stranger, for the fatherless, and the widow.

24:21. If thou make the vintage of thy vineyard, thou shalt not gather
the clusters that remain, but they shall be for the stranger, the
fatherless, and the widow.

24:22. Remember that thou also wast a bondman in Egypt, and therefore I
command thee to do this thing.

Deuteronomy Chapter 25

Stripes must not exceed forty. The ox is not to be muzzled. Of raising
seed to the brother. Of the immodest woman. Of unjust weight. Of
destroying the Amalecites.

25:1. If there be a controversy between men, and they call upon the
judges: they shall give the prize of justice to him whom they perceive
to be just: and him whom they find to be wicked, they shall condemn of
wickedness.

25:2. And if they see that the offender be worthy of stripes: they shall
lay him down, and shall cause him to be beaten before them. According
to the measure of the sin shall the measure also of the stripes be:

25:3. Yet so, that they exceed not the number of forty: lest thy brother
depart shamefully torn before thy eyes.

25:4. Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out thy corn on the
floor.

Not muzzle, etc... St. Paul understands this of the spiritual labourer
in the church of God, who is not to be denied his maintenance. 1 Cor.
9.8, 9, 10.

25:5. When brethren dwell together, and one of them dieth without
children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry to another: but his
brother shall take her, and raise up seed for his brother:

25:6. And the first son he shall have of her he shall call by his name,
that his name be not abolished out of Israel.

25:7. But if he will not take his brother's wife, who by law belongeth
to him, the woman shall go to the gate of the city, and call upon the
ancients, and say: My husband's brother refuseth to raise up his
brother's name in Israel: and will not take me to wife.

25:8. And they shall cause him to be sent for forthwith, and shall ask
him. If he answer: I will not take her to wife:

25:9. The woman shall come to him before the ancients, and shall take
off his shoe from his foot, and spit in his face, and say: So shall it
be done to the man that will not build up his brother's house:

25:10. And his name shall be called in Israel, the house of the unshod.

25:11. If two men have words together, and one begin to fight against
the other, and the other's wife willing to deliver her husband out of
the hand of the stronger, shall put forth her hand, and take him by the
secrets,

25:12. Thou shalt cut off her hand, neither shalt thou be moved with any
pity in her regard.

25:13. Thou shalt not have divers weights in thy bag, a greater and a
less:

25:14. Neither shall there be in thy house a greater bushel and a less.

25:15. Thou shalt have a just and a true weight, and thy bushel shall be
equal and true: that thou mayest live a long time upon the land which
the Lord thy God shall give thee.

25:16. For the Lord thy God abhorreth him that doth these things, and he
hateth all injustice.

25:17. Remember what Amalec did to thee in the way when thou camest out
of Egypt:

Amalec... This order for destroying the Amalecites, in the mystical
sense, sheweth how hateful they are to God, and what punishments they
are to look for from his justice, who attack and discourage his servants
when they are but just come out, as it were, of the Egypt of this wicked
world and being yet weak and fainthearted, are but beginning their
journey to the land of promise.

25:18. How he met thee: and slew the hindmost of the army, who sat down,
being weary, when thou wast spent with hunger and labour, and he feared
not God.

25:19. Therefore when the Lord thy God shall give thee rest, and shall
have subdued all the nations round about in the land which he hath
promised thee: thou shalt blot out his name from under heaven. See thou
forget it not.

Deuteronomy Chapter 26

The form of words with which the firstfruits and tithes are to be
offered. God's covenant.

26:1. And when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God will
give thee to possess, and hast conquered it, and dwellest in it:

26:2. Thou shalt take the first of all thy fruits, and put them in a
basket, and shalt go to the place which the Lord thy God shall choose,
that his name may be invocated there:

26:3. And thou shalt go to the priest that shall be in those days, and
say to him: I profess this day before the Lord thy God, that I am come
into the land, for which he swore to our fathers, that he would give it
us.

26:4. And the priest taking the basket at thy hand, shall set it before
the altar of the Lord thy God:

26:5. And thou shalt speak thus in the sight of the Lord thy God: The
Syrian pursued my father, who went down into Egypt, and sojourned there
in a very small number, and grew into a nation great and strong and of
an infinite multitude.

The Syrian... Laban. See Gen. 27.

26:6. And the Egyptians afflicted us, and persecuted us, laying on us
most grievous burdens:

26:7. And we cried to the Lord God of our fathers: who heard us, and
looked down upon our affliction, and labour, and distress:

26:8. And brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand, and a stretched
out arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders:

26:9. And brought us into this place, and gave us this land flowing with
milk and honey.

26:10. And therefore now I offer the firstfruits of the land which the
Lord hath given me. And thou shalt leave them in the sight of the Lord
thy God, adoring the Lord thy God.

26:11. And thou shalt feast in all the good things which the Lord thy
God hath given thee, and thy house, thou and the Levite, and the
stranger that is with thee.

