Deuteronomy 1 2 3a 3b 4 5 6 7a 7b 8 9 10 11a 11b 12 13 14 15 16a 16b 17 18 19 20 21a 21b 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29a 29b 30 31 32 33 34
The King James version begins at verse 2 here, with verse 1 as the closing verse (32) of the prevous chapter (12). I have marked the KJ verses, which therefore only go as far as 18, accordingly.
13:1 ET KOL HA DAVAR ASHER ANOCHI METSAVEH ET'CHEM OTO TISHMERU LA'ASOT LO TOSEPH ALAV VE LO TIGRA MIMEYNU
אֵת כָּלהַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּה אֶתְכֶם אֹתוֹ תִשְׁמְרוּ לַעֲשׂוֹת לֹא תֹסֵף עָלָיו וְלֹא תִגְרַע מִמֶּנּוּ
BN (BibleNet translation): This entire "Word" which I am giving you, make sure that you carry it out; you shall not add to it, nor take away from it.
Which defines the text about to follow as the final redaction; if there are any variations between this and previous versions, this is the one now deemed to be "correct"; any amendments, modifications, additions, alternatives, or substitutions added later - and any versions of these laws that were written earlier - must be deemed to be "incorrect". This presumably includes (and therefore excludes) the laws given in the four previous books of Torah.
Which defines the status of Humankind in its own eyes - in the eyes of the deity, but the deity is a human invention. And this is the part that I find impossible to reconcile: why would Humankind invent a deity who then created Humankind as an automaton, merely a programmed robot, but yet a defective robot, with the incapacity to always do what is programmed? Why not invent a deity who says: "Let there be in the universe a sentient, thinking creature, capable of using reason and logic to its optimum, and working out intelligently how to make a world in which all creatures have an equal opportunity to live a rich and full existence"? And we Jews especially need to understand, that the self-validation of the Holocaust perpetrators lies precisely in this verse: "I was only obeying orders".
HA DAVAR: A word, a thing, in one of its forms a bumble-bee and the goddess Devorah. Mostly it is the means by which the deity transforms essence into existence, and here the "thing" that is being so transformed is the Law itself, though it is not obvious from the phrasing, despite my closing comment in the first paragraph, above, whether that means the entire Torah, all five books, or only this one. But most likely, only this one.
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13:2 KI YAKUM BE KIRBECHA NAVI O CHOLEM CHALOM VE NATAN ELEYCHA OT O MOPHET
KJ (13:1): If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
BN: If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder...
The word used here is Navi. Elsewhere Mosheh himself will be described as a Navi, and most of the patriarchs receive this designation at some point in the Torah. Later, the great Prophets were all given this designation, and the section of the Tanach that anthologises their books is called Neviyim for that reason. So there is most definitely a positive to this word; a fact I only mention because what follows renders it entirely negative. There is a brief but interesting scholarly discussion of the subject here.
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13:2 KI YAKUM BE KIRBECHA NAVI O CHOLEM CHALOM VE NATAN ELEYCHA OT O MOPHET
כִּי יָקוּם בְּקִרְבְּךָ נָבִיא אוֹ חֹלֵם חֲלוֹם וְנָתַן אֵלֶיךָ אוֹת אוֹ מוֹפֵת
KJ (13:1): If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
BN: If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder...
The word used here is Navi. Elsewhere Mosheh himself will be described as a Navi, and most of the patriarchs receive this designation at some point in the Torah. Later, the great Prophets were all given this designation, and the section of the Tanach that anthologises their books is called Neviyim for that reason. So there is most definitely a positive to this word; a fact I only mention because what follows renders it entirely negative. There is a brief but interesting scholarly discussion of the subject here.
13:3 U VA HA OT VE HA MOPHET ASHER DIBER ELEYCHA LEMOR NELCHAH ACHAREY ELOHIM ACHERIM ASHER LO YADATAM VE NA'AVDEM
וּבָא הָאוֹת וְהַמּוֹפֵת אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֵלֶיךָ לֵאמֹר נֵלְכָה אַחֲרֵי אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים אֲשֶׁר לֹא יְדַעְתָּם וְנָעָבְדֵם
BN: And the sign or the wonder of which he spoke to you should come to pass, which leads him to saying: Let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them...
