Polytropy

The reading is Sellier 688–719, which is Lafuma 436–484, or

• PREUVES PAR DISCOURS III (SÉRIE V): 10 fragments (S 688–90, L 436–50)
• PREUVES PAR LES JUIFS
  • I (SÉRIE VI): 1 fragment (S 691, L 451)
  • II (SÉRIE VII): 1 fragment (S 692, L 452)
  • III (SÉRIE VIII): 1 fragment (S 693, L 453)
  • IV (SÉRIE IX): 1 fragment (S 694–5, L 454–5)
  • V (SÉRIE X): 1 fragment (S 696, L 456–7)
  • VI (SÉRIE XI): 15 fragments (S 697–717, L 458–82)
• PROPHÉTIES
  • I (SÉRIE XII): 1 fragment (S 718, L 483)
  • II (SÉRIE XIII): 1 fragment (S 719, L 484)

Labels are Sellier–La Guern–Lafuma–Brunschvicg. There is an extra fragment, 698–425 bis–973–919.

Points of Note

Jews revere a holy book that tells them how bad they are and will always be, Pascal observes admiringly in 692–422–452–631. In 688–407–436–628 he criticizes the Iliad for being fiction intended for diversion; but I think it is the Greek holy book, even while showing that

• the Greeks are fools for trusting in the gods they do;
• the best human beings may be foreigners.

Christianity is nearly as far from deism as from atheism, according to Pascal in (690)–419–449–556. You may be led to either extreme by the natural light of reason. Pascal will base no argument on this, he goes on to say; scripture doesn’t, he points out in 702–431–463–243. The proof of religion is only enough to justify the inclination of your heart, according to 700–429–461–584 and 717–447–482–289.

Les hommes sont tout ensemble indignes de Dieu et capables de Dieu, says Pascal in (690)–414–444–557: “men are both unworthy and capable of God,” as Trotter has it, or “men are all at once unworthy and capable of God,” for Ariew. Whether in French or English, such use of capable is obsolete, but is found, before Pascal, in Anglican theologian Richard Hooker:

Happiness … containeth in it … the highest degree of all our perfection. Of such perfection capable we are not in this life … Capable we are of God, both by understanding and will.

On the first capability, or rather incapability, Hooker quotes the mystical work attributed to Hermes Trismegistus: “So then, Asclepius, the name alone of Good is found in men, the thing itself nowhere …” Pascal says in 688–407–436–628 that the Hermetica and the Sibylline Books are false, unlike the Hebrew Bible.

Pascal traces Greek and Roman law to Jewish law, in 691–421–451–620 and 694–424–454–619; but the evidence in Josephus does not seem strong.

Pascal uses Hebrew Scripture, in 693–423–453–610, Pour montrer que les vrais Juifs et les vrais chrétiens n’ont qu’une même religion. The scriptures themselves need more study (by me); but I think Pascal’s interpretation is questionable, even obviously so. Likewise for Jonathan Edward’s interpretation in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Pascal might however point out that God is Deus absconditus, appearing once only, according to (690)–410–440–559 bis and (690)–418–448–559. From the fourth reading, he may also recall 289–241–257–684:

Contradiction.

On ne peut faire une bonne physionomie qu’en accordant toutes nos contrariétés et ne suffit pas de suivre une suite de qualités accordantes sans accorder les contraires ; pour entendre le sens d’un auteur il faut accorder tous les passages contraires.

Ainsi pour entendre l’Écriture il faut avoir un sens dans lequel tous les passages contraires s’accordent ; il ne suffit pas d’en avoir un qui convienne à plusieurs passages accordants, mais d’en avoir un qui accorde les passages même contraires.

Tout auteur a un sens auquel tous les passages contraires s’accordent ou il n’a point de sens du tout. On ne peut pas dire cela de l’Écriture et des prophètes : ils avaient assurément trop de bon sens. Il faut donc en chercher un qui accorde toutes les contrariétés.

Le véritable sens n’est donc pas celui des juifs, mais en Jésus-Christ toutes les contradictions sont accordées.

Les juifs ne sauraient accorder la cessation de la royauté et principauté prédite par Osée, avec la prophétie de Jacob.

Si on prend la loi, les sacrifices et le royaume pour réalités on ne peut accorder tous les passages ; il faut donc par nécessité qu’ils ne soient que figures. On ne saurait pas même accorder les passages d’un même auteur, ni d’un même livre, ni quelquefois d’un même chapitre, ce qui marque trop quel était le sens de l’auteur ; comme quand Ezéchiel, ch. 20 dit qu’on vivra dans les commandements de Dieu et qu’on n’y vivra pas.

Summary

• PREUVES PAR DISCOURS III (SÉRIE V)

  • Fragment n° 1 / 10 (S 688, L 436) Written centuries after the events it describes, Homer’s Iliad can only be considered as a novel, a diversion, not history. Likewise the Sibylline Books and the Hermetica are false.

