MEMRA: THE ONE GOD OF ISRAEL

In this post I will cite select passages from the Aramaic paraphrases of the Torah done by Jews called the Targums (Targumim). I will be quoting places where the Jews identify the LORD God mentioned in the textas God’s Word (Aramaic – Memra). These references establish the fact that non-Christian Jews themselves realized from their reading of the Hebrew Bible that there is another distinct divine Person named the Word who was sent forth to appear and speak to Israel. The NT proclaims that this is the very Word who became the Man Christ Jesus (cf. John 1:1-18; 1 John 1:1-3; Revelation 19:13). All emphasis will be mine.

The Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel On the Pentateuch With The Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum From the Chaldee

EXODUS 13-17 (http://targum.info/pj/pjex13-17.htm)

[[JERUSALEM. IS. And the Word of the Lord conducted the people by the way of the desert of the sea of Suph; armed in good works went up the sons of Israel, free from the land of Mizraim. 19. For, adjuring, he adjured the sons of Israel, saving, The Lord remembering; will remember you in is Word, and in His good mercies. 20. Which cometh upon the end of the desert.]

[JERUSALEM… To the company who said, We will array battle against them, Mosheh said, Fear not; the Lord, in the glory of His Shekinah, will work the victory for your hosts. To the company who had said, Let us shout against them to confound them, Mosheh said, Fear not; stand and be silent; and give the glory, and praise, and exaltation unto Eloha. 15. And the Word of the Lord said to Mosheh, How long standest thou praying before Me ? Heard before Me are thy prayers; but the prayers of My people have preceded thine. Speak to the sons of Israel that they go forward; and thou, lift, up thy rod and stretch forth thy hand.]

[JERUSALEM. 24. And it was in the time of the morning that the Word of the Lord looked upon the host of the Mizraee, and hurled upon them bitumen (naphtha), and fire, and stones of hail, and conturbed the host of the Mizraee. And he unloosed the wheels of their carriages, so that they went, dragging them after them: the mules, going after their way before the wheels, were turned, so as that the wheels went before the mules, and they were cast into the sea. The Mizraee answered and said on to another, Let us flee from before the people of the sons of Israel; for this is the Word of the Lord who worketh victory for them in their battles; so that they set the back against Mizraim. 26. Stretch forth. 27. And Mosheh stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned at the time of the morning to its place.] And the waves of the sea returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen.. and all the host of Pharoh who had gone in after them, into the sea, not one among them was left. But the sons of Israel walked on the ground in the midst of the sea, and the waters to them were as walls on their right band and on their left. That day the Lord redeemed and saved Israel from the hand of the Mizraee; and Israel saw the Mizraee, dead and not dead, cast upon the shore of the sea. And Israel saw the power of the mighty hand by which the Lord had wrought the miracles in Mizraim; and the people feared before the Lord, and believed in the Name of the Word of the Lord, and in the prophecies of Mosheh His servant.

Thanksgiving and praise we bring before the Lord Most High, who is glorified above the glorious, and exalted above the exalted; who punisheth by His Word whomsoever glorifieth himself before Him…

[JERUSALEM. Then sang Mosheh and the sons of Israel the praise of this song, before the Lord, saying, to say: Thanksgiving and praise bring we before the Lord, who is high above the highest, and glorified above the glorious, and who punisheth by His Word whom. whomsoever glorifieth himself before Him. The horses and their riders, because they bare themselves proudly and followed after the people of the house of Israel, He hath thrown and buried in the sea of Suph.]

The Lord is Mighty, and greatly to be feared over all the world. He spake in His Word, and became to me a God of salvation.

Thou wilt pour upon them Thy fierce anger, Thou wilt consume them as the burning fire prevails over the stubble. For by the Word from before Thee the waters became heaps; they stood, as if bound like skins that confine flowing water, and the depths were congealed in the flood of the great sea.

[JERUSALEM.The Lord is Mighty, and greatly to be praised and feared over all the world. He spake in His Word, and for us became salvation.