I have added four words ("which leads him to") that are not in the original, but the sentence makes no grammatical sense if we do not assume that they are intended. There is a cause and effect here, and it is actually that cause-and-effect that Mosheh is primarily concerned about: signs, wonders, happenstances and coincidences happen all the time, and can be explained scientifically, or explained away unscientifically - what matters (see the next verse) is that you don't get tricked by the conman into believing his unscientific explanation, and then change your life to meet his demands.
13:4 LO TISHMA EL DIVREY HA NAVI HA HU O EL CHOLEM HA CHALOM HA HU KI MENASEH YHVH ELOHEYCHEM ET'CHEM LADA'AT HA YISHCHEM OHAVIM ET YHVH ELHEYCHEM BE CHOL LEVAVECHEM U VE CHOL NAPHSHECHEM
לֹא תִשְׁמַע אֶל דִּבְרֵי הַנָּבִיא הַהוּא אוֹ אֶל חוֹלֵם הַחֲלוֹם הַהוּא כִּי מְנַסֶּה יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם אֶתְכֶם לָדַעַת הֲיִשְׁכֶם אֹהֲבִים אֶת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם בְּכָל לְבַבְכֶם וּבְכָל נַפְשְׁכֶם
KJ (13:3): Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
BN: You shall not give credence to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams; for YHVH your god is simply testing you, to know whether you love YHVH your god with all your heart and with all your soul.
Yet again Mosheh quotes his own Shema, but leaves out the third part, ME'ODECHA - see Deuteronomy 6:5.
13:5 ACHAREY YHVH ELOHEYCHEM TELECHU VE OTO TIYRA'U VE ET MITSVOTAV TISHMERU U VE KOLO TISHMA'U VE OTO TA'AVODU U VO TIDBAKUN
KJ (13:4): Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
אַחֲרֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם תֵּלֵכוּ וְאֹתוֹ תִירָאוּ וְאֶת מִצְוֹתָיו תִּשְׁמֹרוּ וּבְקֹלוֹ תִשְׁמָעוּ וְאֹתוֹ תַעֲבֹדוּ וּבוֹ תִדְבָּקוּן
KJ (13:4): Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
BN: You shall follow YHVH your god, and you shall fear him, and you shall keep his laws, and hearken to his voice, and serve him, and cleave to him.
And yet again, despite placing "love" at the opening of the Shema, and saving "fear" until much later, it is "fear" which gets repeated, and "love" that seems to get forgotten. Human history, summed up!
13:6 VE HA NAVI HA HU O CHOLEM HA CHALOM HA HU YUMAT KI DIBER SARAH AL YHVH ELOHEYCHEM HA MOTSI ET'CHEM MEY ERETS MITSRAYIM VE HAPHODCHA MI BEIT AVADIM LEHADICHAHCHA MIN HA DERECH ASHER TSIVCHA YHVH ELOHEYCHA BAH U VI'ARTA HA RA MI KIRBECHA
וְהַנָּבִיא הַהוּא אוֹ חֹלֵם הַחֲלוֹם הַהוּא יוּמָת כִּי דִבֶּר סָרָה עַל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם הַמּוֹצִיא אֶתְכֶם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם וְהַפֹּדְךָ מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים לְהַדִּיחֲךָ מִן הַדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר צִוְּךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לָלֶכֶת בָּהּ וּבִעַרְתָּ הָרָע מִקִּרְבֶּךָ
BN: And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he has spoken perversion against YHVH your god, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to draw you aside out of the way which YHVH your god instructed you to walk. So shall you put away the evil from the midst of thee.
And yes, but how do you know if what he says is or is not the true word of the deity? I ask, only because of the story of the great Prophet Yirme-Yah - which you can read to the stoney end by clicking here.
This law, if applied in the case of Jesus of Genasaret, would of course sanction his execution - but not by crucifixion, which was a Roman not a Jewish method; see verse 11.
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13:7 KI YESIT'CHA ACHICHA VEN IMECHA O VINCHA O VIT'CHA O ESHET CHEYKECHA O REYACHA ASHER KE NAPHSHECHA BA SETER LEMOR NELCHAH VE NA'AVDAH ELOHIM ACHERIM ASHER LO YADATA ATAH VE AVOTEYCHA
KJ (13:6): If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
BN: If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend, who is your soul companion, should entice you secretly, saying: Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known, neither you nor your ancestors...