  • Fragment n° 2 / 10 (S 689, L437) Being wretched (misérable) requires feeling (sentiment).

  • Fragment n° 3 / 10 (S 690, L 438–9) The truth of religion is in its obscurity.

  • Fragment n° 4 / 10 (S 690, L 440–2) Sketch of dualities: corrupt, but redeemed; wretched, but great; pagans, Jews.

  • Fragment n° 5 / 10 (S 690, L 443) It is an error to follow a single truth …

  • Fragment n° 6 / 10 (S 690, L 444–6) … for example, to know God, but not one’s wretchedness, or the other way around. Of God we are unworthy, but capable. I find that Richard Hooker uses “capable” in a similar way, while citing the Hermetica on how “in the world, subject we are unto sundry imperfections.”

  • Fragment n° 7 / 10 (S 690, L 447) Converting the pagans is for God; the Jews could not do it, not to mention the Sages, such as Plato and Socrates.

  • Fragment n° 8 / 10 (S 690, L 448) God had to appear, not never, not always, but once, to prove the duality that there is a God, of whom we are not worthy.

  • Fragment n° 9 / 10 (S 690, L 449) The sages who said there was but one God were persecuted; the Jews, hated; the Christians, more so. They saw by natural light that all must be centered on the true religion, if there is one. Consisting in the mystery of the Redeemer, Christianity is equidistant from deism and atheism.

  • Fragment n° 10 / 10 (S 690, L 449–50) Pascal will offer no proofs from natural reason. Knowing the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, means knowing God and one’s own wretchedness.

• PREUVES PAR LES JUIFS I (SÉRIE VI) (S 691, L 451) Unlike other peoples, the Jews are one family. They have been around forever, always in communication with God, and their law is the model for all others, as Josephus and Philo observe.

• PREUVES PAR LES JUIFS II (SÉRIE VII) (S 692, L 452) The Jews are devoted to a book that tells them what bad people they are and are going to be.

• PREUVES PAR LES JUIFS III (SÉRIE VIII) (S 693, L 453) The true Jews and Christians have the same religion, which (as numerous passages of the Hebrew Bible show) consists in loving God, not in descending from Abraham, circumcision, sacrifices, ceremonies, the Ark of the Covenant, the Temple, Jerusalem, the Law, the Covenant itself. The main points are:

  Que

  • Dieu n’acceptait point la parenté d’Abraham;
  • les Juifs seront punis de Dieu comme les étrangers s’ils l’offensent;
  • les étrangers seront reçus de Dieu comme les Juifs s’ils l’aiment;
  • les vrais Juifs ne considéraient leur mérite que de Dieu et non d’Abraham;
  • la circoncision du cœur est ordonnée;
  • Dieu dit qu’il le ferait un jour;
  • les incirconcis de cœur seront jugés;
  • l’extérieur ne sert à rien sans l’intérieur;
  • les Juifs, manque de cet amour, seraient réprouvés pour leurs crimes et les païens élus en leur place;
  • les biens temporels sont faux et que le vrai bien est d’être uni à Dieu;
  • leurs fêtes déplaisaient à Dieu;
  • les sacrifices des Juifs déplaisent à Dieu. Qu’il ne les a établis que pour leur dureté;
  • les sacrifices des païens seront reçus de Dieu et que Dieu retirera sa volonté des sacrifices des Juifs;
  • Dieu fera une nouvelle alliance par le Messie et que l’ancienne sera rejetée;
  • les anciennes choses seront oubliées. Qu’on ne se souviendra plus de l’arche;
  • le temple serait rejeté;
  • les sacrifices seraient rejetés et d’autres sacrifices purs établis;
  • l’ordre de la sacrificature d’Aaron serait réprouvé et celle de Melchisédech introduite par le Messie;
  • cette sacrificature serait éternelle;
  • Jérusalem serait réprouvée et Rome admise;
  • le nom des Juifs serait réprouvé et un nouveau nom donné;
  • ce dernier nom serait meilleur que celui de Juifs et éternel;
  • les Juifs devaient être sans prophètes;
  • les Juifs subsisteraient toujours néanmoins en peuple.

• PREUVES PAR LES JUIFS IV (SÉRIE IX) (S 694–5, L 454–5) Ignore supposed miracles. None of the religions of the world recommends itself, but for Judaism, which touts a unique God, who gave the Jews the world’s earliest and most perfect Law.

• PREUVES PAR LES JUIFS V (SÉRIE X) (S 695–6, L 456–7) Similar.

• PREUVES PAR LES JUIFS VI (SÉRIE XI)

  • Fragment n° 1 / 15 (S 697–8, L 458–9, 973) Christianity is infinitely wise and foolish.

  • Fragment n° 2 / 15 (S 699, L 460) The Christian God lets us know, or feel, that our concupiscence and amour-propre keep us from loving him, and yet he alone is the cure.