26:12. When thou hast made an end of tithing all thy fruits, in the
third year of tithes thou shalt give it to the Levite, and to the
stanger, and to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat
within thy gates, and be filled:

26:13. And thou shalt speak thus in the sight of the Lord thy God: I
have taken that which was sanctified out of my house, and I have given
it to the Levite, and to the stranger, and to the fatherless, and to the
widow, as thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy
commandments nor forgotten thy precepts.

26:14. I have not eaten of them in my mourning, nor separated them for
any uncleanness, nor spent any thing of them in funerals. I have obeyed
the voice of the Lord my God, and have done all things as thou hast
commanded me.

26:15. Look from thy sanctuary, and thy high habitation of heaven, and
bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou
didst swear to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.

26:16. This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these
commandments and judgments: and to keep and fulfil them with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul.

26:17. Thou hast chosen the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in
his ways and keep his ceremonies, and precepts, and judgments, and obey
his command.

26:18. And the Lord hath chosen thee this day, to be his peculiar
people, as he hath spoken to thee, and to keep all his commandments:

26:19. And to make thee higher than all nations which he hath created,
to his own praise, and name, and glory: that thou mayst be a holy people
of the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken.

Deuteronomy Chapter 27

The commandments must be written on stones: and an altar erected, and
sacrifices offered. The observers of the commandments are to be blessed,
and the transgressors cursed.

27:1. And Moses with the ancients of Israel commanded the people,
saying: Keep every commandment that I command you this day.

27:2. And when you are passed over the Jordan into the land which the
Lord thy God will give thee, thou shalt set up great stones, and shalt
plaster them over with plaster,

27:3. That thou mayst write on them all the words of this law, when thou
art passed over the Jordan: that thou mayst enter into the land which
the Lord thy God will give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, as
he swore to thy fathers.

27:4. Therefore when you are passed over the Jordan, set up the stones
which I command you this day, in mount Hebal, and thou shalt plaster
them with plaster:

27:5. And thou shalt build there an altar to the Lord thy God, of stones
which iron hath not touched,

27:6. And of stones not fashioned nor polished: and thou shalt offer
upon it holocausts to the Lord thy God:

27:7. And shalt immolate peace victims, and eat there, and feast before
the Lord thy God.

27:8. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law
plainly and clearly.

27:9. And Moses and the priests of the race of Levi said to all Israel:
Attend, and hear, O Israel: This day thou art made the people of the
Lord thy God:

27:10. Thou shalt hear his voice, and do the commandments and justices
which I command thee.

27:11. And Moses commanded the people in that day, saying:

27:12. These shall stand upon mount Garizim to bless the people, when
you are passed the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Juda, Issachar, Joseph, and
Benjamin.

27:13. And over against them shall stand on mount Hebal to curse: Ruben,
Gad, and Aser, and Zabulon, Dan, and Nephtali.

27:14. And the Levites shall pronounce, and say to all the men of Israel
with a loud voice:

27:15. Cursed be the man that maketh a graven and molten thing, the
abomination of the Lord, the work of the hands of artificers, and shall
put it in a secret place: and all the people shall answer and say: Amen.

27:16. Cursed be he that honoureth not his father and mother: and all
the people shall say: Amen.

27:17. Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmarks: and all the
people shall say: Amen.

27:18. Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of his way: and
all the people shall say: Amen.

27:19. Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, of the
fatherless and the widow: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:20. Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife, and uncovereth
his bed: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:21. Cursed be he that lieth with any beast: and all the people shall
say: Amen.

27:22. Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his
father, or of his mother: and all the people shall say: Amen.

27:23. Cursed be he that lieth with his mother-in-law: and all the
people shall say: Amen.

27:24. Cursed be he that secretly killeth his neighbour: and all the
people shall say: Amen.

27:25. Cursed be he that taketh gifts, to slay an innocent person: and
all the people shall say: Amen.

27:26. Cursed be he that abideth not in the words of this law, and
fulfilleth them not in work: and all the people shall say: Amen.

Deuteronomy Chapter 28

Many blessings are promised to observers of God's commandments: and
curses threatened to transgressors.

28:1. Now if thou wilt hear the voice of all his commandments, which I
command thee this day, the Lord thy God will make thee higher than all
the nations that are on the earth.

28:2. And all these blessings shall come upon thee and overtake thee:
yet so if thou hear his precepts.

All these blessings, etc... In the Old Testament, God promised temporal
blessings to the keepers of his law, heaven not being opened as yet; and
that gross and sensual people being more moved with present and sensible
things. But in the New Testament the goods that are promised us are
spiritual and eternal; and temporal evils are turned into blessings.

28:3. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed in the field.

28:4. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy
ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the droves of thy herds, and the
folds of thy sheep.

28:5. Blessed shall be thy barns and blessed thy stores.

28:6. Blessed shalt thou be coming in and going out.

28:7. The Lord shall cause thy enemies, that rise up against thee, to
fall down before thy face: one way shall they come out against thee, and
seven ways shall they flee before thee.

