Then Moses spoke to the leaders of the tribes concerning the Israelites, saying, "This is the word that Yahweh commanded: if a man makes a vow for Yahweh or swears an oath with a binding pledge on himself, he must not render his word invalid; he must do all that went out from his mouth.

"If a woman makes a vow to Yahweh, and she binds a pledge on herself in her father’s house in your childhood, but if her father hears her vow or her pledge that she bound on herself and says nothing to her, then all her vows will stand, and every pledge that she binds on her life will stand. If her father forbids her on the day he hears of it, all her vows or her pledges that she bound on herself will not stand, and Yahweh will forgive her because her father has forgiven her.

"If she has a husband while bound by her vows or a rash promise of her lips, and her husband hears of it and is silent on the day he hears it, her vows will stand, and her pledge that she bound upon herself will stand. But if on the day her husband hears of it, he forbids her, then he will nullify her vow that she is under, and the rash promise of her lips that she bound on herself; and Yahweh will forgive her.

"But the vow of a widow or a woman who is divorced, all that she binds on herself will stand on her. But if she made a vow in her husband’s house, or bound herself on a pledge with a sworn oath, and her husband heard it but was silent to her, and he did not forbid her, all her vows will stand and every pledge that she bound on herself will stand. But if her husband nullified them on the day he hears them, all her vows going out of her lips concerning her vows or the pledge on herself will not stand; her husband has nullified them, and Yahweh will forgive her.

"Any vow and any sworn oath of a pledge to inflict on herself, her husband can confirm it or her husband can nullify it. But if her husband is completely silent from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or all her pledges that are on her; he confirms them because he was silent to her on the day he heard them. But if he indeed nullifies them after he hears them, then he will bear her guilt."

These are the decrees that Yahweh commanded Moses, as between a husband and his wife, and between a father and his daughter, while her childhood is in her father’s house.

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Seek vengeance for the Israelites on the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people." Moses spoke to the people, saying, "Arm yourself from among your men for the battle, so that they will go against Midian to mete out the vengeance of Yahweh on Midian. A thousand from each tribe of every tribe of Israel you will send to battle." So theywere assigned from the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand equipped for battle. Moses sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the battle, and Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the battle with them, and the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets of the blast were in his hand. And they fought against Midian just as Yahweh commanded Moses, and they killed every male. They killed the kings of Midian in addition to the ones they had slain: Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian; they also killed Balaam son of Beor by the sword. The Israelites took captive the women of Midian and their children, and they plundered all their domestic animals and all their livestock and all their wealth. They burned all their cities where they dwelled and all their camps with fire. They took all the plunder and all the war-booty with the humans and domestic animals. They brought the captives, the war-booty, and the plunder to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the community of the Israelites, to the camp to the desert-plateau of Moab, which was on the Jordan across Jericho.

And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went out to meet them outside the camp. But Moses was angry toward the leaders of the troops, the commanders of the thousands and the commanders of the hundreds, who came from the battle of the war. And Moses said to them, "You have kept alive every female? Behold, these women caused the Israelites, by the word of Balaam, to be in apostasy against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, so that the plague was among the community of Yahweh. Now kill every male among the little children, and kill every woman who has had sexual intercourse with a man. But all the females who have not had sexual intercourse with a man, keep alive for yourselves. And you, camp outside the camp seven days; all who killed a person and all who touched the slain purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, you and your captives. You will purify yourselves and every garment and every object of hide and all the work of goats’ hair, and every object of wood."

Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of the battle who came from the war, "This is the decree of the law that Yahweh commanded Moses. Only the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead— everything that will go through the fire—you will pass through the fire, and it will be clean, and only in waters of impurity will it be purified. Whatever does not go into the fire you will pass through the waters. And you will wash your garments on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you will come into the camp."

Yahweh said to Moses, saying, "You and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the families of the community, take count of the war-booty that was captured, both humans and the domestic animals; divide the war-booty between those who engaged in the war, who went out to the battle, and all the community. Exact a tribute for Yahweh from the men of the war, those who went out to the battle, one from five hundred persons, and from the cattle and from the male donkeys and from the flock; take from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to Yahweh. From half of the Israelites, take one share drawn by lot from the fifty from the humans, from the cattle, from the male donkeys, from the flock, from all the domestic animals, and give them to the Levities who keep the responsibilities of the tabernacle of Yahweh." Moses and Eleazar the priest did just as Yahweh commanded Moses.

Thus the war-booty that remained of the plunder that the people of the battle plundered was six hundred and seventy-five thousand flocks of sheep, seventy-two thousand cattle, sixty-one thousand male donkeys, and the life of humankind, from the women who did not have sexual intercourse with a man, all the persons were thirty-two thousand.

