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[_Quasimodo]

"The Prophet"
Chapter Twenty Three, Prayer:

Then a priestess said, "Speak to us of Prayer."

And he answered, saying:

You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.

For what is prayer but the expansion of yourself into the living ether?

And if it is for your comfort to pour your darkness into space, it is also for your delight to pour forth the dawning of your heart.

And if you cannot but weep when your soul summons you to prayer, she should spur you again and yet again, though weeping, until you shall come laughing.

When you pray you rise to meet in the air those who are praying at that very hour, and whom save in prayer you may not meet.

Therefore let your visit to that temple invisible be for naught but ecstasy and sweet communion.

For if you should enter the temple for no other purpose than asking you shall not receive.

And if you should enter into it to humble yourself you shall not be lifted:

Or even if you should enter into it to beg for the good of others you shall not be heard.

It is enough that you enter the temple invisible.

I cannot teach you how to pray in words.

God listens not to your words save when He Himself utters them through your lips.

And I cannot teach you the prayer of the seas and the forests and the mountains.

But you who are born of the mountains and the forests and the seas can find their prayer in your heart,

And if you but listen in the stillness of the night you shall hear them saying in silence,

"Our God, who art our winged self, it is thy will in us that willeth.

It is thy desire in us that desireth.

It is thy urge in us that would turn our nights, which are thine, into days which are thine also.

We cannot ask thee for aught, for thou knowest our needs before they are born in us:

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all."

"The Prophet"
Chapter Twenty Four, Pleasure:

hen a hermit, who visited the city once a year, came forth and said, "Speak to us of Pleasure."

And he answered, saying:

Pleasure is a freedom song,

But it is not freedom.

It is the blossoming of your desires,

But it is not their fruit.

It is a depth calling unto a height,

But it is not the deep nor the high.

It is the caged taking wing,

But it is not space encompassed.

Ay, in very truth, pleasure is a freedom-song.

And I fain would have you sing it with fullness of heart; yet I would not have you lose your hearts in the singing.

Some of your youth seek pleasure as if it were all, and they are judged and rebuked.

I would not judge nor rebuke them. I would have them seek.

For they shall find pleasure, but not her alone:

Seven are her sisters, and the least of them is more beautiful than pleasure.

Have you not heard of the man who was digging in the earth for roots and found a treasure?

And some of your elders remember pleasures with regret like wrongs committed in drunkenness.

But regret is the beclouding of the mind and not its chastisement.

They should remember their pleasures with gratitude, as they would the harvest of a summer.

Yet if it comforts them to regret, let them be comforted.

And there are among you those who are neither young to seek nor old to remember;

And in their fear of seeking and remembering they shun all pleasures, lest they neglect the spirit or offend against it.

But even in their foregoing is their pleasure.

And thus they too find a treasure though they dig for roots with quivering hands.

But tell me, who is he that can offend the spirit?

Shall the nightingale offend the stillness of the night, or the firefly the stars?

And shall your flame or your smoke burden the wind?

Think you the spirit is a still pool which you can trouble with a staff?

Oftentimes in denying yourself pleasure you do but store the desire in the recesses of your being.

Who knows but that which seems omitted today, waits for tomorrow?

Even your body knows its heritage and its rightful need and will not be deceived.

And your body is the harp of your soul,

And it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it or confused sounds.

And now you ask in your heart, "How shall we distinguish that which is good in pleasure from that which is not good?"

Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower,

But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee.

For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life,

And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love,

And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.

People of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees.

[_LittleNipper]

Numbers 1:1-54
A year after Israel departured from Egypt, the Lord tells Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, on the first day of the second month of that year to list the names of all the warriors by their clans and families. List all the men twenty years old or older who are able to serve in the army. Moses and Aaron must register the troops, assisted by one family leader from each tribe.

These are the tribes and the names of the leaders who will assist:

Tribe Leader
Reuben Elizur son of Shedeur
Simeon Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai
Judah Nahshon son of Amminadab
Issachar Nethanel son of Zuar
Zebulun Eliab son of Helon
Ephraim son of Joseph Elishama son of Ammihud
Manasseh son of Joseph Gamaliel son of Pedahzur
Benjamin Abidan son of Gideoni
Dan Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai
Asher Pagiel son of Ocran
Gad Eliasaph son of Deuel
Naphtali Ahira son of Enan

So Moses and Aaron called together these chosen leaders, and they assembled the whole community of Israel on that very day. All the people were registered according to their ancestry by their clans and families. The men of Israel who were twenty years old or older were listed one by one.

This is the number of men twenty years old or older who were able to go to war, as their names were listed in the records of their clans and families:

Tribe Number
Reuben (Jacob’s[e] oldest son) 46,500
Simeon 59,300
Gad 45,650
Judah 74,600
Issachar 54,400
Zebulun 57,400
Ephraim son of Joseph 40,500
Manasseh son of Joseph 32,200
Benjamin 35,400
Dan 62,700
Asher 41,500
Naphtali 53,400

The total number being 603,550.

However, this total did not include the Levites. For the Lord told Moses, not to include the tribe of Levi in the registration; do not count them with the rest of the Israelites. The Levites are in charge of the Tabernacle of the Covenant, along with all its furnishings and equipment. They must carry the Tabernacle and all its furnishings as they travel, and they must take care of it and camp around it. Whenever it is time for the Tabernacle to move, the Levites will take it down. And when it is time to stop, they will set it up again. But any unauthorized person who goes too near the Tabernacle must be put to death. Each tribe of Israel will camp in a designated area with its own family banner. The Levites will camp around the Tabernacle of the Covenant to protect the community of Israel from the Lord’s anger. The Levites are responsible to stand guard around the Tabernacle. So the Israelites did everything just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

1 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first of the second month, in the second year of their going out of the land of Egypt, saying:

2 `Take ye up the sum of all the company of the sons of Israel by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names -- every male by their polls;

3 from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host in Israel, ye do number them by their hosts, thou and Aaron;

4 and with you there is a man for a tribe, each is a head to the house of his fathers.

5 `And these [are] the names of the men who stand with you: `For Reuben -- Elizur son of Shedeur.

6 `For Simeon -- Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.

7 `For Judah -- Nahshon son of Amminadab.

8 `For Issachar -- Nathaneel son of Zuar.

9 `For Zebulun -- Eliab son of Helon.

10 `For the sons of Joseph -- for Ephraim: Elishama son of Ammihud: for Manasseh -- Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.

11 `For Benjamin -- Abidan son of Gideoni.

12 `For Dan -- Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.

13 `For Asher -- Pagiel son of Ocran.

14 `For Gad -- Eliasaph son of Deuel.

15 `For Naphtali -- Ahira son of Enan.'

16 These [are] those called of the company, princes of the tribes of their fathers; they [are] heads of the thousands of Israel.

