This is what ye shall eat

by E.A. Wallis Budge, [1932]

They made him King

“And when these had become silent there rose up the priest who gave us the Commandments, with the fear of God, and he shed tears whilst our bodies quaked and our tears flowed down. God is indeed, without falsehood, in our hearts, and He dwelleth in His commandment. And His commandment is uttered, and it removeth itself not from those who love Him and who keep His commandment, and He is with them continually. And now, hearken to the judgment and laws which the elders and the sons of the mighty men of Israel brought, which they wrote before King SOLOMON and have given unto us, so that we may not turn aside either to the right hand or to the left from what they have commanded us. And also they told us and made us understand that we bear death and life and that we are like unto a man who hath fire in his left hand and water in his right, and who can put his hand into whichever he pleaseth. For punishment and life are written therein; for those who have done evil, punishment, and for those who have done good, life.”

’ÊLMĔYÂS and AZARIAH brought forth that writing which was written before God and before the King of Israel, and they read it before MÂKĔD and before the great men of Israel. And when they heard these words all those who were round about, both small and great, bowed down and made obeisance, and they glorified God Who had made them hear these words and had given them this commandment so that they might perform the justice and judgment of God. And moreover, He made them members of His house, for ZION was among them, and she is the habitation of the glory of God, and she delivered them from all evil and blessed the fruit of their lands, and multiplied their sheep and cattle, and blessed their wells of water, and blessed their labors, and the fruit of their gardens, and made their children to grow up, and protected their aged men, and became the foreguard and rearguard wheresoever they dwelt, and vanquished their enemies wheresoever they went. And all the people of ETHIOPIA rejoiced.

The Queen said unto her son, “My son, God hath given unto thee the right, walk thou therein and withdraw not thyself from it, neither to the right hand nor the left. And love thou thy God, for He is merciful unto the simple-minded. His way is known from His commandment, and His goodness is comprehended through the guidance of His word.”

Then she turned towards ’ÊLMĔYÂS and AZARIAH and all the mighty men of Israel [saying], “Do ye protect him and teach him the path of the kingdom of God, and the honor of our Lady ZION. And whatsoever our Lady loveth not let us not do. Tell us [this] truly and carefully forever and from generation to generation, so that she may not be wroth with us if we do not perform her service well, so that God may dwell with us. And thou, my son, hearken unto the word of thy fathers and walk in their counsel. And let not drink make thee foolish, nor women, nor pride of apparel, nor the bridles and trappings of horses, nor the sight of the weapons of war of those who are at the head or at the rear. But let thy confidence be in God and in ZION, the Tabernacle of the Law of God, thy Creator, so that thou mayest vanquish thine enemy, and so that thy seed upon the earth may multiply, and so that thy foes and adversaries, near and far, may be overthrown.”

Those sons of mighty men answered and said with one voice, “O our Lady, we are with you always, and we will remember the lord, the King. Behold, what is written and the performance thereof shall take place if the God of Israel shall be unto him a helper, and if he hearkeneth to the word of his mother; and we will inform him about the path of doing good works. For there is no one to be found in these days as wise as thyself, except our lord the King. Thou hast drawn us hither as thy servants with our Lady, the heavenly Zion, the Tabernacle of the Law of the Lord our God just as a man draweth a camel that is loaded with valuable possessions with a little piece of thin, tough cord fastened over his nose. And now, reject us not and treat us not as strange people, but make us like unto thy slaves who wash thy feet, for whether we die or whether we live we are with thee; we have no longer any hope in the country of our birth, but only in thee and in our Lady the heavenly ZION, the habitation of the glory of God.”