[JERUSALEM. And the people contended.] And he prayed before the Lord, and the Lord showed him the bitter tree of Ardiphne;[3] and lie wrote upon it the great and glorious Name, and cast it into the midst of the waters, and the waters were rendered sweet. And there did the Word of the Lord appoint to him the ordinance of the Sabbath, and the statute of honouring father and mother, the judgments concerning wounds and bruises., and the punishments wherewith offenders are punished; and there he tried (them) with the tenth trial, and said, If you will truly hearken to the Word of the Lord your God, and do that which is right before Him, and will listen to His precepts and keep all His statutes, all those evil things that I laid upon the Mizraee I will not lay upon thee: but if thou wilt transgress against the word of the law, upon thee shall they be sent. If thou convert, I will remove them from thee; for I am the Lord thy Healer.

[JERUSALEM. 25. And Mosheh prayed before the Lord, and the Word of the Lord showed him the tree of Ardiphne, and he cast it into the midst of the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There did the Word of the Lord show unto him statutes and orders of judgment, and there He tried him with trials in the tenth trial. 26. For I am the Lord who healeth thee by My Word.]…

XVI… And the sons of Israel said to them, Would that we had died by the Word of the Lord in the land of Mizraim… And Mosheh and Aharon said to all the sons of Israel, At evening you shall know that the Lord hath brought you out free from the land of Mizraim; and in the morning will be revealed to you the glory of the Shekinah of the Lord; and we, what are we accounted, that you complain against us? [JERUSALEM. And we, what are we accounted?] And Mosheh said, By this you shall know, when the Lord prepareth you at evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to satisfy, that your complainings wherewith you complain against Him are heard before the Lord. And we, what are we accounted? Your complaints are not against us, but against the Word of the Lord.

Mosheh said to Aharon, Bid all the congregation of the sons of Israel draw nigh before the Lord; for your murmuring are heard before Him. And Jehoshua shattered Amalek, and cut off the heads, of the strong men of his people, by the mouth of the Word of the Lord, with the slaughter of the sword.

And the Lord said unto Mosheh, Write this memorial in the book of the elders that were of old, and these words in the hearing, of Jehoshua, that blotting, I will blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. And Mosheh builded an altar, and called the name of it, The Word of the Lord is my banner; for the sign which He hath wrought (in this) place was on my behalf. And he said, Because the Word of the Lord hath sworn by the throne of His glory, that He by His Word will fight against those of the house of Amalek, and destroy them unto three generations; from the generation of this world, from the generation of the Meshiha, and from the generation of the world to come. [JERUSALEM. 16. And he said, The oath hath come forth from beneath the throne of the Great One, of all the world the Lord; the first king who will sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the sons of Israel, Shaul, the son of Kish, will set the battle in array against the house of Amalek, and will slay them; and those of them that remain will Mardekai and Esther destroy. The Lord hath said by His Word that the memory of Amalek shall perish to the age of ages.]

DEUTERONOMY 1-3 (http://targum.info/pj/pjdt1-3.htm)

[JERUSALEM. These are the words which Mosheh, spake with all Israel, reproving them, while as yet they were situate beyond the Jordan. Mosheh answering said to them: Was it not in the wilderness at Mount Sinai, that the law was given to you? and on the plains of Moab was shown you what miracles and mighty acts the Word of the Lord had wrought on your behalf…] “And I spake to you at that time, saying: We will not leave you with but one judge, for I am not able to bear you alone. The Word of the Lord our God hath multiplied you; and, behold, you are to-day as the stars of heaven for multitude…” “But you were not willing to go up, but believed the words of the ten wicked ones, and rebelled against the Word of the Lord your God… And I said to you, Be not broken down, nor be afraid of them: the Word of the Lord your God who goeth before you will Himself fight for you, according to all that He did for you in Mizraim before your eyes…”

II… these forty years hath the Word of the Lord your God been your helper; you have not wanted anything.

“And when all the men of war, the makers of the high places, were consumed by dying out of the host, the Lord spake with me, saying: You are this day to pass the border of Moab towards Lechaiath. But coming near over against the children of Ammon, you are not to vex, nor provoke them to war; for I have not given you the land of the Beni Ammon for a possession: I have given it an inheritance to the children of Lot, for the sake of Abraham’s righteousness. That also was accounted a land of giants; in old time the giants dwelt in it, and the Ammonites called them Zimthanee, a people great and mighty as giants: but the Word of the Lord destroyed them, and drave them out before them, and they dwelt in their place; as He did for the Beni Esau who dwell in Seir: for He destroyed the Horaee before them, and drave them out, and they dwell in their place to this day…”