17 And Moses taketh -- Aaron also -- these men, who were defined by name,

18 and all the company they assembled on the first of the second month, and they declare their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names from a son of twenty years and upward, by their polls,

19 as Jehovah hath commanded Moses; and he numbereth them in the wilderness of Sinai.

20 And the sons of Reuben, Israel's first-born -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, by their polls, every male from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host --

21 their numbered ones, for the tribe of Reuben, are six and forty thousand and five hundred.

22 Of the sons of Simeon -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, its numbered ones in the number of names, by their polls, every male from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host --

23 their numbered ones, for the tribe of Simeon, [are] nine and fifty thousand and three hundred.

24 Of the sons of Gad -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host --

25 their numbered ones, for the tribe of Gad, [are] five and forty thousand and six hundred and fifty.

26 Of the sons of Judah -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host --

27 their numbered ones, for the tribe of Judah, [are] four and seventy thousand and six hundred.

28 Of the sons of Issachar -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host --

29 their numbered ones, for the tribe of Issachar, [are] four and fifty thousand and four hundred.

30 Of the sons of Zebulun -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host --

31 their numbered ones, for the tribe of Zebulun, [are] seven and fifty thousand and four hundred.

32 Of the sons of Joseph -- of the sons of Ephraim -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host --

33 their numbered ones, for the tribe of Ephraim, [are] forty thousand and five hundred.

34 Of the sons of Manasseh -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host --

35 their numbered ones, for the tribe of Manasseh, [are] two and thirty thousand and two hundred.

36 Of the sons of Benjamin -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host --

37 their numbered ones, for the tribe of Benjamin, [are] five and thirty thousand and four hundred.

38 Of the sons of Dan -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host --

39 their numbered ones, for the tribe of Dan, [are] two and sixty thousand and seven hundred.

40 Of the sons of Asher -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host --

41 their numbered ones, for the tribe of Asher, [are] one and forty thousand and five hundred.

42 [Of] the sons of Naphtali -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host --

43 their numbered ones, for the tribe of Naphtali, [are] three and fifty thousand and four hundred.

44 These [are] those numbered, whom Moses numbered -- Aaron also, and the princes of Israel, twelve men -- each for the house of his fathers, they have been.

45 And they are, all those numbered of the sons of Israel, by the house of their fathers, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host in Israel,

46 yea, all those numbered are six hundred thousand, and three thousand, and five hundred and fifty.

47 And the Levites, for the tribe of their fathers, have not numbered themselves in their midst,

48 seeing Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

49 `Only, the tribe of Levi thou dost not number, and their sum thou dost not take up in the midst of the sons of Israel;

50 and thou, appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its vessels, and over all that it hath; they bear the tabernacle, and all its vessels, and they serve it; and round about the tabernacle they encamp.

51 `And in the journeying of the tabernacle, the Levites take it down, and in the encamping of the tabernacle, the Levites raise it up; and the stranger who is coming near is put to death.'

52 And the sons of Israel have encamped, each by his camp, and each by his standard, by their hosts;

53 and the Levites encamp round about the tabernacle of the testimony; and there is no wrath on the company of the sons of Israel, and the Levites have kept the charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.

54 And the sons of Israel do according to all that Jehovah hath commanded Moses; so they have done.

[_Quasimodo]

"The Prophet"
Chapter Twenty Five, Beauty:

And a poet said, "Speak to us of Beauty."

Where shall you seek beauty, and how shall you find her unless she herself be your way and your guide?

And how shall you speak of her except she be the weaver of your speech?

The aggrieved and the injured say, "Beauty is kind and gentle.

Like a young mother half-shy of her own glory she walks among us."

And the passionate say, "Nay, beauty is a thing of might and dread.

Like the tempest she shakes the earth beneath us and the sky above us."

The tired and the weary say, "beauty is of soft whisperings. She speaks in our spirit.

Her voice yields to our silences like a faint light that quivers in fear of the shadow."

But the restless say, "We have heard her shouting among the mountains,

And with her cries came the sound of hoofs, and the beating of wings and the roaring of lions."

At night the watchmen of the city say, "Beauty shall rise with the dawn from the east."

And at noontide the toilers and the wayfarers say, "we have seen her leaning over the earth from the windows of the sunset."

In winter say the snow-bound, "She shall come with the spring leaping upon the hills."

And in the summer heat the reapers say, "We have seen her dancing with the autumn leaves, and we saw a drift of snow in her hair."

All these things have you said of beauty.

Yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied,

And beauty is not a need but an ecstasy.

It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth,

But rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted.

It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear,

But rather an image you see though you close your eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears.

It is not the sap within the furrowed bark, nor a wing attached to a claw,

But rather a garden forever in bloom and a flock of angels for ever in flight.

People of Orphalese, beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.

But you are life and you are the veil.

Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.

But you are eternity and you are the mirror.

"The Prophet"
Chapter Twenty Six, Religion:

And an old priest said, "Speak to us of Religion."

And he said:

Have I spoken this day of aught else?

Is not religion all deeds and all reflection,

And that which is neither deed nor reflection, but a wonder and a surprise ever springing in the soul, even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom?

Who can separate his faith from his actions, or his belief from his occupations?

Who can spread his hours before him, saying, "This for God and this for myself; This for my soul, and this other for my body?"

All your hours are wings that beat through space from self to self.

He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked.

The wind and the sun will tear no holes in his skin.

And he who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage.

The freest song comes not through bars and wires.

And he to whom worshipping is a window, to open but also to shut, has not yet visited the house of his soul whose windows are from dawn to dawn.

Your daily life is your temple and your religion.

Whenever you enter into it take with you your all.

Take the plough and the forge and the mallet and the lute,

The things you have fashioned in necessity or for delight.

For in revery you cannot rise above your achievements nor fall lower than your failures.

And take with you all men:

For in adoration you cannot fly higher than their hopes nor humble yourself lower than their despair.

And if you would know God be not therefore a solver of riddles.

Rather look about you and you shall see Him playing with your children.

And look into space; you shall see Him walking in the cloud, outstretching His arms in the lightning and descending in rain.

You shall see Him smiling in flowers, then rising and waving His hands in trees.

[_LittleNipper]

Numbers 2:1-34 Then the Lord presents instructions to Moses and Aaron. Everytime the Israelites set up camp, each tribe will be assigned a spot. Each tribe will camp beneath their family banners on all four sides of the Tabernacle, at a distance. The divisions of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun are to camp toward the sunrise on the east side of the Tabernacle. These are the names of the tribes, their leaders, and the numbers of their registered troops:

Tribe Leader Number
Judah Nahshon son of Amminadab 74,600
Issachar Nethanel son of Zuar 54,400
Zebulun Eliab son of Helon 57,400

So the total of all the troops on Judah’s side of the camp is 186,400. These three family tribes will lead the way whenever the Israelites travel to a new campsite. The divisions of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad are to camp on the south side of the Tabernacle. These are the names of the tribes, their leaders, and the numbers of their registered troops:

Tribe Leader Number
Reuben Elizur son of Shedeur 46,500
Simeon Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai 59,300
Gad Eliasaph son of Deuel 45,650

So the total of all the troops on Reuben’s side of the camp is 151,450. These three tribes will be second in line.