  • Fragment n° 3 / 15 (S 700, L 461) There’s enough light in the world for finding God, but only if you want; otherwise you are punished.

  • Fragment n° 4 / 15 (S 701, L 462) The prophets predicted, but were not predicted; the saints, the other way around; Jesus Christ, both.

  • Fragment n° 5 / 15 (S 702, L 463) No Biblical author tries to prove God with natural reason.

  • Fragment n° 6 / 15 (S 703, L 464–6) Therefore do not scorn scripture; esteem it, for knowing the contrarieties.

  • Fragment n° 7 / 15 (S 704, L 467) It is not just that all see redemption.

  • Fragment n° 8 / 15 (S 705–6, L 468–9) Everything shows one of the contrarieties. God makes the blindness of the people serve the good of the Elect.

  • Fragment n° 9 / 15 (S 707–8, L 470–1) The pursuit of renown makes us base, but also excellent for devaluing all else. Christianity explains this paradox, through original sin.

  • Fragment n° 10 / 15 (S 709–10, L 472–3) Religion is too great to be easily found; but it can be found, so don’t complain.

  • Fragment n° 11 / 15 (S 711, L 474–6) To find it, you need to hate yourself. God did provide an historian and a people to preserve the history. There is no mystery in the use of the letter mem.

  • Fragment n° 12 / 15 (S 712–4, L 477–9) Pride, wretchedness, diversion.

  • Fragment n° 13 / 15 (S 715, L 480) Be sincere, whether pagan, Jewish, Christian.

  • Fragment n° 14 / 15 (S 716, L 481) A history book may be accepted by a people or create a people.

  • Fragment n° 15 / 15 (S 717, L 482) The proof of religion means you have to follow it, if your heart tells you to.

• PROPHÉTIES I (SÉRIE XII) (S 718, L 483) Isaiah 49:1–51:4; Amos; …

• PROPHÉTIES II (SÉRIE XIII) (S 719, L 484) Predictions, and plans, of Jacob for Joseph and then his sons Manasseh and Ephraim; Moses; …

Antiquité des Juifs.

Lamentations 3:

I  AM the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.

Expanded on below in (690)–418–448–559.

Compare the last reading, (683)–402–431–560:

Ainsi, les deux preuves de la corruption et de la rédemption se tirent

• des impies, qui vivent dans l’indifférence de la religion, et
• des Juifs, qui en sont les ennemis irréconciliables.

See the long fragment in the tenth reading, 614–624–733–862:

La foi embrasse plusieurs vérités qui semblent se contredire … La source en est

• l’union des deux natures en Jésus-Christ. Et aussi
• les deux mondes … Et enfin
• les deux hommes qui sont dans les justes.

… ne pouvant concevoir le rapport de deux vérités opposées et croyant que l’aveu de l’une enferme l’exclusion de l’autre, ils s’attachent à l’une, ils excluent l’autre, et pensent que nous au contraire. Or l’exclusion est la cause de leur hérésie …

• indignes de Dieu et
• capables de Dieu :

The use of capable to mean qui peut contenir is only jusqu’au XVII^e s., according to the Larousse dictionnaire d’étymologie. Furetiere’s dictionary (1690) gives this meaning, but only when the verb is added:

• Cette Eglise, cette sale est capable de contenir tant de monde.
• La cuve de Clervaux est capable de contenir 400. muids de vin.

Furetiere gives also derived meanings, but practically every example is capable de followed by a verb. The exceptions are the absolute uses (un homme est fort capable, quand il a beaucoup d’esprit), along with capable d’affaires and capable d’une affaire.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “capable” is from the late Latin capābil-em “in early theological use,” from cap-ĕre “to take”; “the regular form would have been capabilis.” Pascal’s intended meaning seems to be what is also obsolete in English, “Able to take in with the mind or senses, able to perceive or comprehend.” The OED illustrates this with Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book I, Chapter xi [§ 3] (1594):

Capable we are of God, both by vnderstanding and will.

Here is the whole section (or paragraph), from the 1888 edition of John Keble (pp. 255–6), as digitized by the Online Library of Liberty, formatted by me:

Happiness therefore is that estate whereby we attain, so far as possibly may be attained, the full possession of that which simply for itself is to be desired, and containeth in it after an eminent sort the contentation of our desires, the highest degree of all our perfection. Of such perfection capable we are not in this life. For while we are in the world, subject we are unto sundry imperfections¹, griefs of body, defects of mind; yea the best things we do are painful, and the exercise of them grievous, being continued without intermission; so as in those very actions whereby we are especially perfected in this life we are not able to persist; forced we are with very weariness, and that often, to interrupt them: which tediousness cannot fall into those operations that are in the state of bliss, when our union with God is complete. Complete union with him must be according unto every power and faculty of our minds apt to receive so glorious an object. Capable we are of God both by understanding and will:

• by understanding, as He is that sovereign Truth which comprehendeth the rich treasures of all wisdom;
• by will, as He is that sea of Goodness whereof whoso tasteth shall thirst no more.

