Paraphrase of the Hard Texts of Scripture, Scripture 5
DEVTERONOMIE.
CAP. I.
9 I am not able to beare you my selfe alone.I Am not able to weild the government of so great and mightie a people, alone.
37 Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes.The Lord was displeased with me; for that being moved by your provocations, I offended, both in my vnadvised speeches, and distrust.
CAP. II.
30 For the Lord thy God hardned his spirit, and made his heart obstinate.THe Lord thy God gave him up to his own thoughts; and he put on stubborne resolutions against Israel.
CAP. III.
11 After the cubite of a man.ACcording to the usuall and received measure of a cubit.
CAP. IV.
5 I have taught you statutes and judgements.I Have given you lawes both civill and sacred.
32 Aske now of the dayes that are past.Inquire of those events and proofes of actions, which have beene in ancient times.
34 By tentations.By severall trialls of their obedience.
CAP. VI.
YE shall not provoke the Lord your God by distrusting,16 Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, &c. or straining his power for the satisfying of your owne carnall desires.
CAP. VII.
THe Lord will not plague thee,15 The Lord will put none of the evill diseases of Aegypt upon thee. with those contagious & deadly diseases, which he inflicted upon the Aegyptians, when they withstood his will in your departure.
vid. Exodus. 9.14.
The Lord thy God,20 The Lord thy God shall send the homet among them, &c. who is able by smallest meanes to confound the mightiest, shall send venomous flies amongst them, which shall not onelyonly gall them, but shall sting them to death.
CAP. VIII.
A Land,9 A land where stones are yron, and out of whose hills thou maiest digge brasse. whose face is not better furnish't with all kind of fruits, then her bowells are stored with rich, and usefull metalls.
CAP. IX.
I tooke that molten calfe wherein you had sinned,21 I tooke your sinne, the calfe which yee had made. idolatrously worshipping it in stead of the true God.
CAP. X.
CVt off therefore all that superfluity of wickednesse,16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your hearts. which is in your nature, and practise; and be ye spiritually cleane and holy unto God.
CAP. XI.
THe Land of Canaan,11 But the land whither ye goe to possesse it, is a land of hills & vallies; and drinketh water of the raine of heaven. which ye are now going to possesse, is not an even, and low plaine, as Aegypt was, from whence ye came, but full of pleasant and wholsome mountaines; and therefore is not, nor cannot be watered with the overflowings of a river (as Aegypt was with Nilus) but is moistned with the raine that fals from the clouds.
14 I will give you the first and the latter raine.I will give you seasonable raines, both the first raine after your seed time, to supple and fruiten the earth, and the later raine before your harvest, to swell up, and fill the eares.
18 For a signe on thine hand and a frontlet betweene thine eyes.Vid. Exodus 13.9. & 26. Not onelyonly shalt thou lay up my law in thy heart, but thou shalt have certaine scrolls tyed both to thy forehead, and to thy hand, for a memoriall thereof.
CAP. XII.
22 Even as the Roe bucke and the Hart is eaten, so shalt thou eate them, the uncleane and cleane shall eate of them alike. So also verse, 15.THou maist freely eate of thy beeves, or sheepe, or goates, though these kindes of creatures are wont to be of use for sacrifice unto God; yet maist thou with no lesse allowance eate of them, then of the Roe, and Hart, which are unfit for sacrifice, and yet fit for the use of thy table; neither shall there be any difference of persons, in respect of legall cleannesse, or pollution, at these thy civill meales; but all shall partake of them alike.
CAP. XIII.
6 Or thy friend which is as thine owne soule.OR if it bee possible that a friend should be dearer to thee then all these, as being no lesse one with thy soule, then thy wife is with thy body.
9 Thou shalt surely kill him; thy hand shall be first upon him.Thou shalt certainly procure his death by thine information and testimony; and as his just accuser, thou shalt throw the first stone at him.
17 And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand.Thou shalt suffer nothing to bee reserved of all that spoile which is devoted to destruction.
CAP. XIV.
1 Ye shall not cut your selves, &c.See Leviticus 19.28. and Ierem. 16.6.
6 Every beast that parteth the hoofe.See Levit. 11.2.3.
CAP. XV.