The Tabernacle, carried by the Levites, will set out from the middle of the camp. All the tribes are to travel in the same order that they camp, under the correct family banner.

The divisions of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin are to camp on the west side of the Tabernacle. These are the names of the tribes, their leaders, and the numbers of their registered troops:

Tribe Leader Number
Ephraim Elishama son of Ammihud 40,500
Manasseh Gamaliel son of Pedahzur 32,200
Benjamin Abidan son of Gideoni 35,400

So the total of all the troops on Ephraim’s side of the camp is 108,100. These three tribes will be third in line.

The divisions of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali are to camp on the north side of the Tabernacle. These are the names of the tribes, their leaders, and the numbers of their registered troops:

Tribe Leader Number
Dan Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai 62,700
Asher Pagiel son of Ocran 41,500
Naphtali Ahira son of Enan 53,400

So the total of all the troops on Dan’s side of the camp is 157,600. These three tribes will be last.

In summary, the troops of Israel listed by their families totaled 603,550. The Lord had commanded, the Levites not to be included in the registration.


Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

1 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, and unto Aaron, saying,

2 `Each by his standard, with ensigns of the house of their fathers, do the sons of Israel encamp; over-against round about the tent of meeting they encamp.'

3 And those encamping eastward towards the sun-rising, [are of] the standard of the camp of Judah, by their hosts; and the prince of the sons of Judah [is] Nahshon, son of Amminadab;

4 and his host, and their numbered ones, [are] four and seventy thousand and six hundred.

5 And those encamping by him [are of] the tribe of Issachar; and the prince of the sons of Issachar [is] Nethaneel son of Zuar;

6 and his host, and its numbered ones, [are] four and fifty thousand and four hundred.

7 The tribe of Zebulun; and the prince of the sons of Zebulun [is] Eliab son of Helon;

8 and his host, and its numbered ones, [are] seven and fifty thousand and four hundred;

9 all those numbered of the camp of Judah [are] a hundred thousand, and eighty thousand, and six thousand, and four hundred, by their hosts; they journey first.

10 The standard of the camp of Reuben [is] southward, by their hosts; and the prince of the sons of Reuben [is] Elizur son of Shedeur;

11 and his host, and its numbered ones, [are] six and forty thousand and five hundred.

12 And those encamping by him [are of] the tribe of Simeon; and the prince of the sons of Simeon [is] Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai;

13 and his host, and their numbered ones, [are] nine and fifty thousand and three hundred.

14 And the tribe of Gad; and the prince of the sons of Gad [is] Eliasaph son of Reuel;

15 and his host, and their numbered ones, [are] five and forty thousand and six hundred and fifty.

16 All those numbered of the camp of Reuben [are] a hundred thousand, and one and fifty thousand, and four hundred and fifty, by their hosts; and they journey second.

17 And the tent of meeting -- the camp of the Levites -- hath journeyed in the midst of the camps; as they encamp so they journey, each at his station by their standards.

18 The standard of the camp of Ephraim, by their hosts, [is] westward; and the prince of the sons of Ephraim [is] Elishama son of Ammihud;

19 and his host, and their numbered ones, [are] forty thousand and five hundred.

20 And by him [is] the tribe of Manasseh; and the prince of the sons of Manasseh [is] Gamaliel son of Pedahzur;

21 and his host, and their numbered ones, [are] two and thirty thousand, and two hundred.

22 And the tribe of Benjamin; and the prince of the sons of Benjamin [is] Abidan son of Gideoni;

23 and his host, and their numbered ones, [are] five and thirty thousand and four hundred.

24 All those numbered of the camp of Ephraim [are] a hundred thousand, and eight thousand, and a hundred, by their hosts; and they journey third.

25 The standard of the camp of Dan [is] northward, by their hosts; and the prince of the sons of Dan [is] Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai;

26 and his host, and their numbered ones, [are] two and sixty thousand and seven hundred.

27 And those encamping by him [are of] the tribe of Asher; and the prince of the sons of Asher [is] Pagiel son of Ocran;

28 and his host, and their numbered ones, [are] one and forty thousand and five hundred.

29 And the tribe of Naphtali; and the prince of the sons of Naphtali [is] Ahira son of Enan;

30 and his host, and their numbered ones, [are] three and fifty thousand and four hundred.

31 All those numbered of the camp of Dan [are] a hundred thousand, and seven and fifty thousand, and six hundred; at the rear they journey, by their standards.

32 These [are] those numbered of the sons of Israel by the house of their fathers; all those numbered of the camps by their hosts [are] six hundred thousand, and three thousand, and five hundred and fifty.

33 And the Levites have not numbered themselves in the midst of the sons of Israel, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.

34 And the sons of Israel do according to all that Jehovah hath commanded Moses; so they have encamped by their standards, and so they have journeyed; each by his families, by the house of his fathers.

[_LittleNipper]

Numbers 3:1-51 This is the family line of Aaron and Moses given by God recorded by Moses on Mount Sinai: The names of Aaron’s sons were Nadab (the oldest), Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. These sons of Aaron were anointed and ordained to minister as priests. Nadab and Abihu died in the Lord’s presence without sons in the wilderness of Sinai when they burned before the Lord the wrong kind of fire, from what God intended. This left only Eleazar and Ithamar to serve as priests with their father, Aaron. The Lord calls forward the tribe of Levi, and presents them to Aaron the priest to serve as his assistants to serve Aaron and the whole community, performing their sacred duties in and around the Tabernacle on behalf of all the Israelites.
The Lord tells Moses to record the names of the members of the tribe of Levi by their families, listing every male one month old or older.
Levi had three sons, whose names were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
Descended from Gershon were named after two of his descendants, Libni and Shimei.
Descended from Kohath were named after four of his descendants, Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
Descended from Merari were named after two of his descendants, Mahli and Mushi.

The descendants of Gershon were 7,500 males one month old or older among these Gershonite clans.They were assigned the area to the west of the Tabernacle for their camp. The leader of the Gershonite clans was Eliasaph son of Lael. These two clans were responsible to care for the Tabernacle, including the sacred tent with its layers of coverings, the curtain at its entrance, the curtains of the courtyard that surrounded the Tabernacle and altar, the curtain at the courtyard entrance, the ropes, and all the equipment related to their use.