¹ Μόνον, ὦ Ἀσκλήπιε, τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἐν ἀνθρώποις, τὸ δὲ ἔργον οὐδαμοῦ. . . . Τὸ μὴ λίαν κακὸν, ἐνθάδε τὸ ἀγαθόν ἐστι. Τὸ δὲ ἐνθάδε ἀγαθὸν, μόριον τοῦ κακοῦ τὸ ἐλάχιστον. Ἀδύνατον οὖν τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐνθάδε καθαρεύειν τῆς κακίας. . . . Κᾀγὼ δὲ χάριν ἔχω τῷ Θεῷ τῷ εἰς νοῦν μοι βαλόντι περὶ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, ὅτι ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν αὐτὸ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ εἶναι ὁ γὰρ κόσμος πλήρωμά ἐστι τῆς κακίας, ὁ δὲ Θεὸς τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, ἢ τὸ ἀγαθὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Merc. Tris. [lib. vi. f. 14.]

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• As the will doth now work upon that object by desire, which is as it were a motion towards the end as yet unobtained;
• so likewise upon the same hereafter received it shall work also by love.

“Appetitus inhiantis fit amor fruentis,” saith St. Augustine: “The longing disposition of them that thirst is changed into the sweet affection of them that taste and are replenished¹.”

• Whereas we now love the thing that is good, but good especially in respect of benefit unto us;
• we shall then love the thing that is good, only or principally for the goodness of beauty in itself.

The soul being in this sort,

• as it is active, perfected by love of that infinite good, shall,
• as it is receptive, be also perfected with those supernatural passions of joy, peace, and delight.

All this endless and everlasting². Which perpetuity, in regard whereof our blessedness is termed “a crown which withereth not³,” doth

• neither depend upon the nature of the thing itself,
• nor proceed from any natural necessity that our souls should so exercise themselves for ever in beholding and loving God,
• but from the will of God, which doth both freely perfect our nature in so high a degree, and continue it so perfected.

Under Man, no creature in the world is capable of felicity and bliss.

• First, because their chiefest perfection consisteth in that which is best for them, but not in that which is simply best, as ours doth.
• Secondly, because whatsoever external perfection they tend unto, it is not better than themselves, as ours is.

How just occasion have we therefore even in this respect with the Prophet to admire the goodness of God! “Lord, what is man, that thou shouldst exalt him above the works of thy hands⁴,” so far as to make thyself the inheritance of his rest and the substance of his felicity?

¹ Aug. de Trin. lib. ix. c. ult. [Verbatim, “Appetitus, quo inhiatur rei cognoscendæ, fit amor cognitæ.” viii. 888.]

² “The just shall go into life everlasting.” Matt. xxv. [46.] “They shall be as the angels of God.” Matt. xxii. [30.]

³ 2 Tim. iv. 8; 1 Pet. v. 4.

⁴ Psalm viii. 4.

The quotation from Hermes Trismegistus seems to be as follows (the first two sections being interchanged to match Hooker’s Greek text; footnotes set in brackets):

So then, Asclepius, the name alone of Good is found in men, the thing itself nowhere [in them], for this can never be … For what is not too bad down here, is good; and good down here is the least part of bad. It cannot, therefore, be that good down here should be quite clean of bad … And I, for my own part, give thanks to God, that He hath cast it in my mind about the Gnosis of the Good, that it can never be It [Sc. the Good.] should be in the world. [Cosmos.] For that the world is “fullness” [Or plērōma. The “world” is the plērōma of evil, but “God” the plērōma of good.] of the bad, but God of Good, and Good of God.

This is evidence for the interpretation in the last reading of (683)–402–431–560, already quoted above under (690)–412–442–560 bis: when Pascal refers to des Juifs, qui en sont les ennemis irréconciliables, does the pronoun en refer to les impies or to la religion?

In any case, Pascal considers “pagan” philosophers with the Jews as fighting the good fight, one might say; and here’s Timothy 6 with that phrase:

7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

The alliance, so to speak, of les sages and les Juifs will come up again in (690)–419–449–556 below.

• qu’il y a un Dieu, et
• que les hommes en sont indignes.

Continuing from above, (690)–410–440–559 bis; also perhaps deriving its conclusion from the infinitude of God, by the method spelled out by Collingwood as quoted for the first fragment, 680–397–418–233, in the last reading: if the infinite cannot be manifest once, it will not be so, any number of times.

Toute la conduite des choses doit avoir pour objet l’établissement et la grandeur de la religion. Les hommes doivent avoir en eux‑mêmes des sentiments conformes à ce qu’elle nous enseigne. Et enfin elle doit être tellement l’objet et le centre où toutes choses tendent, que qui en saura les principes puisse rendre raison et de toute la nature de l’homme en particulier, et de toute la conduite du monde en général.