III… Therefore did the Holy One, blessed be He, and let His Name be glorified, cause him to wait, and prolong him many years alive, to show to him the generations, because He would deliver him into the hands of his (Abraham’s) children: therefore the Word of the Lord said to Mosheh, Be not afraid of him, for into thy hand have I given him up, and all his people, and his land, and thou shalt do to him as thou hast done to Sihon. king of the Amoraee, who dwelt in Heshbon.] And the Lord our God gave up into our hands Og the king of Mathnan, and all his people; and we smote him till no remnant remained to him… And I instructed Jehoshua at that time, saying: Thine eyes have seen all that the Lord thy God hath done to these two kings; so will the Lord do unto all the kingdoms to which thou art passing over. Fear them not, for the Word of the Lord your God fighteth for you.”

DEUTERONOMY 3-7 (http://targum.info/pj/pjdt3-7.htm)

IV… Your eyes have seen what the Word of the Lord hath done to the worshippers of the idol Peor…For what people so great, to whom the Lord is so high in the Name of the Word of the Lord? But the custom of (other) nations is to carry their gods upon their shoulders, that they may seem to be nigh them; but they cannot hear with their ears, (be they nigh or) be they afar off; but the Word of the Lord sitteth upon His throne high and lifted up, and heareth our prayer what time we pray before Him and make our petitions… For the Word of the Lord your God is a consuming fire; the jealous God is a fire, and He avengeth Himself in jealousy… Hath it ever been that a people should hear the voice of the Word of the Lord, the Living God, speaking from the midst of fire, as you heard, and remained alive?… [JERUSALEM. Or what is the people or kingdom that hath heard?. . . . . Or the signs which the Word of the Lord hath wrought, coming to announce (that He would separate) to Himself a people from among a people?] Unto thee have these wonders been shown, that thou mayest know that the Lord is God, and there is none beside Him. He made you hear the voice of His Word from the heavens on high, to give you discipline by His doctrine, and showed thee upon earth His great fire, and made thee hear His words from the midst of the flame.”

V. And Mosheh called all Israel, and said to them: Hear, Israel, the statutes and judgments that I speak before you this day, to learn them, and observe to perform them. The Lord our God confirmed a covenant with us in Horeb: not with our fathers did the Lord confirm this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here this day alive and abiding. Word to word did the Lord speak with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire. I stood between the Word of the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the Word of the Lord, because you were afraid before the voice of the Word of the Lord, which you heard from the midst of the fire…

“Sons of Israel, My people, no one of you shall swear by the Name of the Word of the Lord your God in vain: for the Lord, in the day of the great judgment, will not acquit any one who shall swear by His Name in vain… But when you had heard the voice of the Word from the midst of the darkness, the mountain burning with fire, the chiefs of your tribes and your sages drew nigh to me, and said, Behold, the Word of the Lord our God hath showed us His glorious Shekinah, and the greatness of His excellency, (tushbachteih, Hismagnificence,) and the voice of His Word have we heard out of the midst of the fire. This day have we seen that the Lord speaketh with a man in whom is the Holy Spirit, and he remaineth alive. But now why should we die? For this great fire will devour us; if we again hear the voice of the Word of the Lord our God, we shall die. For who, of all the offspring of flesh, hath heard the voice of the Word of the Living God speaking from amid the fire as we, and hath lived?…”

“… but fear the Lord your God, and worship before Him, and swear by the Name of the Word of the Lord in truth… When thy son, in time to come, shall ask thee, saying, What are the testimonies, statutes, and judgments which the Lord our God hath commanded you? then shall you say to your sons, We were servants to Pharoh in Mizraim, and the Word of the Lord brought us out of Mizraim with a mighty hand; and the Word of the Lord wrought signs, great wonders, and sore plagues on Mizraim and on Pharoh and all the men of his house, which our eyes beheld…”

DEUTERONOMY 7-11 (http://targum.info/pj/pjdt7-11.html)

VIII… And He humbled thee and let thee hunger, and fed thee with the manna which thou knewest not, nor thy fathers had known, that He might make thee to know that man liveth not by bread only, but by all that is created by the Word of the Lord doth man live.