The descendants of Kohath descended from Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. There were 8,600 males one month old or older among these Kohathite clans. They were responsible for the care of the sanctuary, and they were assigned the area south of the Tabernacle for their camp. The leader of the Kohathite clans was Elizaphan son of Uzziel. These four clans were responsible for the care of the Ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the various articles used in the sanctuary, the inner curtain, and all the equipment related to their use. Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, was the chief administrator over all the Levites, with special responsibility for the oversight of the sanctuary.

The descendants of Merari were descended from Mahli and Mushi. There were 6,200 males one month old or older among these Merarite clans. They were assigned the area north of the Tabernacle for their camp. The leader of the Merarite clans was Zuriel son of Abihail. These were responsible for the care of the frames supporting the Tabernacle, the crossbars, the pillars, the bases, and all the equipment related to their use. They were also responsible for the posts of the courtyard and all their bases, pegs, and ropes.

The area in front of the Tabernacle, in the east toward the sunrise, was reserved for the tents of Moses and of Aaron and his sons, who had the final responsibility for the sanctuary on behalf of the people of Israel. Anyone other than a priest or Levite who went too near the sanctuary was to be put to death. When Moses and Aaron counted the Levite clans at the Lord’s command, the total number was 22,000 males one month old or older.

The Lord tells Moses to count all the firstborn sons in Israel who are one month old or older, and make a list of their names. The Levites must be reserved for God as substitutes for the firstborn sons of Israel. The Levites’ livestock must be reserved for God as substitutes for the firstborn livestock of the whole nation of Israel. Moses counted the firstborn sons of the people of Israel, just as the Lord had commanded. The number of firstborn sons who were one month old or older was 22,273. There are 273 more firstborn sons of Israel than there are Levites. To redeem these extra firstborn sons, collect five pieces of silver for each of them. Give the silver to Aaron and his sons as the redemption price for the extra firstborn sons. So Moses collected 1,365 pieces of silver on behalf of these firstborn sons of Israel, and gave the silver for the redemption to Aaron and his sons, just as the Lord had commanded.

Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

1 And these [are] births of Aaron and Moses, in the day of Jehovah's speaking with Moses in mount Sinai.

2 And these [are] the names of the sons of Aaron: the first-born Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar;

3 these [are] the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whose hand he hath consecrated for acting as priest.

4 And Nadab dieth -- Abihu also -- before Jehovah, in their bringing near strange fire before Jehovah, in the wilderness of Sinai, and sons they had not; and Eleazar -- Ithamar also -- acteth as priest in the presence of Aaron their father.

5 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

6 `Bring near the tribe of Levi, and thou hast caused it to stand before Aaron the priest, and they have served him,

7 and kept his charge, and the charge of all the company before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle;

8 and they have kept all the vessels of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle;

9 and thou hast given the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are surely given to him out of the sons of Israel.

10 `And Aaron and his sons thou dost appoint, and they have kept their priesthood, and the stranger who cometh near is put to death.'

11 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

12 `And I, lo, I have taken the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel instead of every first-born opening a womb among the sons of Israel, and the Levites have been Mine;

13 for Mine [is] every first-born, in the day of My smiting every first-born in the land of Egypt I have sanctified to Myself every first-born in Israel, from man unto beast; Mine they are; I [am] Jehovah.'

14 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying,

15 `Number the sons of Levi by the house of their fathers, by their families; every male from a son of a month and upward thou dost number them.'

16 And Moses numbereth them according to the command of Jehovah, as he hath been commanded.

17 And these are sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari.

18 And these [are] the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei.

19 And the sons of Kohath, by their families, [are] Amram and Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.

20 And the sons of Merari by their families [are] Mahli and Mushi; these are the families of the Levites, by the house of their fathers.

21 Of Gershon [is] the family of the Libnite, and the family of the Shimite; these are the families of the Gershonite.

22 Their numbered ones, in number, every male from a son of a month and upward, their numbered ones [are] seven thousand and five hundred.

23 The families of the Gershonite, behind the tabernacle, do encamp westward.

24 And the prince of a father's house for the Gershonite [is] Eliasaph son of Lael.

25 And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting [is] the tabernacle, and the tent, its covering, and the vail at the opening of the tent of meeting,

26 and the hangings of the court, and the vail at the opening of the court, which [is] by the tabernacle and by the altar round about, and its cords, to all its service.

27 And of Kohath [is] the family of the Amramite, and the family of the Izharite, and the family of the Hebronite, and the family of the Uzzielite; these are families of the Kohathite.

28 In number, all the males, from a son of a month and upward, [are] eight thousand and six hundred, keeping the charge of the sanctuary.

29 The families of the sons of Kohath encamp by the side of the tabernacle southward.

30 And the prince of a father's house for the families of the Kohathite [is] Elizaphan son of Uzziel.

31 And their charge [is] the ark, and the table, and the candlestick, and the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary with which they serve, and the vail, and all its service.

32 And [to] the prince of the princes of the Levites, Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, [is] the oversight of the keepers of the charge of the sanctuary.

33 Of Merari [is] the family of the Mahlite, and the family of the Mushite; these [are] the families of Merari.

34 And their numbered ones, in number, all the males from a son of a month and upward, [are] six thousand and two hundred.

35 And the prince of a father's house for the families of Merari [is] Zuriel son of Abihail; by the side of the tabernacle they encamp northward.

36 And the oversight -- the charge of the sons of Merari -- [is] the boards of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets, and all its vessels, and all its service,

37 and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords.

38 And those encamping before the tabernacle eastward, before the tent of meeting, at the east, [are] Moses and Aaron, and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the sons of Israel, and the stranger who cometh near is put to death.

39 All those numbered of the Levites whom Moses numbered -- Aaron also -- by the command of Jehovah, by their families, every male from a son of a month and upward, [are] two and twenty thousand.

40 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Number every first-born male of the sons of Israel from a son of a month and upward, and take up the number of their names;

41 and thou hast taken the Levites for Me (I [am] Jehovah), instead of every first-born among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of every firstling among the cattle of the sons of Israel.'

42 And Moses numbereth, as Jehovah hath commanded him, all the first-born among the sons of Israel.

43 And all the first-born -- male -- by the number of names, from a son of a month and upward, of their numbered ones, are two and twenty thousand two hundred and seventy and three.

44 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

45 `Take the Levites instead of every first-born among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites have been Mine; I [am] Jehovah.

46 `And [from] those ransomed of the two hundred and seventy and three (who are more than the Levites) of the first-born of the sons of Israel,

47 thou hast even taken five shekels a-piece by the poll -- by the shekel of the sanctuary thou takest; twenty gerahs the shekel [is];

48 and thou hast given the money to Aaron, and to his sons, whereby those over and above are ransomed.'