Elle enseigne donc ensemble aux hommes ces deux vérités,

• et qu’il y a un Dieu dont les hommes sont capables,
• et qu’il y a une corruption dans la nature qui les en rend indignes.

——-

Jésus‑Christ est l’objet de tout, et le centre où tout tend. Qui le connaît connaît la raison de toutes choses.

——-

Avantages du peuple juif.

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et cette conservation a été prédite ;

—–

According to Josephus in Against Apion I (22), in the 1926 Loeb translation of H. St. J. Thackeray:

Now, Pythagoras, that ancient sage of Samos, who for wisdom and piety is ranked above all the philosophers, evidently not only knew of our institutions, but was even in those distant ages an ardent admirer of them. Of the master himself we possess no authentic work, but his history has been told by many writers. The most distinguished of these is Hermippus, always a careful historian. Now, in the first book of his work on Pythagoras, this author states that the philosopher, on the death of one of his disciples, named Calliphon, a native of Crotona, remarked that his pupil’s soul was with him night and day, and admonished him not to pass a certain spot, on which an ass had collapsed, to abstain from thirst-producing water, and to avoid all calumny. Then he proceeds as follows:

In practising and repeating these precepts he was imitating and appropriating the doctrines of Jews and Thracians.

In fact, it is actually said that that great man introduced many points of Jewish law into his philosophy.

In ancient times various cities were acquainted with the existence of our nation …

Sincérité des Juifs.

Isaïe dit la même chose. 30, 8.

It all seems to be in Deuteronomy 28, 31, and 32:

Deuteronomy 28:

47 Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
49 The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;
50 A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:
51 And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.

64 And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.

Deuteronomy 31:

24 ¶ And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,
25 That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying,
26 Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.
27 For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the Lord; and how much more after my death?
28 ¶ Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them.
29 For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.
30 And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.

Deuteronomy 32, quoted in full under the next (long) fragment, has the part about how the people to be called by God n’est point son peuple.

Isaiah 30:

8 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord:

The chapter number is one off, and two verses are paraphrased. Deuteronomy 8:

19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
20 As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.

Again the quotation extends beyond one verse. Isaiah 56:

THUS saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
4 For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
5 Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;
7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.
8 The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.

Le sabbat n’était qu’un signe. Ex. 31, 13, et en mémoire de la sortie d’Égypte. Deut. 5, 19, donc il n’est plus nécessaire puisqu’il faut oublier l’Égypte.

La circoncision n’était qu’un signe. Gen. 17, 11.

Et de là vient qu’étant dans le désert ils ne furent point circoncis parce qu’ils ne pouvaient se confondre avec les autres peuples. Et qu’après que Jésus-Christ est venu elle n’est plus nécessaire.

The points that can be documented are:

• God is “our” father, regardless of Abraham and Israel (Isaiah 63:16).
• God “regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward” (Deuteronomy 10:17).
• The Sabbath is a sign (Exodus 31:13, 17).
• The Sabbath is in memory of the exodus from Egypt (Deuteronomy 5:15).
• Days are coming when that exodus will not be remembered (Jeremiah 23:7).
• That old thing is not to be remembered (Isaiah 43:18).
• Circumcision is a token of the covenant (Genesis 17:11).
• After Egypt, people born in the desert were uncircumcised (Joshua 5:5), so Joshua circumcised them.

Those last “people” are indeed called just that in the KJV, though presumably they were only male people. Thus supposedly ungendered terminology may not have the intended effect. In any case, no reason is given why those men were uncircumcised. To try to draw Pascal’s conclusion, that Jesus made circumcision unnecessary, one may emphasize that the name we know him by is just Joshua in Greek, and:

• Joshua led the people to where they could rest (Joshua 22:4).
• It was not the final rest (Psalm 95:11).
• Rest is still an option (Psalm 95:7–8).

These points are made in Greek scripture, Hebrews 4:7–8.

Meanwhile, Pascal misnumbers some of his references, and omits others.

Isaiah 63:

15 Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained?
16 Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O Lord, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.

Deuteronomy 10 (Pascal will presently refer to verse 17 again, meaning also 16):

10 And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the Lord hearkened unto me at that time also, and the Lord would not destroy thee.
11 And the Lord said unto me, Arise, take thy journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.
12 And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
13 To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?
14 Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord’s thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.
15 Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.
16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
17 For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:
18 He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.
19 Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 31 (the sabbath is a sign, but of an everlasting covenant):

12 ¶ And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.
14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
18 ¶ And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

In Deuteronomy 5 is the second recitation of the Ten Commandments; on how the sabbath is in memory of the exodus from Egypt, the verse is 15:

6 ¶ I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
7 Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
8 Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:
9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,
10 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
11 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.
13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:
14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.
15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
16 ¶ Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
17 Thou shalt not kill.
18 Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
19 Neither shalt thou steal.
20 Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
21 Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

According to Jeremiah 23, in recollection, Egypt will be supplanted by a more recent gathering-in:

5 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8 But, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.