4 Save when there shall be no poore; or, that there be no poore among you.THou shalt thus release, that thou maist not by thine exaction impoverish thy brother; that so there may be no needy person among you. Compare this verse with the eleventh.
CAP. XVI.
AFter thou hast thus eaten the Passover on the Evening,7 And thou shalt turne in the morning, and goe to thy tents. thou shalt in the morning returne to the place of thine abode.
Thou shalt not receive a bribe to pervert justice.9 Thou shalt not take a gift.
Thou shalt not so farre conforme thy selfe to heathen Idolaters,21 Thou shalt not plant thee any grove of trees neare to the Altar of the Lord. as to plant any grove of trees neare to the altar of the Lord.
CAP. XVII.
IF there arise a matter for thee too hard to decide in cases of murder, and manslaughter,8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgement betwe… blood and blood, betweene plea and plea, betweene stroke and stroke, &c. in questions of difference betwixt parties, whether in civill affaires, or businesse of violence offered.
Nor send his people downe into Aegypt, to fetch thence such multitude of horses, as whereon he may trust for successe of victory.16 Nor cause the people to returne to Aegypt, to the end that he should multiplie horses.
CAP. XX.
IF any man have minde to make excuses of occasions whereby his heart may be drawne homeward,5 What man have built a new house and hath not dedicated it, let him returne, &c. so as he cannot heartily intend the service of the warre; whether it be in matter of purchase, or mariage, or plantation, let him have free libertie to returne; for God requires a free and chearefull resolution in those which goe forth to fight his battells.
Except they accept of conditions of peace,16 Thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth. when they are tendered unto them, thou shalt leave none of the persons, or beasts alive.
Thou shalt not destroy any of the trees that beareth fruit for the sustenance of man.19 Thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof.
CAP. XXI.
VNtoUnto some obscure valley that lies neglected,5 VntoUnto a rough valley. and utterly uncultured.
Thou shalt take those courses with her,12 Shee shall shave her head, and suffer her nailes to grow. that may most set off thy affections from her; both by the shaving her head close, and by the deformed growth of her nailes.
14 If thou have no delight in her; then thou shalt let her goe.But if by these meanes of deformation thy heart shall be set off from her, before thy marriage to her, then thou shalt dismisse her, &c.
17 The beginning of his strength.He is the first of that issue, which is a strengthening and defence unto him.
23 For he that is hanged is accursed of God.As all that are put to death as malactors, are, in regard of the cause of their death, accursed of God, so in an especiall manner, those that are put to this painefull and shamfull death of hanging upon the tree; as their offence is more hainous, and destable.
CAP. XXII.
1 Thou shalt not hide thy selfe from them.THou shalt not forbeare to give helpe to the oxe or sheep of thy brother, in bringing it home frō straying.
7 But thou shalt in any wise let … dam goe, &c,Thou shalt avoid all cruelty towards those creatures which God hath given to thy use; thou shalt not therefore at once kill the damme sitting on her nest: since the lives of the young depend on hers.
27 And the betrothed damosell cryed.It is to be supposed that the betrothed damsell cryed.
30 Nor discouer his fathers skirt.See Levit. 18.8.
CAP. XXIII.
1 Shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord.SHall not bee admitted to beare office, in the state of Israel.
8 The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the Lord in the third generation.After they have beene in three successions incorporated into Israel, they may have the priviledge of being admitted to the administration of the common-wealth.
Thou shalt have a place set apart for thee without the campe, whither thou shalt goe for the discharging of the necessities of nature.12 Thou shalt have a place also without the camp whither thou shalt goe forth abroad.
If an Heathenish servant shall be a convert to thy true religion, and shall in this regard, for the liberty of his conscience,15 Thou shalt not deliver unto his master, the servant which is escaped from his master to thee. flee unto thee, thou shalt not deliver him backe to his Master.
18 Thou shalt not bring the hire of an whore.An harlot shall not offer to God that money which was given her for the hire of her whordome.
To him that is a stranger from the blood, and religion of Israel, thou maiest carry thy selfe strangely; and therefore thou art not bound to lend unto such a one freely.20 VntoUnto a stranger thou maist lend upon usury.