VEN IMECHA: Interesting! Did Yehudim take their identity from their mothers, rather than their fathers, as early as this? Or is simply a way of insisting that, when your father has several wives and concubines, your half and step brothers are counted in human terms as equals and equivalents, like your "neighbour", and "the stranger who is within your gates"? Probably the latter.
13:7 KI YESIT'CHA ACHICHA VEN IMECHA O VINCHA O VIT'CHA O ESHET CHEYKECHA O REYACHA ASHER KE NAPHSHECHA BA SETER LEMOR NELCHAH VE NA'AVDAH ELOHIM ACHERIM ASHER LO YADATA ATAH VE AVOTEYCHA
כִּי יְסִיתְךָ אָחִיךָ בֶן אִמֶּךָ אוֹ בִנְךָ אוֹ בִתְּךָ אוֹ אֵשֶׁת חֵיקֶךָ אוֹ רֵעֲךָ אֲשֶׁר כְּנַפְשְׁךָ בַּסֵּתֶר לֵאמֹר נֵלְכָה וְנַעַבְדָה אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָדַעְתָּ אַתָּה וַאֲבֹתֶיךָ
BN: If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend, who is your soul companion, should entice you secretly, saying: Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known, neither you nor your ancestors...
VEN IMECHA: Interesting! Did Yehudim take their identity from their mothers, rather than their fathers, as early as this? Or is simply a way of insisting that, when your father has several wives and concubines, your half and step brothers are counted in human terms as equals and equivalents, like your "neighbour", and "the stranger who is within your gates"? Probably the latter.
13:8 ME'ELOHEY HA AMIM ASHER SEVIVOTEYCHEM HA KEROVIM ELEYCHA O HA RECHOKIM MIMECHA MI KETSEH HA ARETS VE AD KETSEH HA ARETS
מֵאֱלֹהֵי הָעַמִּים אֲשֶׁר סְבִיבֹתֵיכֶם הַקְּרֹבִים אֵלֶיךָ אוֹ הָרְחֹקִים מִמֶּךָּ מִקְצֵה הָאָרֶץ וְעַד קְצֵה הָאָרֶץ
KJ (13:7): Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;
BN: ... the gods of the people who live around you, close to you, or even far away from you, from one end of the Earth to the other end of the Earth...
13:9 LO TOVEH LO VE LO TISHMA ELAV VE LO TACHOS EYNECHA ALAV VE LO TACHMOL VE LO TECHASEH ALAV
BN: ... the gods of the people who live around you, close to you, or even far away from you, from one end of the Earth to the other end of the Earth...
13:9 LO TOVEH LO VE LO TISHMA ELAV VE LO TACHOS EYNECHA ALAV VE LO TACHMOL VE LO TECHASEH ALAV
לֹא תֹאבֶה לוֹ וְלֹא תִשְׁמַע אֵלָיו וְלֹא תָחוֹס עֵינְךָ עָלָיו וְלֹא תַחְמֹל וְלֹא תְכַסֶּה עָלָיו
KJ (13:8): Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:
BN: You shall not give your consent to him, nor give any credence to him; nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, or hide him.
13:10 KI HAROG TAHARGEYNU YADCHA TIHEYEH BO VA RISHONAH LAHAMITO VE YAD KOL HA AM BA ACHARONAH
KJ (13:9): But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
BN: But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be the first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
HAROG: The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2–17 and Deuteronomy 5:6–17) include LO TIRTSACH, which is generally (mis)translated as "You shall not kill". But killing is not the intention there, as it is here - and not just the need to kill for food. "You shall not murder" - and after it pages of legislation to deal with accidental killing and manslaughter; and pages more requiring men to kill in war, or to perform the Go'el (see also Genesis 9:5 and Exodus 21:28), or permitting killing in self-defense; and now this, which is a form of judicial killing, done by lynch mob rather than on Death Row or the scaffold in the Tower of London, but still approved judicial killing.
These kinds of instruction become problematic when others take the same position against you, Christians, say, undertaking forced conversion...