In Isaiah 43 is a general command to remember not the old exodus, because there will be something new:

14 ¶ Thus saith the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.
15 I am the Lord, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.
16 Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;
17 Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.
18 ¶ Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
20 The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.
21 This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.

Genesis 17:

9 And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14 And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.

Joshua 5:

2 ¶ At that time the Lord said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.
3 And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.
4 And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise: All the people that came out of Egypt, that were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came out of Egypt.
5 Now all the people that came out were circumcised: but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, them they had not circumcised.
6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord: unto whom the Lord sware that he would not shew them the land, which the Lord sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.
7 And their children, whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way.
8 And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole.
9 And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.

Joshua 22:

THEN Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh,
2 And said unto them, Ye have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you:
3 Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God.
4 And now the Lord your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side Jordan.
5 But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
6 So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away: and they went unto their tents.

Psalm 95 (complete):

O COME, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
5 The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.
7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,
8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

This is quoted in Hebrews 4, where (in verse 8) some translations render Jesus as Joshua:

LET us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Pascal quotes Deuteronomy 10:16 and 17, but not actually Jeremiah 4:

IF thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.
2 And thou shalt swear, The Lord liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
3 For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

God will do this, after gathering in the people of the diaspora. Is that too supposed to be figurative? Deuteronomy 30:

AND it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee,
2 And shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
3 That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee.
4 If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:
5 And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.
6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

Jeremiah 9:

23 ¶ Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.
25 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised;
26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.

Joel 2:

12 Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Isaiah 58:

1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
3 ¶ Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.
4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?
6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
8 ¶ Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.

Deuteronomy 30:

15 ¶ See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
16 In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Below in their entirety are the three cited chapters, Hosea 1, Deuteronomy 32, Isaiah 65. According to the first two, in the eyes of God, pagans may take the place of the Jews, but only for a time. This is clear in Hosea 1:10. As for those whom Pascal calls a nation sans science et sans intelligence, they seem to be the people discussed in Deuteronomy 32:28; precisely because of their lack of understanding, they will not have ultimate victory, but “their foot shall slide in due time” (v. 35). Jonathan takes that clause for an epigram in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” but as referring to the Jews. In “The Hands of an Angry Deity” on this blog, I wrote about Edwards and his apparent misinterpretion.

As for Isaiah 65, Paul seems to take it as describing the advent of Christianity; but of course this interpretation is not clear.

Here then first is Hosea 1 in full:

THE word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
2 The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.
3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.
4 And the Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
5 And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
6 ¶ And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.
7 But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.
8 ¶ Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son.
9 Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.
10 ¶ Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
11 Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Here is Deuteronomy 32, broken into the seven aliyot, “readings,” of the weekly Torah portion called Haazinu, “Listen ye.” The portion is summarized, aliyah by aliyah, on a website of Chabad. As pointed out in the seventh reading, the first six constitute a song, Moses’s last.

GIVE ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
3 Because I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
5 They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.
6 Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?

II

7 ¶ Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.
8 When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
9 For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:
12 So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

III

13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.
15 ¶ But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.
17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

IV

19 And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.
20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.
21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
24 They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
26 I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:
27 Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the Lord hath not done all this.
28 For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.

V

29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?
31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:
33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
34 Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?
35 To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
36 For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.
37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,
38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.
39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

VI

40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.
41 If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.
42 I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.
43 Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.

VII

44 ¶ And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun.
45 And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel:
46 And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.
47 For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.
48 And the Lord spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,
49 Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:
50 And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:
51 Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.
52 Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.

Finally, Isaiah 65 entire:

I AM sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.
2 I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
3 A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;
4 Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
5 Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.
6 Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,
7 Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.
8 ¶ Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.
9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
10 And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.
11 ¶ But ye are they that forsake the Lord, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.
12 Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.
13 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:
14 Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.
15 And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord God shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name:
16 That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.
17 ¶ For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.
24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.

Paul quotes from these two chapters (Deut. 32:21, Is. 65:1, 2) at the end of Romans 10:

19 But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.
20 But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.
21 But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.

The point of Psalm 144 (the indicated psalm in the Masoretic numbering) would seem to be that God is good for providing temporal goods:

A Psalm of David.

BLESSED be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:
2 My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.
3 Lord, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!
4 Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
5 Bow thy heavens, O Lord, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
6 Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.
7 Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children;
8 Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
9 I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.
10 It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword.
11 Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood:
12 That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace:
13 That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets:
14 That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.
15 Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.

Amos 5, to the end, thus including verse 24, quoted by Martin Luther King in his speech for the 1963 March on Washington.

21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26 But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is The God of hosts.

It is offensive to God to worship him only in good times, and only in form; such is the plausible interpretation of one blogger.

Isaiah 66:

THUS saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
3 He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.

Isaiah 1:

10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

Jeremiah 6:

18 Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.
19 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.
20 To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.