The Queen talked to the Children of ISRAEL

The Queen answered and said unto them, “Not as servants as ye say but as a father and a teacher will we treat you. For ye are the guardians of the Law of God, and the guides of the commandment of the God of Israel, Israel men of the house of God, and the guardians of ZION, the Tabernacle of the Law of God, and we do not wish to transgress your commandments, for ye shall be unto us a guide to the path of God away from all evil. At your words, we will withdraw from that wherewith God is not well-pleased, and we will draw nigh unto every good thing wherewith God is well-pleased at your commandment. Only do ye instruct all these people, and teach them the words of knowledge, for never before have they heard such things as they have heard this day. It is only those who have an understanding in them that wisdom and understanding illumine like the light of the sun. As for me, up to this present, I have not drunk deeply of the water of knowledge. Now it is sweeter than honey, and quencheth the thirst more than wine, and it satisfieth and maketh wisdom to bubble up, and it stimulateth the understanding, and maketh a man to pour forth words like a drunken man, and maketh the unsteady man like one who flieth, and maketh a man as hot as he that carrieth a heavy load on a difficult road in a parched land that is burnt up by a blazing sun. When the hearts of the wise are open to prophesy and to knowledge, they do not fear the king because of the greatness of his glory if he turneth himself aside from the way of God.

Mark this: The word of the Law, which hath been uttered, is indeed understanding unto those who wish for it, and who drink it in and soak themselves therein. I pray Thee, O Lord God of ISRAEL, Thou Holiest of the Holy, grant unto me that I may follow wisdom, and may not become a castaway; grant unto me that I may make her a wall unto myself, and may never fall down; grant that I may make her a foundation for me, and may never be overthrown; grant that I may stand upon her as [firmly as] a pillar, and may never shake; grant that I may hide in her, and never have her stripped from me; grant that I may build myself upon her, and may not topple over; grant that I may become vigorous through her, and not suffer from exhaustion; grant that I may stand through her, and may not fall; grant that I may lay hold upon her, and may not slip away; grant that I may grasp her firmly, and may not slide; grant that I may dwell in her in her peace; [grant that] I may be satisfied at her table, and may not vomit, and drink her and not get drunk upon her, and may be satisfied with her and not spit her out.

“I have drunk of her, but have not tottered; I have tottered through her, but have not fallen; I have fallen because of her, but have not been destroyed. Through her, I have dived down into the great sea and have seized in the place of her depths a pearl whereby I am rich. I went down like the great iron anchor whereby men anchor ships for the night on the high seas, and I received a lamp which lighteth me, and I came up by the ropes of the boat of understanding. I went to sleep in the depths of the sea, and not being overwhelmed with the water I dreamed a dream. And it seemed to me that there was a star in my womb, and I marveled thereat, and I laid hold upon it and made it strong in the splendor of the sun; I laid hold upon it, and I will never let it go. I went in through the doors of the treasury of wisdom and I drew for myself the waters of understanding. I went into the blaze of the flame of the sun, and it lighted me with the splendor thereof, and I made of it a shield for myself, and I saved myself by confidence therein, and not myself only but all those who travel in the footprints of wisdom, and not myself only but all the men of my country, the kingdom of Ethiopia, and not those only but those who travel in their ways, the nations that are round about. For the Lord hath given us the seed in ZION and a habitation in JERUSALEM. And moreover, there hath come to us a portion with those whom He hath chosen, the seed of Jacob, for He hath set His habitation to abide with us. From this time forth they are set down, and from this time forth we are set upright. From this time forth they are despised and rejected, and from this time forth we shall be honored and loved forever and ever and throughout all the generations that are to come.

“And ye, O noble ones, hearken unto me and learn well what cometh forth from my mouth and my words. Love ye what is right and hate falsehood, for what is right is righteousness and falsehood is the head of the iniquity. And ye shall not use fraud and oppression among yourselves, for God dwelleth with you, and the habitation of His glory is among you; for ye have become members of His household. And from this time onward cease ye to observe your former customs, [namely] making auguries from birds, and from signs, and the use of charms, and incantations, and portents, and magic. And if after this day there be found any man who observeth all his former customs, his house shall be plundered, and he and his wife and his children shall be condemned.” The Queen said unto AZARIAH, “Speak and declare how much thou lovest our Lady with her Heavenly King.”