Thou maist for the satisfying of thy present hunger plucke the eares of corne with thine hand.25 Then thou maist plucke the eares with thine hand.
CAP. XXIV.
IF a man shall finde any soule,1 Because hee hath found some uncleannesse in her, then let him write her a bill of divorce. or shamefull matter in the behaviour of his wife; or any intolerable imperfection in her body; a divorce in such case is, for the hardnesse of your hearts, tolerated; which divorce is to bee signified by a formall writing, to that purpose.
For that which he taketh to pledge is a necessary instrument of preparing that bread,6 For he taketh a mans life to pledge. whereby mans life is sustained.
Hee maketh account of it as the meanes of his liveload.15 He setteth his heart upon it.
However the Magistrate may deale in case of mulcts,16 The father shall not be put to death for the children, &c. and forfaitures, yet he may not inflict death upon the child for the fathers offence, nor on the father for the crime of the child.
CAP. XXV.
THey shall absolve and acquite the innocent.1 They shall justifie the righteous.
He that is next in blood to her husband, shall retire himselfe to a conjugall familiarity with her.5 Her husbands brother shall goe in unto her.
Shall be reputed as the sonne of that brother which is dead.6 Shall succeed in the name of his brother.
And shall spit upon the ground, before him; and shall say; So shall the man be defied,9 And shall spit in his face (or presence) and shall answer and say; So shall it be done to the man that will not build up his brothers house. or spat out of the congregation, as justly worthy of contempt, who refuseth to raise up seed to his dead brother.
CAP. XXVI.
A Distressed sojourner in Syria that fled from a cruell brother to the service of a cruell uncle,5 A Syrian ready to perish was my father. was that ancestor from whom we are derived.
I have not eaten thereof uncomfortably,14 I have not eaten thereof in my mourning. and dejectedly, but with that chearefulnesse of heart, which thou requirest.
I have not superstitiously bestowed any part thereof in furnishing the exequies of the dead.14 Nor given ought thereof to the dead.
CAP. XXVII.
NO yron toole shall be used in hewing and squaring of the stones for Gods altar.5 Thou shalt not lift up any yron toole upon them.
9 This day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God.This day by renewing thy covenant with God, thou art anew interessed in him, and acknowledged for his peculiar people.
12 These shall stand upon mount Gerizim, and blesse the people.Sixe of the tribes which are more noble (by the mothers side) then the rest, shall, upon mount Gerizim pronounce the blessing on the people.
24 Cursed bee hee that smiteth his neighbour secretly.Cursed be he that by secret practises procureth the blood of his neighbour to be shed.
26 Cursed be hee that confirmeth not all the words of this law to doe them.Cursed be he that doth not in his practise conforme, and frame himselfe to the whole Law of God, and continue in the carefull observation thereof, all his dayes.
CAP. XXVIII.
5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.BLessed shalt thou be in the fruits, which thou gatherest, and layest up; and in those victualls which thou preparest, or reservest.
12 The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the raine to thy land, &c.The Lord that hath treasured up his rich and fruitfull showers, in the clouds, shall open them seasonably unto thee, causing the raine to fall from heaven upon thy land, &c.
13 The Lord shall make thee the head, and not the taile.The Lord shall give thee a superiority above other nations, and not put thee beneath them in honor and reputation.
23 The heaven that is over thy head shall bee brasse, and the earth that is under thee shall bee yron.The moisture of the clouds shall be utterly restrained from thee; and the earth shall with the drought thereof be barren and fruitlesse.
24 The Lord shall make the raine of thy land powder and dust.The ayre shall be filled with a dry dust, in stead of the drops of a comfortable, and refreshing raine.
The Lord shall smite thee with those grievous boiles, and blaines,27 The Lord shall smite thee with the botch of Aegypt. wherewith he plagued the Aegyptians, when they refused to let you goe out of their land. Exod. 9.
34 Thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes.The view and sense of those judgements which shall be inflicted upon thee, shall utterly distract thee of thy wits.
48 He shall put a yoke of yron upon thy necke.He shall put thee under an hard and intolerable bondage.
54 His eye shall bee evill toward his brother, &c.He shall grudge to his brother; or to his wife any part of the flesh of his owne children, &c.