The half of the share that was going out to the battle: the number of the flock of sheep was thee hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred; the tribute to Yahweh from the flock was six hundred and seventy-five; and the cattle were thirty-six thousand; and the tribute to Yahweh was seventy-two. Of the male donkeys there were thirty thousand five hundred, and the tribute to Yahweh was sixty-one; the humans were sixteen thousand, and the tribute to Yahweh was thirty-two persons. And Moses gave away the tribute of the contribution of Yahweh to Eleazar the priest, just as Yahweh commanded Moses.

From the half of the Israelites, which Moses divided from the men who were fighting, the half that belonged to the community was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred from the flock, and thirty-six thousand cattle, and thirty thousand five hundred male donkeys, and sixteen thousand humans. From the half that belonged to the Israelites, Moses took one share drawn by lot out of every fifty humans and domestic animals, and he gave them to the Levites, who keep the responsibility of the tabernacle of Yahweh, just as Yahweh commanded Moses.

Then the leaders of the thousands of the army, the commanders of the thousands and the commanders of the hundreds, approached Moses, and they said to Moses, "Your servants have taken count of the men of war who were in our charge, and no man is missing from us. So we brought the offering of Yahweh, what each man found, objects of gold, bangles, bracelets, rings, earrings, and female ornaments, to make atonement for ourselves before Yahweh." Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all objects of work. All the gold of the contribution that they raised up to Yahweh, from the commanders of the thousands and the commanders of the hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. The men of battle plundered each for himself. So Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the commanders of the thousands and hundreds, and they brought it to the tent of the assembly as a memorial for the Israelites before Yahweh.

The descendants of Reuben and the descendants of Gad had a very large number of livestock. And they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold it was a place for livestock. The descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben came, and they said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, saying, "Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, the land that Yahweh struck before the community of Israel, is a land of livestock, and your servants have livestock." They said, "If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as property; do not lead us across the Jordan."

But Moses said to the descendants of Gad and to the descendants of Reuben, "Will your brothers go to war while you yourselves live here? Why are you discouraging the hearts of the Israelites from crossing into the land that Yahweh gave to them? This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. When they went up to the valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the Israelites so that they did not come to the land that Yahweh gave to them. So Yahweh’s anger burned on that day, and he swore an oath, saying, ‘The men who went up from Egypt, from those twenty years old and above, will not see the land that I swore with an oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because they have not wholly followed me, except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, because they followed Yahweh wholly.’ And Yahweh became angry, and he made them wander in the desert forty years until the entire generation who did evil in the sight of Yahweh had died. Behold, you stand in the place of your fathers, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more Yahweh’s fierce anger against Israel. If you turn from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness, and you would have destroyed all these people."

They came near to him and said, "We will build sheep pens here for the flock of our livestock and cities for our little children; but we ourselves will become armed and ready before the Israelites until we have brought them to their place, and our little children will live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our houses until the Israelites each obtain their inheritance for themselves. For we will not take possession with them from across the Jordan and beyond because our inheritance has come to us from across the Jordan to the east."

So Moses said to them, "If you do this thing, if you arm yourselves before Yahweh for the war, and everyone of you armed cross the Jordan before Yahweh until he has driven out his enemies from before him, and the land is subdued before Yahweh, then afterward you will return and be free of obligation from Yahweh and from Israel, and this land will be your property before Yahweh. But if you do not do so, behold, you have sinned against Yahweh, and know that your sin will find you. Build for yourselves cities for your little children and sheep pens for your flocks; what has gone out from your mouth you will do."

So the descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben said to Moses, saying, "Your servants will do just as my lord commands. Our little children, our wives, our livestock, and all of our animals will remain in the cities of Gilead, but your servants, everyone who is armed for battle, will cross over before Yahweh to the war, just as my lord says."

So Moses commanded them, Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families of the tribes of the Israelites. Moses said to them, "If the descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben, everyone who is armed for the war, cross over the Jordan before Yahweh, and the land is subdued before you, you will give them the land of Gilead as property. But if they will not cross over with you armed, they will acquire land in your midst in Canaan." The descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben answered and said, "What Yahweh has commanded your servants, we will do. We ourselves will cross over armed before Yahweh to the land of Canaan, and the property of our inheritance will remain with us beyond the Jordan."

So Moses gave to them, to the descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben, and to half of the tribe of Joseph’s son Manasseh, the kingdom of Sihon the king of Amorites and the kingdom of Og the king of the Bashan, the land with its cities and their territories, the cities of the surrounding land. The descendants of Gad rebuilt Dibon, Ataroth, and Aroer, and Atroth Shophan, Jazer, and Jogbehah, and Beth Nimrah and Beth Haran, the cities of Mibzar, and the sheep pens for flocks. The descendants of Reuben rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, and Kiriathaim, and Nebo, Baal Meon (their names were changed), and Sibmah, and they renamed the cities that they rebuilt. The descendants of Makir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and they captured it and drove out the Amorites who were in it. So Moses gave Gilead to Makir son of Manasseh, and he lived in it. And Jair son of Manasseh went and captured their unwalled villages, and he called them Havvoth Jair. Nobah went and captured Kenath and its villages, and he called it Nobah after his own name.