AZARIAH praised the Queen and her city

AZARIAH rose up and said unto the Queen, “O our Lady, verily there is no one like unto thee in wisdom and understanding—the which have been given unto thee by God—except my lord the King, who hath brought us unto this land with our Lady ZION, the holy and heavenly Tabernacle of the Law of God. Now we and our fathers of olden time have said, God hath chosen none except the House of JACOB, us hath He has chosen, us hath He multiplied, us hath He held to please Him, and He hath made us kings and made us members of His household, and councilors of His glory and of the Tabernacle of His covenant. And as for a country, we say that He hath chosen no country except ours, but now we see that the country of ETHIOPIA is better than the country of JUDAH. And from the time that we arrived in your country everything that we have seen hath appeared good to us. Your waters are good and they are given without price (or, payment), and [we have] air without fans, and wild honey is as [plentiful as] the dust of the marketplace, and cattle as the sand of the sea. And as for what we have seen there is nothing detestable, and there is nothing malign in what we hear, and in what we walk upon, and in what we touch, and in what we taste with our mouths. But there is one matter that we would mention: ye are black of the face—I only state this [fact] because I can see [that ye are]—but if God illumineth (i.e., maketh white) your hearts, [as far as your color is concerned] nothing can injure you.

“And withdraw ye yourselves from meat that dieth of itself, and from blood, and from bodies torn by wild animals, and from fornication, and from everything that God hateth, so that we may rejoice in you when we see you fearing God and trembling at His word; even as God commanded our fathers and said unto Moses, ‘Give them commands about everything, and tell them to keep My Law and My Ordinance.’ And turn ye not aside, neither to the right hand nor to the left, from that which we command you this day; and now [we command] you that ye worship God, the Holy One of Israel, and do His good pleasure; for He hath rejected our nation even as our prophets prophesied, and hath chosen you. Doth not God your Creator belongs to all of you? In what will God find it difficult if He loveth us and hateth them? For everything belongeth to Him, and everything is His handiwork, and there is nothing impossible for the Lord God of Israel.

“And hearken ye unto His command, which I will declare unto you. Let not one overcome his fellow by violence. Plunder not the possessions of your neighbors. Ye shall not revile each other, and ye shall not oppress each other, and ye shall not quarrel with each other. And if by chance an animal belonging to your neighbor come among your property, be not blind to the fact but make it go back to him. And if ye do not know who is the owner of the property, take care of it for him, and as soon as one hath found out to whom it belongeth return his property to him. And if the property of your neighbor hath fallen into a pit, or into a well, or into a hollow or into a ravine, do not pass on and go not by it until ye have told him and helped him to drag out the animal. And if a man hath dug a well or hath built a tower (or, shelter), he shall not leave the well without a cover nor the tower without a roof. And if there is a man who is carrying a heavy load, or if the load hath slipped from the man who is carrying it, ye shall not pass on your way until ye have helped him to lift it up or to lighten it for him; for he is your brother. Ye shall not cook a young animal in the milk of his mother. Ye shall not turn aside the right of the poor and the orphans. Ye shall not accept the person, and ye shall not take bribes to turn aside the right and bear false witness.

“And when ye find a bird in your land with her young ones, ye shall spare her life and shall not take away her young, so that your days may be long upon the earth, and your seed may be blessed with (or, for) length of days. And when ye reap the harvest of your food, ye shall not be careful to read all of it. Gather not up what falleth from it, and the sheaves which ye have forgotten leave when ye go back and take them not up, but leave them for the stranger in your city, so that God may bless the fruit of your land. And ye shall not work impurity, and ye shall not judge with partiality, and ye shall not deal oppressively with one another in anything, so that ye may be blessed, and so that the fruit of your land may increase, and so that ye may be saved from the curse of the Law which God hath commanded, saying, ‘They shall curse the worker of evil.’ And He wrote, saying, ‘He who leadeth the blind man out of his path is accursed.