49 And Moses taketh the ransom money from those over and above those ransomed by the Levites;

50 from the first-born of the sons of Israel he hath taken the money, a thousand and three hundred and sixty and five -- by the shekel of the sanctuary;

51 and Moses giveth the money of those ransomed to Aaron, and to his sons, according to the command of Jehovah, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.

[_Quasimodo]

"The Prophet"
Chapter Twenty Seven, Death:

Than Almitra spoke, saying, "We would ask now of Death."

And he said:

You would know the secret of death.

But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?

The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.

If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.

For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;

And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.

Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.

Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.

Is the sheered not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?

Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?

And what is to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.

And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.

And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

"The Prophet"
Chapter Twenty Eight, The Farewell:

And now it was evening.

And Almitra the seeress said, "Blessed be this day and this place and your spirit that has spoken."

And he answered, Was it I who spoke? Was I not also a listener?

Then he descended the steps of the Temple and all the people followed him. And he reached his ship and stood upon the deck.

And facing the people again, he raised his voice and said:

People of Orphalese, the wind bids me leave you.

Less hasty am I than the wind, yet I must go.

We wanderers, ever seeking the lonelier way, begin no day where we have ended another day; and no sunrise finds us where sunset left us.

Even while the earth sleeps we travel.

We are the seeds of the tenacious plant, and it is in our ripeness and our fullness of heart that we are given to the wind and are scattered.

Brief were my days among you, and briefer still the words I have spoken.

But should my voice fade in your ears, and my love vanish in your memory, then I will come again,

And with a richer heart and lips more yielding to the spirit will I speak.

Yea, I shall return with the tide,

And though death may hide me, and the greater silence enfold me, yet again will I seek your understanding.

And not in vain will I seek.

If aught I have said is truth, that truth shall reveal itself in a clearer voice, and in words more kin to your thoughts.

I go with the wind, people of Orphalese, but not down into emptiness;

And if this day is not a fulfillment of your needs and my love, then let it be a promise till another day. Know therefore, that from the greater silence I shall return.

The mist that drifts away at dawn, leaving but dew in the fields, shall rise and gather into a cloud and then fall down in rain.

And not unlike the mist have I been.

In the stillness of the night I have walked in your streets, and my spirit has entered your houses,

And your heart-beats were in my heart, and your breath was upon my face, and I knew you all.

Ay, I knew your joy and your pain, and in your sleep your dreams were my dreams.

And oftentimes I was among you a lake among the mountains.

I mirrored the summits in you and the bending slopes, and even the passing flocks of your thoughts and your desires.

And to my silence came the laughter of your children in streams, and the longing of your youths in rivers.

And when they reached my depth the streams and the rivers ceased not yet to sing.

But sweeter still than laughter and greater than longing came to me.

It was boundless in you;

The vast man in whom you are all but cells and sinews;

He in whose chant all your singing is but a soundless throbbing.

It is in the vast man that you are vast,

And in beholding him that I beheld you and loved you.

For what distances can love reach that are not in that vast sphere?

What visions, what expectations and what presumptions can outsoar that flight?

Like a giant oak tree covered with apple blossoms is the vast man in you.

His mind binds you to the earth, his fragrance lifts you into space, and in his durability you are deathless.

You have been told that, even like a chain, you are as weak as your weakest link.

This is but half the truth. You are also as strong as your strongest link.

To measure you by your smallest deed is to reckon the power of ocean by the frailty of its foam.

To judge you by your failures is to cast blame upon the seasons for their inconsistency.

Ay, you are like an ocean,

And though heavy-grounded ships await the tide upon your shores, yet, even like an ocean, you cannot hasten your tides.

And like the seasons you are also,

And though in your winter you deny your spring,

Yet spring, reposing within you, smiles in her drowsiness and is not offended.

Think not I say these things in order that you may say the one to the other, "He praised us well. He saw but the good in us."

I only speak to you in words of that which you yourselves know in thought.

And what is word knowledge but a shadow of wordless knowledge?

Your thoughts and my words are waves from a sealed memory that keeps records of our yesterdays,

And of the ancient days when the earth knew not us nor herself,

And of nights when earth was upwrought with confusion,

Wise men have come to you to give you of their wisdom. I came to take of your wisdom:

And behold I have found that which is greater than wisdom.

It is a flame spirit in you ever gathering more of itself,

While you, heedless of its expansion, bewail the withering of your days.

It is life in quest of life in bodies that fear the grave.

There are no graves here.

And now it was evening.

And Almitra the seeress said, "Blessed be this day and this place and your spirit that has spoken."

And he answered, Was it I who spoke? Was I not also a listener?

Then he descended the steps of the Temple and all the people followed him. And he reached his ship and stood upon the deck.

And facing the people again, he raised his voice and said:

People of Orphalese, the wind bids me leave you.

Less hasty am I than the wind, yet I must go.

We wanderers, ever seeking the lonelier way, begin no day where we have ended another day; and no sunrise finds us where sunset left us.

Even while the earth sleeps we travel.

We are the seeds of the tenacious plant, and it is in our ripeness and our fullness of heart that we are given to the wind and are scattered.

Brief were my days among you, and briefer still the words I have spoken.

But should my voice fade in your ears, and my love vanish in your memory, then I will come again,

And with a richer heart and lips more yielding to the spirit will I speak.

Yea, I shall return with the tide,

And though death may hide me, and the greater silence enfold me, yet again will I seek your understanding.

And not in vain will I seek.

If aught I have said is truth, that truth shall reveal itself in a clearer voice, and in words more kin to your thoughts.

I go with the wind, people of Orphalese, but not down into emptiness;

And if this day is not a fulfillment of your needs and my love, then let it be a promise till another day. Know therefore, that from the greater silence I shall return.

The mist that drifts away at dawn, leaving but dew in the fields, shall rise and gather into a cloud and then fall down in rain.

And not unlike the mist have I been.

In the stillness of the night I have walked in your streets, and my spirit has entered your houses,

And your heart-beats were in my heart, and your breath was upon my face, and I knew you all.

Ay, I knew your joy and your pain, and in your sleep your dreams were my dreams.

And oftentimes I was among you a lake among the mountains.

I mirrored the summits in you and the bending slopes, and even the passing flocks of your thoughts and your desires.

And to my silence came the laughter of your children in streams, and the longing of your youths in rivers.

And when they reached my depth the streams and the rivers ceased not yet to sing.

But sweeter still than laughter and greater than longing came to me.

It was boundless in you;

The vast man in whom you are all but cells and sinews;

He in whose chant all your singing is but a soundless throbbing.

It is in the vast man that you are vast,

And in beholding him that I beheld you and loved you.

For what distances can love reach that are not in that vast sphere?

What visions, what expectations and what presumptions can outsoar that flight?

Like a giant oak tree covered with apple blossoms is the vast man in you.

His mind binds you to the earth, his fragrance lifts you into space, and in his durability you are deathless.