28:8. The Lord will send forth a blessing upon thy storehouses, and upon
all the works of thy hands: and will bless thee in the land that thou
shalt receive.

28:9. The Lord will raise thee up to be a holy people to himself, as he
swore to thee: if thou keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and
walk in his ways.

28:10. And all the people of the earth shall see that the name of the
Lord is invocated upon thee, and they shall fear thee.

28:11. The Lord will make thee abound with all goods, with the fruit of
thy womb, and the fruit of thy cattle, with the fruit of thy land, which
the Lord swore to thy fathers that he would give thee.

28:12. The Lord will open his excellent treasure, the heaven, that it
may give rain in due season: and he will bless all the works of thy
hands. And thou shalt lend to many nations, and shalt not borrow of any
one.

28:13. And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail: and thou
shalt be always above, and not beneath: yet so if thou wilt hear the
commandments of the Lord thy God which I command thee this day, and keep
and do them,

28:14. And turn not away from them neither to the right hand, nor to the
left, nor follow strange gods, nor worship them.

28:15. But if thou wilt not hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep
and to do all his commandments and ceremonies, which I command thee this
day, all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.

All these curses, etc... Thus God dealt with the transgressors of his
law in the Old Testament: but now he often suffers sinners to prosper in
this world, rewarding them for some little good they have done, and
reserving their punishment for the other world.

28:16. Cursed shalt thou be in the city, cursed in the field.

28:17. Cursed shall be thy barn, and cursed thy stores.

28:18. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy
ground, the herds of thy oxen, and the flocks of thy sheep.

28:19. Cursed shalt thou be coming in, and cursed going out.

28:20. The Lord shall send upon thee famine and hunger, and a rebuke
upon all the works which thou shalt do: until he consume and destroy
thee quickly, for thy most wicked inventions, by which thou hast
forsaken me.

28:21. May the Lord set the pestilence upon thee, until he consume thee
out of the land, which thou shalt go in to possess.

28:22. May the Lord afflict thee with miserable want, with the fever and
with cold, with burning and with heat, and with corrupted air and with
blasting, and pursue thee till thou perish.

28:23. Be the heaven, that is over thee, of brass: and the ground thou
treadest on, of iron.

28:24. The Lord give thee dust for rain upon thy land, and let ashes
come down from heaven upon thee, till thou be consumed.

28:25. The Lord make thee to fall down before thy enemies, one way mayst
thou go out against them, and flee seven ways, and be scattered
throughout all the kingdoms of the earth.

28:26. And be thy carcass meat for all the fowls of the air, and the
beasts of the earth, and be there none to drive them away.

28:27. The Lord strike thee with the ulcer of Egypt, and the part of thy
body, by which the dung is cast out, with the scab and with the itch: so
that thou canst not be healed.

28:28. The Lord strike thee with madness and blindness and fury of mind.

28:29. And mayst thou grope at midday as the blind is wont to grope in
the dark, and not make straight thy ways. And mayst thou at all times
suffer wrong, and be oppressed with violence, and mayst thou have no one
to deliver thee.

28:30. Mayst thou take a wife, and another sleep with her. Mayst thou
build a house, and not dwell therein. Mayest thou plant a vineyard and
not gather the vintage thereof.

28:31. May thy ox be slain before thee, and thou not eat thereof. May
thy ass be taken away in thy sight, and not restored to thee. May thy
sheep be given to thy enemies, and may there be none to help thee.

28:32. May thy sons and thy daughters be given to another people, thy
eyes looking on, and languishing at the sight of them all the day, and
may there be no strength in thy hand.

28:33. May a people which thou knowest not, eat the fruits of thy land,
and all thy labours: and mayst thou always suffer oppression, and be
crushed at all times.

28:34. And be astonished at the terror of those things which thy eyes
shall see:

28:35. May the Lord strike thee with a very sore ulcer in the knees and
in the legs, and be thou incurable from the sole of the foot to the top
of the head.

28:36. The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king, whom thou shalt have
appointed over thee, into a nation which thou and thy fathers know not:
and there thou shalt serve strange gods, wood and stone.

28:37. And thou shalt be lost, as a proverb and a byword to all people,
among whom the Lord shall bring thee in.

28:38. Thou shalt cast much seed into the ground, and gather little:
because the locusts shall consume all.

28:39. Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and dig it, and shalt not drink the
wine, nor gather any thing thereof: because it shall be wasted with
worms.

28:40. Thou shalt have olive trees in all thy borders, and shalt not be
anointed with the oil: for the olives shall fall off and perish.

28:41. Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, and shalt not enjoy them:
because they shall be led into captivity.

28:42. The blast shall consume all the trees and the fruits of thy
ground.

28:43. The stranger that liveth with thee in the land, shall rise up
over thee, and shall be higher: and thou shalt go down, and be lower.

28:44. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him. He shall
be as the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

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