An heart full of dejectednesse and dismay, and an utter disappointment of all hopes of delivery.65 A trembling heart, and fayling of eyes.
68 The Lord shall bring thee in to Aegypt againe with ships.The Lord shall cause thee to bee carried captive in ships through the Mediterranean Sea into that land of Aegypt, where thou wert once in bondage.
CAP. XXIX.
I Make this covenant, as with those that are now alive,15 But with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day. and here present this day, so with those of your posterity, which as yet have no being.
Lest there be amongst you any wicked person, who by his Idolatry may poyson Gods people,18 Lest there should be amongst you a root that beareth gall and wormwood. and bring many bitter and grievous judgements upon you.
To draw on one sinne upon another; making one sin but a beginning and provocation of the next.19 To adde drunkennesse to thirst.
And that the whole land thereof shall be Sodom-like covered over with brimstone, & salt,23 And that the whole land thereof is brimstone and salt, & burning, that it is not sowne, nor beareth. which shall scorch and dry up the earth, that it shall not be capable of seed, or fruit.
CAP. XXX.
THe Lord thy God will by his spirit reforme and renew thy heart.6 The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart.
CAP. XXXII.
I Wish that my doctrine may so fall upon your hearts,2 My doctrine shall dorp as the raine, &c. as the sweet and gentle showers fall upon the herbs and flowers of the earth; which cause them to spring forth and flowrish.
He is a strong and sure refuge to his Church.4 He is the rocke.
This people of Israel hath corrupted themselves with their Idolatry;5 They have corrupted themselves; their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation. the blemishes of their actions are not such as may stand with the profession, which they make of Gods children, errors of infirmity; but such as justly argue them to bee a rebellious and wicked generation.
The Lord hath chosen out Israel to be his share,9 For the Lords portion is his people. and peculiar possession, among all the nations of the world.
He made him to subdue,13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth. and triumph over the most defenced Cities, and most impregnable places of the earth.
He caused the most craggie and barren parts to yeeld unto Israel much pleasure, and store of delicacies.13 He made him to sucke hony out of the rocke, and oyle out of the flintie rocke.
But my people, whom I stiled righteous, have abused my bounty, and turned my grace into wantonnesse;15 But Iesurun waxed fat and kicked, &c. for being pampered by my mercifull provisions, they have carried themselves rebelliously towards me.
21 I will move them to jealousie with those which are not a people.This people of Israel shall be moved to anger and envy, by the sight of those mercies which (diverting from them) I shall bestow upon the Gentiles, whom now they scorne as no people of God.
22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burne unto the lowest hell.Those judgements, which I will inflict in my wrathfull displeasure, shall be most vehement, and unconceiveably fearefull.
24 They shall be burnt with hunger.Their skins shall turne blacke with famine.
If God, who was wont to be their refuge, had not given them up into the hands of their enemies,30 Except their rocke had sold them. to bee bought, and sold as slaves.
31 For their rocke is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.For the gods in whom the heathen trust, are not like unto our God, even in the judgement of our enemies themselves, who have had experience of the wonderfull power of God, both in his judgements, and our deliverances.
32 Their vine is of the vine of Sodome, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter.The fruits that they yeeld are unsavory, and unwholsome, such as were yeelded by those wicked cities of Sodom, and Gomorrah: So abhominably evill are their lives, as were those of the cities accursed and consumed from heaven; their workes are most distastfull, and odious in the judgement of the Almighty.
33 Their wine is the poyson of dragons.Their best actions are to God, as the deadliest poyson is to the taste of men.
34 Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?Are not these wickednesses taken notice of, and kept in perpetuall remembrance by me; and in my eternall decree reserved to a most certaine judgement?
40 I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.I sweare by my selfe, and say, As I live for ever, I will be avenged on mine enemies.
I will by my revenging hand worke an exceeding great slaughter amongst mine enemies.42 I will make mine arrowes drunke with blood.
It is that, which if ye doe, yee shall live in performing it.47 It is your life.
CAP. XXXIII.