IX. Hear, Israel: you are this day (about) to pass Jordana to enter in and possess (the country of) nations greater and stronger than you, and cities many, and fortified to the height of heaven. A people (are they) strong and tall as the giants whom you know, and of whom you have heard (say), Who can stand before the sons of the giants? Know, therefore, today that the Lord your God, whose glorious Shekinah goeth before you, whose Word is a consuming fire, will destroy them and drive them out before you; so shall you drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord your God hath said to you…”

“For if you diligently keep every commandment that I command you to do it, to love the Lord your God, and walk in all the ways that are right before Him, and cleave unto His fear, then will the Word of the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall possess the heritage of nations greater and stronger than yourselves…”

DEUTERONOMY 26-29 (http://targum.info/pj/pjdt26-29.htm)

[JERUSALEM. And thou shalt come to the priest who will be appointed the chief priest in those days, and say to him: We give glory and thanks this day before the Lord thy God, that we have come into the land which the Word of the Lord did covenant unto our fathers to give us.] “… Our father Jakob went down into Aram Naharia at the beginning, and (Laban) sought to destroy him; but the Word of the Lord saved him out of his hands. And afterwards went he down into Mizraim and sojourned there, a few people; but there did he become a great people, and mighty and many…”

[JERUSALEM. You have chosen the Word of the Lord to be King over you this day, that He may be your God. But the Word of the Lord becometh the King over you for His Name’s sake, as over a people beloved as a treasure, as He hath spoken to you, that you may obey all His commandments.] And He will set you on high, and exalt you above all the peoples He hath made in greatness, and with a name of glory and splendour, that you may be a holy people before the Lord your God, as He hath spoken.

XXVIII. And it shall be, if you will diligently hearken to the Word of the Lord your God, to observe and perform all the commandments which I command you this day, that the Lord your God will set you on high, and exalt you above all the nations of the earth; and all these blessings shall come upon you, and abide with you, for that you will have hearkened to the Lord your God.

“… The Word of the Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to hurt you, to be broken before you. By one way they will come out to fight against you, but seven ways they shall be dispersed, I fleeing before you. The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your treasuries, and on all that you put your hands unto, and will bless you in the land which the Lord your God giveth you. The Word of the Lord will establish you to be a holy people before Him, as He hath said unto you, when you keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and walk in the ways that are right before Him. And all the nations of the earth will see that the Name is written by (His own) appointment on the tephillin that are upon thee, and will be afraid of thee. And the Word of the Lord will make thee to abound in good, in the offspring of thy womb, and the increase of thy cattle, and in the fruit ofthy ground, in the land which the Lord hath promised to thy fathers.– Four keys are in the hand of the Lord of all the world, which He hath not delivered into the hands of any secondary power:[2] the key of life, and of the tombs, and of food, and of rain; and thus did Mosheh the prophet speak:– The Lord will open to you His good treasure which is with Him in the heavens, and will give you the rain of your land in its season; the early in Marchesvan, and the latter in Nisan; and will bless you in all the works of your hands; and you will lend to many peoples, but shall have no need to borrow. And the Word of the Lord will appoint you to be kings and not subjects,[3] and to be ennobled and not abased, when you have hearkened to the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day to keep and perform. Decline not from any of these words that I teach you to-day either to the right or the left, in walking after the idols of the Gentiles to serve them.” “

The Word of the Lord will send forth curses among you to curse your wealth, and confusion to confound your prosperity, and vexation with all that you put your hands to do, until He hath undone you, and you perish soon on account of the wickedness of your doings when you have forsaken My worship. The Word of the Lord will make the pestilence to cleave to you, to consume you from off the land which you are going to inherit. The Word of the Lord will smite you with abscess and inflammation, and fire in the bones that will burn up the marrow, and with fearful imaginations in the thoughts of the heart; and with the naked sword, and with blasting, and the jaundice of Macedonia, which shall follow you to your beds, until you are destroyed… The Word of the Lord will cause you to be broken before your enemies… And the Word of the Lord will smite you with the ulcers with which the Mizraee were smitten, and with haemorrhoids that blind the sight, and with blotches, and with erysipelas,[5] from which you will not be able to be healed. [JERUSALEM. The Word of the Lord will smite you with the ulcer of Mizraim, and with haemorrhoids, and with the blotch, and with scurvy, which cannot be healed.] The Word of the Lord will smite you with fearfulness which bewildereth the brain, and with blindness and stupor of heart… The Word of the Lord will smite you with a sore ulcer in the knees, because you bent (them) in the matter of the transgression; and in the legs, by which you ran into it; for if you be not converted to the law you cannot be saved, but will be beaten by it from the sole of your feet unto the crown of your bead.”