These were the journeys of the Israelites, who went out from the land of Egypt according to their divisions, by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Moses wrote down their movements according to their journeys on the command of Yahweh, and these are their journeys according to their movements. They set out from Rameses on the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the next day after the Passover the Israelites went out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians while the Egyptians were burying all the firstborn among them whom Yahweh struck. Yahweh also executed punishments among their gods.

Then the Israelites set out from Rameses, and they camped in Succoth. They journeyed from Succoth and camped in Etham, which is on the edge of the desert. Then they set out from Etham and returned to Pi-Hahiroth, which faces Baal Zephon, and they camped before Migdol. They set out from Pi-Hahiroth and went through the midst of the sea into the desert; and they went a journey of three days into the desert of Etham and camped at Marah. They set out from Marah and came to Elim, and in Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there. They set out from Elim, and they camped at the Red Sea. They set out from the Red Sea and camped at the desert of Sin. They set out from the desert of Sin and camped at Dophkah. They set out from Dophkah and camped at Alush. They set out from Alush and encamped at Rephidim; and it was there that the people had no water to drink. They set out from Rephidim and camped in the desert of Sinai. The set out from the desert of Sinai and camped at Kibroth Hattaavah.

They set out from Kibroth Hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth. They set out from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah. They set out from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon Perez. They set out from Rimmon Perez and camped at Libnah. They set out from Libnah and camped at Rissah. They set out from Rissah and camped at Kehelathah. They set out from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shapher. They set out from Mount Shapher and camped at Haradah. They set out from Haradah and camped at Makheloth. They set out from Makheloth and camped at Tahath. They set out from Tahath and camped at Terah. They set out from Terah and camped at Mithcah. They set out from Mithcah and camped at Hashmonah. They set out from Hashmonah and camped at Moserah. They set out from Moserah and camped at Bene-Jaakan. They set out from Bene-Jaakan and camped at Hor Haggidgad. They set out from Hor Haggidgad and camped at Jotbathah. They set out from Jotbathah and camped at Abronah. They set out from Abronah and camped at Ezion Geber. They set out from Ezion Geber and camped in the desert of Zin, that is, Kadesh. They set out from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, at the edge of the land of Edom.

Aaron the priest went up to Mount Hor at the command of Yahweh, and he died there in the fortieth year after the Israelites had gone out from the land of Egypt, in the fifth month on the first day of the month. Aaron was one hundred and twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor.

Now the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who was living in the Negev in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the Israelites.

Then they set out from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah. They set out from Zalmonah and camped at Punon. They set out from Punon and camped at Oboth. They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye Abarim, the boundary of Moab. They set out from Iyim and camped at Dibon Gad. They set out from Dibon Gad and camped at Almon-Diblatayim. They set out from Almon-Diblatayim and camped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. They set out from the mountains of Abarim and camped on the desert-plateau of Moab by the Jordan across Jericho. They camped by the Jordan, from Beth-Jeshimoth up to Abel Shittim, on the desert-plateau of Moab.

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses on the desert-plateau of Moab by the Jordan across Jericho, saying, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, you will drive out the inhabitants of the land from your presence, and you will destroy all their idols and all the images of their molten idols, and you will demolish all their high places; you will dispossess the land and live in it because I have given the land to you to possess it. You will distribute the land by lot according to your clans; to the larger group you will give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller group you will give less inheritance. However the lot falls for him, there the lot will be. You will distribute it according to the tribes of your ancestors. But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from your presence, then it will happen that whomever you let remain of them will be like irritants in your eyes and like thorns in your sides; they will be your enemies in the land in which you live. And just as I planned to do to them, I will do to you.’"

Of David.

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, in the time of the high priest Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the surrounding region of the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

Therefore he was saying to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "Offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! And even now the ax is positioned at the root of the trees; therefore every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

And the crowds were asking him, saying, "What then should we do?" And he answered and said to them, "The one who has two tunics must share with the one who does not have one, and the one who has food must do likewise." And tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, "Teacher, what should we do?" And he said to them, "Collect no more than what you are ordered to." And those who served in the army were also asking him, saying, "What should we also do?" And he said to them, "Extort from no one, and do not blackmail anyone, and be content with your pay."

And while the people were waiting expectantly and all were pondering in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, "I baptize you with water, but the one who is more powerful than I am is coming, of whom I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing shovel is in his hand, to clean out his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his storehouse, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

So with many other exhortations also he proclaimed good news to the people. But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him concerning Herodias, his brother’s wife, and concerning all the evil deeds that Herod had done, added this also to them all: he also locked up John in prison.

Now it happened that when all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized, and while he was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."

And Jesus, when he began his ministry, was himself about thirty years old, being the son (as it was believed) of Joseph the son of Eli, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the son of Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.