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The Inscribed Stones and Altar on Mount Ebal27 Then Moses and the elders of Israel charged all the people as follows: Keep the entire commandment that I am commanding you today. 2On the day that you cross over the Jordan into the land that the L ord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and cover them with plaster. 3You shall write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over, to enter the land that the L ord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the L ord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 4So when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, about which I am commanding you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall cover them with plaster. 5And you shall build an altar there to the L ord your God, an altar of stones on which you have not used an iron tool. 6You must build the altar of the L ord your God of unhewn stones. Then offer up burnt offerings on it to the L ord your God, 7make sacrifices of well-being, and eat them there, rejoicing before the L ord your God. 8You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very clearly. 9 Then Moses and the levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: Keep silence and hear, O Israel! This very day you have become the people of the L ord your God. 10Therefore obey the L ord your God, observing his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you today. Twelve Curses11 The same day Moses charged the people as follows: 12When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim for the blessing of the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14Then the Levites shall declare in a loud voice to all the Israelites: 15 “Cursed be anyone who makes an idol or casts an image, anything abhorrent to the L ord, the work of an artisan, and sets it up in secret.” All the people shall respond, saying, “Amen!” 16 “Cursed be anyone who dishonors father or mother.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 17 “Cursed be anyone who moves a neighbor’s boundary marker.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 18 “Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind person on the road.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 19 “Cursed be anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 20 “Cursed be anyone who lies with his father’s wife, because he has violated his father’s rights.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 21 “Cursed be anyone who lies with any animal.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 22 “Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 23 “Cursed be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 24 “Cursed be anyone who strikes down a neighbor in secret.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 25 “Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 26 “Cursed be anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by observing them.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by
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16. Cursed be he that setteth light by his father. What follows refers to the Second Table of the Law; and, first, He pronounces those cursed who should be undutiful (impii) to their parents; for the word קלל, kalal, 201201 He assumes, what is scarcely tenable, that מקלה is derived from קלל rather than from קלה — W which means to despise, as well as to curse, is put in opposition to the honor which, by the Fifth Commandment, is due to our father and mother. Then He mentions such thefts as generally escape the knowledge of men; as also, He only adverts to those acts of fornication which are anxiously concealed on account of their filthiness. To have connection with a beast, with one’s mother-in-law, or step-mother, or sister, is so unnatural and detestable a crime, that it is generally concealed more carefully. But God admonishes us that, whatever modes of concealment the sinner shall adopt, they will profit him nothing, but that, when He shall at length ascend His judgment-seat, their shame shall be discovered. For the same reason he does not curse all murderers, but only such as have shed innocent blood for hire, which nefarious compact cannot easily be discovered so as to be punished by laws. 202202 “Des hommes.” — Fr. |