You have been told that, even like a chain, you are as weak as your weakest link.

This is but half the truth. You are also as strong as your strongest link.

To measure you by your smallest deed is to reckon the power of ocean by the frailty of its foam.

To judge you by your failures is to cast blame upon the seasons for their inconsistency.

Ay, you are like an ocean,

And though heavy-grounded ships await the tide upon your shores, yet, even like an ocean, you cannot hasten your tides.

And like the seasons you are also,

And though in your winter you deny your spring,

Yet spring, reposing within you, smiles in her drowsiness and is not offended.

Think not I say these things in order that you may say the one to the other, "He praised us well. He saw but the good in us."

I only speak to you in words of that which you yourselves know in thought.

And what is word knowledge but a shadow of wordless knowledge?

Your thoughts and my words are waves from a sealed memory that keeps records of our yesterdays,

And of the ancient days when the earth knew not us nor herself,

And of nights when earth was upwrought with confusion,

Wise men have come to you to give you of their wisdom. I came to take of your wisdom:

And behold I have found that which is greater than wisdom.

It is a flame spirit in you ever gathering more of itself,

While you, heedless of its expansion, bewail the withering of your days.

It is life in quest of life in bodies that fear the grave.

There are no graves here.

And now it was evening.

And Almitra the seeress said, "Blessed be this day and this place and your spirit that has spoken."

And he answered, Was it I who spoke? Was I not also a listener?

Then he descended the steps of the Temple and all the people followed him. And he reached his ship and stood upon the deck.

And facing the people again, he raised his voice and said:

People of Orphalese, the wind bids me leave you.

Less hasty am I than the wind, yet I must go.

We wanderers, ever seeking the lonelier way, begin no day where we have ended another day; and no sunrise finds us where sunset left us.

Even while the earth sleeps we travel.

We are the seeds of the tenacious plant, and it is in our ripeness and our fullness of heart that we are given to the wind and are scattered.

Brief were my days among you, and briefer still the words I have spoken.

But should my voice fade in your ears, and my love vanish in your memory, then I will come again,

And with a richer heart and lips more yielding to the spirit will I speak.

Yea, I shall return with the tide,

And though death may hide me, and the greater silence enfold me, yet again will I seek your understanding.

And not in vain will I seek.

If aught I have said is truth, that truth shall reveal itself in a clearer voice, and in words more kin to your thoughts.

I go with the wind, people of Orphalese, but not down into emptiness;

And if this day is not a fulfillment of your needs and my love, then let it be a promise till another day. Know therefore, that from the greater silence I shall return.

The mist that drifts away at dawn, leaving but dew in the fields, shall rise and gather into a cloud and then fall down in rain.

And not unlike the mist have I been.

In the stillness of the night I have walked in your streets, and my spirit has entered your houses,

And your heart-beats were in my heart, and your breath was upon my face, and I knew you all.

Ay, I knew your joy and your pain, and in your sleep your dreams were my dreams.

And oftentimes I was among you a lake among the mountains.

I mirrored the summits in you and the bending slopes, and even the passing flocks of your thoughts and your desires.

And to my silence came the laughter of your children in streams, and the longing of your youths in rivers.

And when they reached my depth the streams and the rivers ceased not yet to sing.

But sweeter still than laughter and greater than longing came to me.

It was boundless in you;

The vast man in whom you are all but cells and sinews;

He in whose chant all your singing is but a soundless throbbing.

It is in the vast man that you are vast,

And in beholding him that I beheld you and loved you.

For what distances can love reach that are not in that vast sphere?

What visions, what expectations and what presumptions can outsoar that flight?

Like a giant oak tree covered with apple blossoms is the vast man in you.

His mind binds you to the earth, his fragrance lifts you into space, and in his durability you are deathless.

You have been told that, even like a chain, you are as weak as your weakest link.

This is but half the truth. You are also as strong as your strongest link.

To measure you by your smallest deed is to reckon the power of ocean by the frailty of its foam.

To judge you by your failures is to cast blame upon the seasons for their inconsistency.

Ay, you are like an ocean,

And though heavy-grounded ships await the tide upon your shores, yet, even like an ocean, you cannot hasten your tides.

And like the seasons you are also,

And though in your winter you deny your spring,

Yet spring, reposing within you, smiles in her drowsiness and is not offended.

Think not I say these things in order that you may say the one to the other, "He praised us well. He saw but the good in us."

I only speak to you in words of that which you yourselves know in thought.

And what is word knowledge but a shadow of wordless knowledge?

Your thoughts and my words are waves from a sealed memory that keeps records of our yesterdays,

And of the ancient days when the earth knew not us nor herself,

And of nights when earth was upwrought with confusion,

Wise men have come to you to give you of their wisdom. I came to take of your wisdom:

And behold I have found that which is greater than wisdom.

It is a flame spirit in you ever gathering more of itself,

While you, heedless of its expansion, bewail the withering of your days.

It is life in quest of life in bodies that fear the grave.

There are no graves here.

These mountains and plains are a cradle and a stepping-stone.

Whenever you pass by the field where you have laid your ancestors look well thereupon, and you shall see yourselves and your children dancing hand in hand.

Verily you often make merry without knowing.

Others have come to you to whom for golden promises made unto your faith you have given but riches and power and glory.

Less than a promise have I given, and yet more generous have you been to me.

You have given me deeper thirsting after life.

Surely there is no greater gift to a man than that which turns all his aims into parching lips and all life into a fountain.

And in this lies my honour and my reward, -

That whenever I come to the fountain to drink I find the living water itself thirsty;

And it drinks me while I drink it.

Some of you have deemed me proud and over-shy to receive gifts.

To proud indeed am I to receive wages, but not gifts.

And though I have eaten berries among the hill when you would have had me sit at your board,

And slept in the portico of the temple where you would gladly have sheltered me,

Yet was it not your loving mindfulness of my days and my nights that made food sweet to my mouth and girdled my sleep with visions?

For this I bless you most:

You give much and know not that you give at all.

Verily the kindness that gazes upon itself in a mirror turns to stone,

And a good deed that calls itself by tender names becomes the parent to a curse.

And some of you have called me aloof, and drunk with my own aloneness,

And you have said, "He holds council with the trees of the forest, but not with men.

He sits alone on hill-tops and looks down upon our city."

True it is that I have climbed the hills and walked in remote places.

How could I have seen you save from a great height or a great distance?

How can one be indeed near unless he be far?

And others among you called unto me, not in words, and they said,

Stranger, stranger, lover of unreachable heights, why dwell you among the summits where eagles build their nests?

Why seek you the unattainable?

What storms would you trap in your net,

And what vaporous birds do you hunt in the sky?

Come and be one of us.

Descend and appease your hunger with our bread and quench your thirst with our wine."