13:11 U SEKALTO VA AVANIM VA MET KI VIKESH LEHADICHACHA MEY AL YHVH ELOHEYCHA HA MOTSI'ACHA MEY ERETS MITSRAYIM MI BEIT AVADIM
וּסְקַלְתּוֹ בָאֲבָנִים וָמֵת כִּי בִקֵּשׁ לְהַדִּיחֲךָ מֵעַל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ הַמּוֹצִיאֲךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים
KJ: And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
BN: And you shall stone him with stones until he is dead; because he has sought to draw you away from YHVH your god, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, out of the house of bondage.
13:12 VE CHOL YISRA-EL YISHME'U VE YIRA'UN VE LO YOSIPHU LA'ASOT KA DAVAR HA RA HA ZEH BE KIRBECHA
BN: And all Yisra-El shall hear, and fear, and shall no longer commit such wickedness as this is among you.
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13:13 KI TISHMA BE ACHAT AREYCHA ASHER YHVH ELOHEYCHA NOTEN LECHA LASHEVET SHAM LEMOR
כִּי תִשְׁמַע בְּאַחַת עָרֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לְךָ לָשֶׁבֶת שָׁם לֵאמֹר
KJ (13:12): If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,
BN: If you shall hear tell concerning one of your cities, which YHVH your god is giving you to inhabit, saying:
13:14 YATSU ANASHIM BENEY VELI-YA'AL MI KIRBECHA VA YADIYCHU ET YOSHVEY IRAM LEMOR NELCHAH VE NA'AVDAH ELOHIM ACHERIM ASHER LO YADATEM
יָצְאוּ אֲנָשִׁים בְּנֵי בְלִיַּעַל מִקִּרְבֶּךָ וַיַּדִּיחוּ אֶת יֹשְׁבֵי עִירָם לֵאמֹר נֵלְכָה וְנַעַבְדָה אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים אֲשֶׁר לֹא יְדַעְתֶּם
BN: Certain followers of false gods have gone out from among you, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying: Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known...
VELIYA'AL: This is not Belial, but Veli-Ya'al - or really Beli-Ya'al but the Bet is medugash because of the previous word; a minor grammatical irrelevance for which see the link. The point here is the meaning, not the pronunciation. BELI means "without", as in "missing", "not having", rather than "outside". YA'AL means "to go up", and is an alternative to Gev for a "high place", or a "mountain shrine" (click here for some examples of the latter). So BELI-YA'AL is not the name of a foreign god so much as the description of a deity who, unlike the volcano god YHVH, the mountain-god of Chorev and Sinai; or later, based on the blessings and curses of chapter 11, Mounts Gerizim and Eyval; or later still, based on his final choosing a place for his permament and central Temple, Mount Mor-Yah... this is a god who has no Olympus, no Valhalla, and is therefore to be esteemed as worthless. From this we can translate Beney Veli-Ya'al as "followers of false gods".
13:15 VE DARASHTA VE CHAKARTA VE SHA'ALTA HEYTEV VE HINEH EMET NACHON HA DAVAR NE'ESTAH HA TO'EVAH HA ZOT BE KIRBECHA
וְדָרַשְׁתָּ וְחָקַרְתָּ וְשָׁאַלְתָּ הֵיטֵב וְהִנֵּה אֱמֶת נָכוֹן הַדָּבָר נֶעֶשְׂתָה הַתּוֹעֵבָה הַזֹּאת בְּקִרְבֶּךָ
BN: Then you shall inquire, and conduct a search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it prove to be true, and the thing is certain, that such abomination is being perpetrated among you...
So, among the many despotisms of this divine dictatorship, to ensure a regular supply of victims for the lynch-mob, we now have a system of informers and rat-catchers establised, licensed to watch over their neighbours' fences and report to their superiors.
13:16 HAKEH TAKEH ET YOSHVEY HA IR HA HI LEPHI CHAREV HACHAREM OTAH VE ET KOL ASHER BAH VE ET BEHEMTAH LEPHI CHAREV
הַכֵּה תַכֶּה אֶת יֹשְׁבֵי הָעִיר הַהִוא לְפִי חָרֶב הַחֲרֵם אֹתָהּ וְאֶת כָּל אֲשֶׁר בָּהּ וְאֶת בְּהֶמְתָּהּ לְפִי חָרֶב
KJ (13:15): Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.