Psalm 51 to the end (verse 15 evidently being the source of Anglican preces):

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba.

HAVE mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

Psalm 40:

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

I WAITED patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.

Psalm 50:

8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:
15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

Michah 6:

6 Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
9 The Lord’s voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

I Samuel:

22 And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

Hosea 6:

6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Malachi 1:

10 Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.
11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.
12 But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible.
13 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord.
14 But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.

Yes, and the covenant will still be with Israel and Judah, and their sins will be forgiven. Jeremiah 31:

31 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Ezekiel 20:

1 And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and sat before me.
2 Then came the word of the Lord unto me, saying,
3 Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Are ye come to inquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.
4 Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers:
5 ¶ And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the Lord your God;

18 But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:
19 I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;
20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.
21 Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.
22 Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.
23 I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;
24 Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols.
25 Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;
26 And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the Lord.

Isaiah 43 illustrated above how les vrais Juifs ne considéraient leur mérite que de Dieu; Isaiah 65, les Juifs … seraient réprouvés pour leurs crimes et les païens élus en leur place.

In Jeremiah 3, that the ark will be forgotten seems to be part of an offer, meant to entice Israel to return to God like an adulterous woman to her husband. Jerusalem itself will remain as the throne of God.

THEY say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord.
2 Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?
5 Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.
6 ¶ The Lord said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord.
11 And the Lord said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
12 ¶ Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever.
13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord.
14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16 And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.
17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.
18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
19 But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.
20 ¶ Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.
21 A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God.
23 Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
24 For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25 We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.

Now, in Jeremiah 7, destroying the Temple seems to be a threat to a wayward Judah if she will not reform. It will happen, says God as it did in Shiloh:

THE word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
2 Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord.
3 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
4 Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these.
5 For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;
6 If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:
7 Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
8 ¶ Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
10 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord.
12 But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
13 And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;
14 Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.

In Jeremiah 26 is mentioned the prophet’s arrest for the foregoing sermon:

IN the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the Lord, saying,
2 Thus saith the Lord; Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the Lord’s house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word:
3 If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.
4 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,
5 To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened;
6 Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.
7 So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord.
8 Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.
9 Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.
10 When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king’s house unto the house of the Lord, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the Lord’s house.
11 Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.
12 Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard.
13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.
14 As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you.
15 But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.
16 Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.

The destruction of the tabernacle at Shiloh is mentioned in Psalm 78:

55 He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:
57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
59 When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:
60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;
61 And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand.
62 He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.
63 The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.
64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.

According to the note, in The New Oxford Annotated Bible, on verses 60–4 of Psalm 78 just quoted, the destruction of the temple at Shiloh comes up elsewhere only in the passages of Jeremiah 7 and 26 above, but can be inferred also from I Samuel 4:1–7:2, where the Ark is brought out from Shiloh, captured by the Philistines, but returned by them when it causes plague; and the return is to a different town, Kirjath-jearim. I Samuel 4:

AND the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Eben-ezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek.
2 And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men.
3 And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.
4 So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
5 And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.
6 And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp.
7 And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore.
8 Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.
9 Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.
10 And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.
11 And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
12 And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head.

I Samuel 6:

17 And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the Lord; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;
18 And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fenced cities, and of country villages, even unto the great stone of Abel, whereon they set down the ark of the Lord: which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Beth-shemite.
19 ¶ And he smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.
20 And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? and to whom shall he go up from us?
21 ¶ And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the Lord; come ye down, and fetch it up to you.

I Samuel 7:

AND the men of Kirjath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord.
2 And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.
3 ¶ And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
4 Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only.

The same verse of Malachi 1 was cited to explain how les sacrifices des païens seront reçus de Dieu et que Dieu retirera sa volonté des sacrifices des Juifs.

The Latin is the beginning of Psalm 110, apparently the only Biblical source on Melchizedek, besides Genesis 14:18, namely, “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.” In the ninth reading, the verse was alluded to in (504)–(518)–608–766, as if Melchizedek prefigured Jesus:

Jésus-Christ offices.

Il devait lui seul produire un grand peuple, élu, saint et choisi … donner des lois à ce peuple, graver ces lois dans leur cœur, s’offrir à Dieu pour eux, se sacrifier pour eux, être une hostie sans tache, et lui-même sacrificateur, devant offrir lui-même son corps et son sang. Et néanmoins offrir pain et vin à Dieu.

In (504)–(518)–609–736, Melchizedek’s name is explicit:

Qu’il devait venir un Libérateur … Qu’il devait y avoir un nouveau Testament qui serait éternel, qu’il devait y avoir une autre prêtrise selon l’ordre de Melchisedech, que celle-là serait éternelle …

The first verse of Psalm 110 is alluded to in 517–531–624–731:

Que Jésus-Christ sera à la droite pendant que Dieu lui assujettira ses ennemis.

Donc il ne les assujettira pas lui-même.

Here now is Psalm 110 entire:

A Psalm of David.