In the solitude of their souls they said these things;

But were their solitude deeper they would have known that I sought but the secret of your joy and your pain,

And I hunted only your larger selves that walk the sky.

But the hunter was also the hunted:

For many of my arrows left my bow only to seek my own breast.

And the flier was also the creeper;

For when my wings were spread in the sun their shadow upon the earth was a turtle.

And I the believer was also the doubter;

For often have I put my finger in my own wound that I might have the greater belief in you and the greater knowledge of you.

And it is with this belief and this knowledge that I say,

You are not enclosed within your bodies, nor confined to houses or fields.

That which is you dwells above the mountain and roves with the wind.

It is not a thing that crawls into the sun for warmth or digs holes into darkness for safety,

But a thing free, a spirit that envelops the earth and moves in the ether.

If this be vague words, then seek not to clear them.

Vague and nebulous is the beginning of all things, but not their end,

And I fain would have you remember me as a beginning.

Life, and all that lives, is conceived in the mist and not in the crystal.

And who knows but a crystal is mist in decay?

This would I have you remember in remembering me:

That which seems most feeble and bewildered in you is the strongest and most determined.

Is it not your breath that has erected and hardened the structure of your bones?

And is it not a dream which none of you remember having dreamt that building your city and fashioned all there is in it?

Could you but see the tides of that breath you would cease to see all else,

And if you could hear the whispering of the dream you would hear no other sound.

But you do not see, nor do you hear, and it is well.

The veil that clouds your eyes shall be lifted by the hands that wove it,

And the clay that fills your ears shall be pierced by those fingers that kneaded it.

And you shall see

And you shall hear.

Yet you shall not deplore having known blindness, nor regret having been deaf.

For in that day you shall know the hidden purposes in all things,

And you shall bless darkness as you would bless light.

After saying these things he looked about him, and he saw the pilot of his ship standing by the helm and gazing now at the full sails and now at the distance.

And he said:

Patient, over-patient, is the captain of my ship.

The wind blows, and restless are the sails;

Even the rudder begs direction;

Yet quietly my captain awaits my silence.

And these my mariners, who have heard the choir of the greater sea, they too have heard me patiently.

Now they shall wait no longer.

I am ready.

The stream has reached the sea, and once more the great mother holds her son against her breast.

Fare you well, people of Orphalese.

This day has ended.

It is closing upon us even as the water-lily upon its own tomorrow.

What was given us here we shall keep,

And if it suffices not, then again must we come together and together stretch our hands unto the giver.

Forget not that I shall come back to you.

A little while, and my longing shall gather dust and foam for another body.

A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me.

Farewell to you and the youth I have spent with you.

It was but yesterday we met in a dream.

You have sung to me in my aloneness, and I of your longings have built a tower in the sky.

But now our sleep has fled and our dream is over, and it is no longer dawn.

The noontide is upon us and our half waking has turned to fuller day, and we must part.

If in the twilight of memory we should meet once more, we shall speak again together and you shall sing to me a deeper song.

And if our hands should meet in another dream, we shall build another tower in the sky.

So saying he made a signal to the seamen, and straightaway they weighed anchor and cast the ship loose from its moorings, and they moved eastward.

And a cry came from the people as from a single heart, and it rose the dusk and was carried out over the sea like a great trumpeting.

Only Almitra was silent, gazing after the ship until it had vanished into the mist.

And when all the people were dispersed she still stood alone upon the sea-wall, remembering in her heart his saying,

A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me."

[_Gadianton]

THE INFERNAL NAMES

Abaddon - (Hebrew) the destroyer Adramelech - Samarian devil Ahpuch - Mayan
devil Ahriman - Mazdean devil Amon - Egyptian ram-headed god of life and
reproduction Apollyon - Greek synonym for Satan, the arch fiend Asmodeus -
Hebrew devil of sensuality and luxury, originally "creature of judgement"
Astaroth - Phoenician goddess of lasciviousness, equivalent of Babylonian Ishtar
Azazel - (Hebrew) taught man to make weapons of war, introduced cosmetics
Baalberith - Canaanite Lord of the covenant who was later made a devil Balaam -
Hebrew Devil of avarice and greed Baphomet - worshipped by the Templars as
symbolic of Satan Bast - Egyptian goddess of pleasure represented by the cat
Beelzebub - (Hebrew) Lord of the Flies, taken from symbolism of the scarab
Behemoth - Hebrew personification of Satan in the form of an elephant Beherit -
Syriac name for Satan Bilé - Celtic god of Hell Chemosh - national god of
Moabites, later a devil Cimeries - rides a black horse and rules Africa Coyote -
American Indian devil Dagon - Philistine avenging devil of the sea Damballa -
Voodoo serpent god Demogorgon - Greek name of the devil, it is said should not
be known to mortals Diabolus - (Greek) "flowing downwards" Dracula - Romanian
name for devil Emma-O - Japanese ruler of Hell Euronymous - Greek prince of
death Fenriz - son of Loki, depicted as a wolf Gorgo - dim. of Demogorgon, Greek
name of the devil Haborym - Hebrew synonym for Satan Hecate - Greek goddess of
the underworld and witchcraft Ishtar - Babylonian goddess of fertility Kali -
(Hindu) daughter of Shiva, high priestess of the Thuggees Lilith - Hebrew female
devil, Adam's first wife who taught him the ropes Loki - Teutonic devil Mammon -
Aramaic god of wealth and profit Mania - Etruscan goddess of Hell Mantus -
Etruscan god of Hell Marduk - god of the city of Babylon Mastema - Hebrew
synonym for Satan Melek Taus - Yezidi devil Mephistopheles - (Greek) he who
shuns the light, q. v. Faust Metztli - Aztec goddess of the night Mictian -
Aztec god of death Midgard - son of Loki, depicted as a serpent Milcom -
Ammonite devil Moloch - Phoenician and Canaanite devil Mormo - (Greek) King of
the Ghouls, consort of Hecate Naamah - Hebrew female devil of seduction Nergal -
Babylonian god of Hades Nihasa - American Indian devil Nija - Polish god of the
underworld O-Yama - Japanese name for Satan Pan - Greek god of lust, later
relegated to devildom Pluto - Greek god of the underworld Proserpine - Greek
queen of the underworld Pwcca - Welsh name for Satan Rimmon - Syrian devil
worshipped at Damascus Sabazios - Phrygian origin, identified with Dionysos,
snake worship Saitan - Enochian equivalent of Satan Sammael - (Hebrew) "venom of
God" Samnu - Central Asian devil Sedit - American Indian devil Sekhmet -
Egyptian goddess of vengeance Set - Egyptian devil Shaitan - Arabic name for
Satan Shiva - (Hindu) the destroyer Supay - Inca god of the underworld T'an-mo -
Chinese counterpart to the devil, covetousness, desire Tchort - Russian name for
Satan, "black god" Tezcatlipoca - Aztec god of Hell Thamuz - Sumerian god who
later was relegated to devildom Thoth - Egyptian god of magic Tunrida -
Scandanavian female devil Typhon - Greek personification of Satan Yaotzin -
Aztec god of Hell Yen-lo-Wang - Chinese ruler of Hell The devils of past
religions have always, at least in part, had animal characteristics, evidence of
man's constant need to deny that he too is an animal, for to do so would serve a
mighty blow to his impoverished ego.