XXIX. These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Mosheh to ratify with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides that covenant which He ratified with them at Horeb. And Mosheh called to all Israel, and said to them: You have seen all the plagues which the Word of the Lord wrought in the land of Mizraim on Pharoh and all his servants, and all the inhabitants of that land; those great temptations, signs, and wonders which you saw with your eyes. And the Word of the Lord hath given you a heart not to forget, but to understand; eyes, not to blink, but to see; ears, not to be stopped, but to listen with:

DEUTERONOMY 32 (http://targum.info/pj/pjdt32.htm)

[JER. But the house of Jeshuron ate and kicked; they became rich, and rebelled; they prospered, got wealth, and forsook the Word of God who had created them, and refused to worship the Almighty who had redeemed them. They provoked Him to anger with their idols, by their abominations they made Him wroth They sacrificed to demons in whom is no stability,[5] idols which they had not known, lately formed, which your fathers remembered not. The Almighty who created you ye have forgotten, and have forsaken the Word of God who gave you to be, and made you so many refuges… I have spoken in My Word to withhold from them My Holy Spirit…

For the Word of the Lord adjudgeth in His mercy the jundgement of His people Israel, and for the evil He hath appointed upon His servants there shall be repentance before Him; for He knoweth that in the time when they have sinned the stroke of their enemies will be heavy upon them, and help have passed away from their hands, and the faithful will have failed with their good works and be scattered and forsaken. And the enemy will say, Where is the fear of Israel, their Strength in whom they confided, who ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their libations? Let Him now rise up and help you, let Him shield you by His Word…

When the Word of the Lord shall reveal Himself to redeem His people, He will say to all the nations: Behold now, that I am He who Am, and Was, and Will Be, and there is no other God beside Me: I, in My Word, kill and make alive; I smite the people of the Beth Israel, and I will heal them at the end of the days; and there will be none who can deliver them from My hand, Gog and his armies whom I have permitted to make war against them. [JER. See now that I in My Word am He, and there is no other God beside Me. I kill the living in this world, and make alive the dead in the world that cometh; I am He who smiteth, and I am He who healeth; and there is none who can deliver from My hand.]… [JER. For I have uplifted My hand with an oath to heaven, and said, I live, and My Word subsisteth for ever… Rejoice, ye nations, (and) ye people of Beth Israel; for the blood of His servants which was shed, He hath avenged. He hath kept (in mind) and returned just vengeance upon His adversaries, and by His Word will He make Atonement for His land, and for His people. And the Lord spake with Mosheh on the seventh of the month Adar, on the same day, saying, It was when the Word of the Lord had said to him, Go up to this mount Ibraee, the mountain of Nebo, and he thought in his heart, and said, Perhaps this up-going will be like that to Mount Sinai; and he said, I will go and sanctify the people; but the Word of the Lord said to him, Not so at all, but, Go thou up and view the land of Kenaan, which I have given to the children of Israel for an inheritance… I have led them by Thy Word out of Mizraim, and builded for this people; I have taught them Thy law builded for them the tabernacle to Thy Name; but now that the time hath come to pass the Jordan, I am punished with death!… The Lord of the world answered him, and said: Because thou didst prevaricate with My Word In the midst of the children of Israel, at the Waters of Contention at Rekem in the desert of Zin, and didst not sanctify Me among them…

The Targum of Onkelos

EXODUS 13-17 (http://targum.info/pj/pjex13-17.htm)

Then sang Mosheh and the children of Israel this hymn before the Lord; and they spake, saying… He hath said by His Word that He will be mine to redeem… Thou didst speak by Thy Word, the sea covered them over, they sank like lead in the mighty waters. There is none beside Thee, O God, (who art) glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. …

And He said, If hearkening thou wilt hearken unto the Word of the Lord thy God, and wilt do what is right in His eyes, and wilt listen to His precepts and keep all His statutes, none of the maladies which I have set upon Mizraim will I put upon thee; for I am the Lord thy Healer. …

And Mosheh said, When the Lord will give you at evening flesh to eat, and bread in the morning to satisfy, while are heard before the Lord your tumults against Him! For what are we? your tumults are not against us, but against the Word of the Lord. And Mosheh said to Aharon, Bid all the congregation of the sons of Israel to come together before the Lord; for your tumult is heard before the Lord.[7] And it was, while Aharon was speaking with all the congregation of the sons of Israel, that they turned towards the desert, and, behold, the glory of the Lord was revealed in the cloud.