2 The Lord came frō Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shineth forth frō mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of his Saints: From his right hand went a fiery law for them.GOd, like a glorious sunne, imparted his beames unto Israel; beginning his course at their first entring into the wildernesse, and rising still up to them by the proofe of his goodnesse, in their passage through the land of Edom; he shined forth brightly as at noone day to them, when he blessed the elders of Israel with a large measure of his spirit; and he garded his people with ten thousands of his powerfull Angells; in whose attendance he did, in fire, deliver his law majestically, and terribly to Israel.
O God,3 All his Saints are in thine hand; and they sate downe at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words. all thine holy and chosen people are in thy safe, and blessed protection; They attended upon thee at the foot of the mount Sinai, and with awe and reverence received the words of thy Law, which thou spakest unto them.
Moses was the Prince and governour of Israel.5 He was King in Iesurun.
Bring him home from his warres with victory and peace, let his hand be so strēgthened by thee,7 And bring him unto his people; let his hands be sufficient for him. that it may be able to subdue all his enemies.
Be gracious to the tribe of Levi; and furnish thou thine High priest, whom thou hast chosen out of it,8 Let thy Vrim and thy Thummim be with thine holy one whom thou didst prove in Massah. with those excellent graces, which thou hast figured in his brest-plate, with perfection of knowledge, and sanctity; Thus do thou blesse the sonne of that thy servant Aaron, whom thou provedst at Massah, &c.
God shall take up his dwelling in that chiefe City,12 He shall dwell betweene his shoulders. which, in part, pertaineth to the Tribe of Benjamin, even the holy City Hierusalem.
For the dew that falleth from above,13 For the dewe, and for the deepe that coucheth beneath. and for the water-springs that fruiten his plants from below.
And for those precious fruits,14 And for the precious fruits brought forth by the Sunne, and for the precious fruits put forth by the Moone. which are brought forth by the warmth of the sun-beames, and by the kindly moisture of the night, & by the influence of the Moone.
And for those choice fruits,15 And for the chiefe things of the ancient mountaines, &c. which ripen best upon the mountaines; those eminent mountaines, which have so continued ever since their first creation; and are now famous in the inheritance of Joseph.
For the gracious favour and benediction of that God who appeared to me in that bush which consumed not.16 For the good will of him that dwelt in the Bush.
The Tribe of Ephraim shall be glorious, and lusty,17 His glory is like the firstling, of his bullocke, and his hornes are like the hornes of Vnicornes, with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth; & they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh. full of beauty and courage, like to a faire young bullock in his best strength; and his power shall be great and unresistible, wherewith he shall conquer far-remote nations; Lo, thus succesfull and victorious shall bee both the sonnes of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, but especially Ephraim, who shall exceed his brother no lesse then ten degrees.
Much cause of joy mayst thou have, O Zebulun,18 Rejoyce Zebulun in thy going out; and Issachar in thy tents. in all thy goings out, whether for trafique, or for warre; and thou, Issachar, his elder brother, in thy quiet habitations at home.
Gad shall dwell commodiously for spoyling his enemies; of whom he shall make his pray,20 Hee dwelleth as a Lyon, and teareth the arme with the crowne of the head. like to strong fierce Lyon, which teareth the head from the shoulders of that beast which he seizeth upon.
He made a wise and early provision for himselfe,21 And he provided the first part for himselfe, because there in a portion of the Lawgiver he was seated. in planting himselfe on this side Jordan, in that portion, which upon his suit was alloted him by the ruler, and law-giver of Israel.
22 Dan is a Lyons whelpe, he shall leap from Bashan.Dan shall flie upon his enemies, like some fell and fierce young Lyon, that is bred in the mountaine of Bashan.
He shall dwell in a rich soile, and shall abound with the plenty of all earthly blessings.24 Let him dip his foot in oyle.
25 Thy shooes shall be yron ard brasse.The earth whereon thou shalt tread shall be stored with all usefull metalls, as yron and brasse, and the like of those kinds.
CAP. XXXIV.
6 And hee buried him in a vally in the land of Moab.GOd did this honor to his servant Moses, that he did, without the ayd of any mortall hand, provide a grave for him, and there inrerred him accordingly.
8 Face to face.See Numbers 12.8.