- The Satanic Bible

[_ludwigm]

“Where is the graveyard of dead gods?” - By H. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan (from The Smart Set, March, 1922)

THRENODY.— Where is the graveyard of dead gods? What lingering mourner waters their mounds? There was a day when Jupiter was the king of all the gods, and any man who doubted his puissance was ipso facto a barbarian and an ignoramus. But where in all the world is there a man who worships Jupiter today? And what of Huitzilopochtli? In one year — and it was but five hundred years ago — no less than 50,000 youths and maidens were slain in sacrifice to him. Today, if he is remembered at all, it is only by some vagrant savage in the depths of the Mexican forest. Huitzilopochtli, like many other gods, had no human father; his mother was a virtuous widow; he was born of an apparently innocent flirtation that she carried on with the sun. When he frowned, his father, the sun, stood still. When he roared with rage, earthquakes engulfed whole cities. When he thirsted, he was watered with 10,000 gallons of human blood. But today Huitzilopochtli is as magnificently forgotten as Allen G. Thurman. Once the peer of Allah, he is now the peer of General Coxey, Richmond P. Hobson, Nan Patterson, Alton G. Parker, Adelina Patti, General Weyler and Tom Sharkey.

Speaking of Huitzilopochtli recalls his brother, Tezcatlipoca. Tezcatlipoca was almost as powerful: he consumed 25,000 virgins a year. Lead me to his tomb: I would weep, and hang a couronne des perles! But who knows where it is? Or where the grave of Quetzdcoatl is? Or Tlaloc? Or Chalchihuftlicue? Or Xiehtecutii? Or Centeotl, that sweet one? Or Tlazoltcotl, the goddess of love ? Or Mictlan? Or Ixtlilton? Or Omacatl? Or Yacatecutli? Or Mixcoatl? Or Xipe? Or all the host of Tzitzimitles? Where are their bones? Where is the willow on which they hung their harps? In what forlorn and unheard-of hell do they await the resurrection morn? Who enjoys their residuary estates? Or that of Dis, whom Caesar found to be the chief god of the Celts? Or that of Tarvos, the bull? Or that of Moccos, the pig? Or that of Epona, the mare? Or that of Mullo, the celestial jackass? There was a time when the Irish revered all these gods as violently as they now hate the English. But today even the drunkest Irishman laughs at them.

But they have company in oblivion: the hell of dead gods is as crowded as the Presbyterian hell for babies. Damona is there, and Esus, and Drunemeton, and Silvana, and Dervones, and Adsalluta, and Deva, and Belisama, and Axona, and Vintios, and Taranucus, and Stdis, and Cocidius, and Adsmcrius, and Dumiatis, and Caletos, and Moccus, and Ollovidius, and Albiorix, and Leucitius, and Vitucadrus, and Ogmios, and Uxellimus, and Borvo, and Grannos, and Mogons. All mighty gods in their day, worshipped by millions, full of demands and impositions, able to bind and loose — all gods of the first class, not pikers. Men labored for generations to build vast temples to them — temples with stones as large as hay-wagons. The business of interpreting their whims occupied thousands of priests, wizards, archdeacons, evangelists, haruspices, bishops, archbishops. To doubt them was to die, usually at the stake. Armies took to the field to defend them against infidels: villages were burned, women and children were butchered, cattle were driven off. Yet in the end they all withered and died, and today there is none so poor to do them reverence. Worse, the very tombs in which they lie are lost, and so even a respectful stranger is debarred from paying them the slightest and politest homage.

What has become of Sutekh, once the high god of the whole Nile Valley?
What has become of:

Resheph
Baal
Anath
Astarte
Ashtoreth
Hadad
El
Addu
Nergal
Shalem
Nebo
Dagon
Ninib
Sharrab
Melek
Yau
Ahijah
Amon-Re
Isis
Osiris
Ptah
Sebek
Anubis
Molech

All these were once gods of the highest class. Many of them are mentioned with fear and trembling in the Old Testament. They ranked, five or six thousand years ago, with Jahveh himself; the worst of them stood far higher than Thor or Wotan. Yet they have all gone down the chute, and with them the following;

Bile
Gwydion
Ler
Manawyddan
Arianrod
Nuada Argetlam
Morrigu
Tadg
Govannon
Goibniu
Gundfled
Odin
Sokk-mimi
Llaw Gyffes
Memctona
Lieu
Dagda
Ogma
Kerridwen
Mider
Pwyll
Rigantona
Ogyrvan
Marzin
Dea Denver International Airport
Mars
Ceres
Jupiter
Vaticanus
Cunina
Edulia
Potina
Adeona
Statilinus
Iuno Lucina
Diana of Rhesus
Saturn
Robigus
Furrina
Pluto
Vediovis
Ops
Consus
Meditrina
Cronos
Vesta
Enki
Tilmun
Engurra
Zer-panitu
Belus
Merodach
Dimmer
U-ki
Mu-ul-lil
Dauke
Ubargisi
Gasan-abzu
Ubilulu
Elum
Gasan-lil
U-TinHlir ki
U-dimmer-an-kia
Marduk
Enurestu
Nin-HMa
U-sab-sib
Kin
U-Mersi
Persophone
Tammuz
Istar
Venus
Lagas
Bau
U-urugal
Hulu-hursang
Sirtumu
Anu
Ea
Beltis
Nirig
Nusku
Ncbo
Ni-zu
Samas
Sahi
Ma-banba-aima
Aa
En-Mersi
Allatu
Amurm
Sin
Assur
Abil-Addu
Aku
Apsu
Beltu
Dagan
Dumu-zi-abzu
Elali
Kuski-banda
Isum
Kaawanu
Mami
Nin-azu
Nin-mah
Lugal-Amarada
Zaraqu
Qarradu
Ura-gala
Suqamunu
Zagaga
Ueras

You may think I spoof. That I invent the names. I do not. Ask your pastor to lend you any good treatise on comparative religion: you will find them all listed. They were all gods of the highest standing and dignity — gods of civilized peoples — worshipped and believed in by millions. All were theoretically omnipotent, omniscient and immortal. And all are dead.

[_LittleNipper]

Well, God said, "I AM." Obviously they weren't.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Well, God said, "I AM." Obviously they weren't.

Nuh-uh.

V/R
Dr. Cam