בִּלְתִּי

“Who told you that you were naked?” asked the LORD God. “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

“Not so!” replied the LORD. “If anyone slays Cain, then Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” And the LORD placed a mark on Cain, so that no one who found him would kill him.

“Very well,” he answered, “I will grant this request as well, and will not demolish the town you indicate.

Abimelech replied, “I do not know who has done this. You did not tell me, so I have not heard about it until today.”

But Onan knew that the offspring would not belong to him; so whenever he would sleep with his brother’s wife, he would spill his seed on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother.

But Judah replied, “The man solemnly warned us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’

But if you will not send him, we will not go; for the man told us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’”

When that year was over, they came to him the second year and said, “We cannot hide from our lord that our money is gone and all our livestock belongs to you. There is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land.

But on that day I will give special treatment to the land of Goshen, where My people live; no swarms of flies will be found there. In this way you will know that I, the LORD, am in the land.

“As soon as I leave you,” Moses said, “I will pray to the LORD, so that tomorrow the swarms of flies will depart from Pharaoh and his officials and his people. But Pharaoh must not act deceitfully again by refusing to let the people go and sacrifice to the LORD.”

Still, you lord it over My people and do not allow them to go.

“Do not be afraid,” Moses replied. “For God has come to test you, so that the fear of Him may be before you, to keep you from sinning.”

If anyone sacrifices to any god other than the LORD alone, he must be set apart for destruction.

You must keep My charge not to practice any of the abominable customs that were practiced before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am the LORD your God.”

And if the people of the land ever hide their eyes and fail to put to death the man who gives one of his children to Molech,

…and if you reject My statutes, despise My ordinances, and neglect to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant,

…and said to Moses, “We are unclean because of a dead body, but why should we be excluded from presenting the LORD’s offering with the other Israelites at the appointed time?”

But now our appetite is gone; there is nothing to see but this manna!”

‘Because the LORD was unable to bring this people into the land He swore to give them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

So they struck down Og, along with his sons and his whole army, until no remnant was left. And they took possession of his land.

For when your fathers went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land that the LORD had given them.

…not one except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun—because they did follow the LORD wholeheartedly.’

So the LORD our God also delivered Og king of Bashan and his whole army into our hands. We struck them down until no survivor was left.

The LORD, however, was angry with me on account of you, and He swore that I would not cross the Jordan to enter the good land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Be careful not to forget the LORD your God by failing to keep His commandments and ordinances and statutes, which I am giving you this day.

Only be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.

But the man who acts presumptuously, refusing to listen either to the priest who stands there to serve the LORD your God, or to the judge, must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.

Then his heart will not be exalted above his countrymen, and he will not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or to the left, in order that he and his sons may reign many years over his kingdom in Israel.

For the Israelites had wandered in the wilderness forty years, until all the nation’s men of war who had come out of Egypt had died, since they did not obey the LORD. So the LORD vowed never to let them see the land He had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Meanwhile, those in the ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces on both sides. So Israel struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained.

At that time Horam king of Gezer went to help Lachish, but Joshua struck him down along with his people, leaving no survivors.

…and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, who struck them down and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpeh. They struck them down, leaving no survivors.

No city made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites living in Gibeon; all others were taken in battle.

For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts to engage Israel in battle, so that they would be set apart for destruction and would receive no mercy, being annihilated as the LORD had commanded Moses.

For the LORD has made the Jordan a border between us and you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no share in the LORD!’ So your descendants could cause ours to stop fearing the LORD.

Be very strong, then, so that you can keep and obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, not turning aside from it to the right or to the left.

So you are not to associate with these nations that remain among you. You must not call on the names of their gods or swear by them, and you must not serve them or bow down to them.

That is why the LORD had left those nations in place and had not driven them out immediately by delivering them into the hand of Joshua.

His friend replied: “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has delivered Midian and the whole camp into his hand.”

Then the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, “Why have you done this to us? Why did you fail to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they contended with him violently.

What should we do about wives for the survivors, since we have sworn by the LORD not to give them our daughters in marriage?”

…would you wait for them to grow up? Would you refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, it is much more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.”

Let your eyes be on the field they are harvesting, and follow along after these girls. Indeed, I have ordered the young men not to touch you. And when you are thirsty, go and drink from the jars the young men have filled.”

Then Boaz said, “May the LORD bless you, my daughter. You have shown more kindness now than before, because you have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor.

There is no one holy like the LORD. Indeed, there is no one besides You! And there is no Rock like our God.

Saul said nothing that day because he thought, “Something has happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.”

Now the whole clan has risen up against your maidservant and said, ‘Hand over the one who struck down his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of the brother whom he killed. Then we will cut off the heir as well!’ So they would extinguish my one remaining ember by not preserving my husband’s name or posterity on the earth.”

The woman asked, “Why have you devised a thing like this against the people of God? When the king says this, does he not convict himself, since he has not brought back his own banished son?