THE Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
2 The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.
4 The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
5 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.
7 He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.

Regarding the reproval of Jerusalem and admission of Rome, Descotes and Proust say that the psalm ne peut évidemment mentionner Rome. Aucun verset ne semble répondre à cette note. On the contrary, if the first verse can be understood, as in 517–531–624–731 mentioned above, as meaning Jesus Christ himself will not go to war, then verse 2 means the Christ will rule in Rome.

Again, Isaiah 65 was above; according to verse 15, “ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord God shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name.”

Isaiah 56 was used to show Que les étrangers seront reçus de Dieu comme les Juifs s’ils l’aiment. According to verse 5, “Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.”

What Israel will be without, according (not to Amos, but) to Hosea, was mentioned in the fourth reading, 290–258–728. Hosea 3 entire:

THEN said the Lord unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.
2 So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:
3 And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.
4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.

The Jews will subsist, as long as the laws of physics do! This continues from the paragraph of Jeremiah 31 quoted earlier to the end:

35 ¶ Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is his name:
36 If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
37 Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord.
38 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner.
39 And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath.
40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the Lord; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.

• ni la morale qui peut me plaire,
• ni les preuves qui peuvent m’arrêter.

Prophéties.

Serment que David aura toujours des successeurs.

Jér.

• qui adore un seul Dieu, et
• qui se conduit par une loi qu’ils disent tenir de sa main.

On Josephus, see above, 691–421–451–620.

Contrariétés.

Sagesse infinie et folie de la religion.

Expanded on in the sixth reading, 427–842–588:

Notre religion est sage et folle. Sage, parce que c’est la plus savante et la plus fondée en miracles, prophéties, etc. Folle, parce que ce n’est point tout cela qui fait qu’on en est. Cela fait bien condamner ceux qui n’en sont pas, mais non pas croire ceux qui en sont. Ce qui les fait croire c’est la croix. Ne evacuata sit crux.

Sophonie, 3, 9.

Ézéchiel, 37, 25.

Exode, 4, 22.

Jérémie, 7, 4.

Copie d’un fragment joint à C2; Ce fragment n’est pas encore analysé.

Ordre.

Grandeur.

La religion est une chose si grande, qu’il est juste que ceux qui ne voudraient pas prendre la peine de la chercher, si elle est obscure, en soient privés. De quoi se plaint-on donc, si elle est telle qu’on la puisse trouver en la cherchant ?

One may complain that one does not know how to search, as the student of mathematics may complain that she or he does not know how to find solutions to homework problems.

There was talk in the fourth reading, 287–255–758 and 303–272–687, of the letter mem, final form ם, non-final form מ. Supposedly the final form is used in Isaiah 9 in a non-final position, and this is taken by some to have numerological significance:

6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Contre l’histoire de la Chine.

Preuve.

Prophéties.

Isaiah 49:

LISTEN, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.
2 And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;
3 And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
4 Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.
5 ¶ And now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength.
6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
7 Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.
8 Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
9 That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.
10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.
11 And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.
12 Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.
13 ¶ Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.
14 But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.
15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
17 Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.
18 ¶ Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth.
19 For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.
20 The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.
21 Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?
22 Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
24 ¶ Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?
25 But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.
26 And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

Isaiah 50 (complete):

THUS saith the Lord, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
2 Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.
4 The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.
5 The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.
6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
7 For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
8 He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.
9 Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.
10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.
11 Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.

Isaiah 51:

HEARKEN to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.
2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
3 For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
4 Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.

Amos, 8.

Amos, 3, 3.

Daniel, 12, 7.

Aggée, 2, 4.

Façon de parler pour marquer un changement grand et extraordinaire,

C’est‑à-dire que ce n’est pas de cela que je veux être honoré ; comme il est dit ailleurs :

Toutes les bêtes des champs sont à moi : à quoi sert de me les offrir en sacrifice ?

Genèse, 49.

The sceptre here came up in the fifth reading, 345–314–639 and later.

Prédictions des choses particulières.

Il n’y avait pas la moindre apparence ni de la royauté qui y a été si longtemps après, ni de ce Conseil souverain des soixante-dix juges, qu’ils appelaient le synedrin, qui ayant été institué par Moïse a duré jusqu’au temps de Jésus‑Christ. Toutes ces choses étaient aussi éloignées de leur état présent qu’elles le pouvaient être.

que même le Messie qui devait être l’attente des nations naîtrait de lui, et que la royauté ne serait point ôtée de Juda, ni le gouverneur et le législateur de ses descendants, jusqu’à ce que ce Messie attendu arrivât dans sa famille.

[Et déclare enfin que Dieu doit susciter] de leur nation et de leur race un prophète dont il a été la figure, et leur prédit exactement tout ce qui leur devait arriver dans la terre où ils allaient entrer après sa mort, les victoires que Dieu leur donnera, leur ingratitude envers Dieu, les punitions qu’ils en recevront, et le reste de leurs aventures.