BN: You shall wipe out the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and everything that is in it, and its cattle, with the edge of the sword.
HAKEH TAKEH: The use of the parallelism is for emphasis and endorsement: don't just "smite" them, but... only we don't have a grammatical equivalent in English, so we have to use a similar rather than a parallel; and here "wipe out" is the precise term.
Verses like this one are hugely problematic, not simply because they describe an ancient world that was barbaric, not simply because they pose such a contrast with the noble and virtuous Judaism that evolved from this Toraic source, but because the source remains the source, and orthodox Judaism, as well as the core of Christianity, insists on the truth of that source, unrepudiated; and the text of verse 1 is unequivocal. So Spinoza should not have been excommunicated, but stoned to death; and me too, quite probably. And that is just the tip of the... sword, not iceberg.
And why the cattle? What did the poor cattle do to deserve bovine cleansing?
13:17 VE ET KOL SHELALAH TIKBOTS EL TOCH RECHOVAH VE SARAPHTA VA EYSH ET HA IR VE ET KOL SHELALAH KALIL LA YHVH ELOHEYCHA VE HAYETAH TEL OLAM LO TIVANEH OD
וְאֶת כָּל שְׁלָלָהּ תִּקְבֹּץ אֶל תּוֹךְ רְחֹבָהּ וְשָׂרַפְתָּ בָאֵשׁ אֶת הָעִיר וְאֶת כָּל שְׁלָלָהּ כָּלִיל לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ וְהָיְתָה תֵּל עוֹלָם לֹא תִבָּנֶה עוֹד
BN: And you shall gather all its spoil in the middle of its main square, and shall burn the city with fire, and every last piece of its spoil, to YHVH your god; and it shall be a heap for ever; it shall not be built again.
Because, to continue the comments on the last verse, and echoing my comment at verse 2 as well, there is only one difference between the commandment in that last verse, and then this verse, and the orders that came out of Berlin in respect of the Jewish ghettoes, circa 1940-194, which is that the Nazis kept most of the spoils for their private use.
13:18 VE LO YIDBAK BE YADCHA ME'UMAH MIN HA CHEREM LEMA'AN YASHUV YHVH MEY CHARON APHO VE NATAN LECHA RACHAMIM VE RICHAMCHA VE HIRBECHA KA ASHER NISHBA LA AVOTEYCHA
וְלֹא יִדְבַּק בְּיָדְךָ מְאוּמָה מִן הַחֵרֶם לְמַעַן יָשׁוּב יְהוָה מֵחֲרוֹן אַפּוֹ וְנָתַן לְךָ רַחֲמִים וְרִחַמְךָ וְהִרְבֶּךָ כַּאֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע לַאֲבֹתֶיךָ
BN: And none of this abomination shall be left in your hand, so that YHVH may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show you mercy, and have compassion on you, and multiply you, as he has sworn to your ancestors...
ME'UMAH: The word used on several previous occasions for the spoils of war, though it does also have other meanings - click here for the full list of occurrences.
13:19 KI TISHMA BE KOL YHVH ELOHEYCHA LISHMOR ET KOL MITSVOTAV ASHER ANOCHI METSAVCHA HAYOM LA'ASOT HA YASHAR BE EYNEY YHVH ELOHEYCHA
כִּי תִשְׁמַע בְּקוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לִשְׁמֹר אֶת כָּל מִצְוֹתָיו אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם לַעֲשׂוֹת הַיָּשָׁר בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ
KJ (13:19): When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.
BN: ...when you will indeed hearken to the voice of YHVH your god, and keep all the commandments which I am instructing you today, to do what is right in the eyes of YHVH your god.
And so, at last, Mosheh has begun to give the laws. Order in such circumstances is always either alphabetic or by priority; here the latter. In chapter 12, YHVH's permanent home, his worship, based on the obliteration of all other religions. Here in chapter 13, what will happen if you don't worship him, including the obliteration of all other religions. Laws establishing the dictatorship and the despotism, and still nothing about what an individual human needs to do to lead a righteous life. Or maybe these are they.
samech break
Deuteronomy 1 2 3a 3b 4 5 6 7a 7b 8 9 10 11a 11b 12 13 14 15 16a 16b 17 18 19 20 21a 21b 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29a 29b 30 31 32 33 34
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