XVII. And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the desert of Sin, according to their itinerations by the Word of the Lord; and they encamped in Rephidim: but the people had no water to drink; and the people were contentious with Mosheh, and said, Give us water that we may drink…

DEUTERONOMY (Complete: http://targum.info/onk/tgonk_deut.htm)

Chapter 1

The land which the Lord will give us is good. But you were not willing to go up, but were rebellious against the Word of the Lord your God, and murmured in your tents, and said: Because the Lord hath hated us… But I said to you: Be not broken (hearted), fear them not; the Word of the Lord, who leadeth on before you, will fight for you, according to all that He did for you in Mizraim in your sight; and in the wilderness, where thou hast seen that the Lord thy God carrieth thee, as a man carrieth his child, in all the way you have journeyed until your coming to this place. But in this thing you did not believe in the Word of the Lord your God, who led on before you in the way to prepare for you (each) place of encampment for your sojournings, in the pillar of fire by night to show you in which way to go, and in the pillar of the cloud by day. … And I told you, but you hearkened not, but rebelled against the Word of the Lord, and dared, and went up to the mountain… these forty years the Word of the Lord thy God hath been thy helper, thou hast not wanted any thing. And we passed by from our brethren, the sons of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, by the way of the plain from Elath, and from Ezion Geber; and turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

Chapters 4-5 …

For the Word of the Lord thy God is a consuming fire: He is a jealous God. … When thou wilt be in trouble, and all these words will have found thee, in the end of the days, and thou wilt turn unto the fear of the Lord thy God, and be obedient to His Word, because the Lord thy God is a merciful God; He will not forsake thee, nor destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He sware unto them. For ask now of the ancient days that have been before thee, from the day that the Lord created man upon the earth, and (ask) from one end of the heavens to the other, if there hath been so great a thing as this, or any heard like it, whether a people have heard the voice of the Word of the Lord speaking from the midst of the fire as thou didst hear, and have lived… From the heavens thou didst hear the voice of His Word, that He might teach thee, and upon earth He showed thee His great fire, and thou heardest His words from the midst of the fire. And because He loved thy fathers, and had pleasure in their children after them, He brought thee out by His Word, by His mighty power, from Mizraim, to drive out nations greater and stronger than thou from before thee, to bring thee in, to give thee their land to inherit, as at this day.

V. And Mosheh called all Israel, and said to them… (I stood between the Word of the Lord and you, to announce to you at that time the word of the Lord; for you were afraid in presence of the fire, and went not up to the mountain,)…

These words spake the Lord with all your congregation at the mount, from the midst of the fire, the clouds and the darkness, with a great voice, and hath not ceased.[2] And He wrote them upon two tables of stone, and gave them to me. But it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the fire and darkness, the mount burning with fire, all the chiefs of your tribes and your elders drew near to me; and you said, Behold, the Lord our God hath showed to us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard the voice of His Word out of the midst of the fire; this day have we seen that the Lord speaketh with a man,[3] and he liveth. But now why should we die? For this great fire will consume us: if we go on to hear the voice of the Word of the Lord our God, we shall die. For who is there of all flesh who can hear the voice of the Word of the Living God speaking from the midst of fire (in the manner) that we have, and can live? Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say, and speak thou with us all that the Lord our God shall speak with thee, and we will hearken and will do. And the voice of your words was heard before the Lord when you spake with me, and the Lord said to me, The voice of the words of this people which they have spoken with thee is heard before Me; all (the words) they have spoken are right. O that they may have such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commandments all days, that it may be well with them and their children for ever. Go, and say to them, Return to your tents. But thou, stand here before Me, and I will tell thee all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land that I will give them to possess it.

Chapter 9 IX.

Hear, Israel: thou art this day (about) to pass over the Jordana, to enter, to drive out nations greater and stronger than thou, and (to take possession of) cities, great and fortified to the height of heaven; a people great and mighty, the sons of the giants whom thou knowest, and (of whom) thou hast heard (it said), Who can stand before the sons of the giants? But know this day that the Word of the Lord thy God, He it is who goeth over before thee, He who is a burning fire, He will consume them, He will break them down before thee, and thou wilt soon drive them out, as the Lord hath told thee…