He who addresseth vile words to a deaf (or, dumb) man is accursed. And he who defileth his father’s bed is accursed. And he who beateth his neighbor with fraud is accursed. And he who perverteth justice for the alien so that he may slay innocent blood is accursed. And he who treateth his father and his mother lightly is accursed. And he who maketh a filthy graven image of stone or smelted metal, the work of a man’s hand, and setteth it up and hideth it in his house, and worshippeth it as a god, not believing that God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth, Who made ADAM in His own image and likeness, and set him over everything which He had created, we all being His work—the man who doth not believe [this] accursed let him be! Amen. And he who lieth with a beast, let him be accursed. And he who lieth with a man as with a woman, let him be accursed. And he who slayeth a life, innocent blood, with fraud and violence, let him be accursed.’

“And over and above all these things ye shall worship no other gods, for God is jealous concerning those who despise Him and do this, and He setteth His face upon them until He rooteth out their lives from the earth, and blotteth out their memory forever. Blessed are those who hearken to the voice of God, and perform and keep [His commandments]. And blessed are those who turn aside from those who do evil so that none of the punishments which shall come upon sinners shall fall upon them. And if it is that thou wilt keeps the word of God, withdraw thyself from the way of sinners, so that thou mayest not be beaten with the rod wherewith they shall be beaten. Even as DAVID the grandfather of our lord David saith, ‘God will not let the rod of sinners [fall] upon the portion of the righteous,’ so that the righteous may not lift up their hands in violence (or, oppression). When a man hath the power to do that which is good, and he watcheth himself and telleth his neighbor, he becometh as it were the owner of two talents, and yet other two talents are added to him, and he getteth abundant reward from God. For he hath done it himself and taught his neighbor to do it, and because of this, his reward shall be exceedingly great. And again, blessed shall ye be if ye give your possessions, without usury and not as loans.”

This is what ye shall eat: the clean and the unclean

This is what ye shall eat: the clean and that which is not clean. The ox, the sheep, the goat, the ram, the stag, the gazelle, the buffalo, the deskĕna antelope, we‛elâantelope, the oryx, the zĕrât gazelle, and every creature with a cleft hoof and nails eat ye, and the creatures that chew the cud. And these which ye shall not eat among those that chew the cud and have a cleft hoof are the camels and the hare and the kârgĕlyôn (coney ?), for they chew the cud but their hoofs are not cleft. The wolf and the pig ye shall not eat, for their hoofs are cleft but they do not chew the cud: ye shall not eat what is unclean. Whatsoever is in the waters with fins and scales eat ye; whatsoever is unclean therein eat ye not. Among birds everything that is clean eat ye, but ye shall not eat the following: the eagle, the vulture, the ’êlyâṭân eagle, the osprey, the hawk, and the like, the raven, ostrich, the owl, the sea-gull, the heron, the swan, the ibis, the pelican, the hawk, the hoopoe, the night raven, the hornbill, the water-piper, the water-hen, and the bat; these are unclean. And ye shall not eat the locust nor anything of his kind, nor the ’aḳâṭân nor anything of his kind, nor the grasshopper nor anything of his kind, nor the field locust nor anything of his kind. Of the things that fly (or, spring) and have two or four or six feet, their flesh is unclean, ye shall not eat thereof. And ye shall not touch their dead bodies, and whosoever toucheth them shall be unclean until the evening.

“Now these things we have declared unto you in order that ye may keep and perform the fear of God so that ye may be blessed in this your country, which God hath given unto you because of the heavenly Zion, the Tabernacle of the Law of God, for because of her have ye been chosen. And our fathers have been rejected, because God took from them ZION, the Tabernacle of the Law of God, to keep you and your seed forever. And He will bless the fruit of your land, and He will multiply your cattle and will protect them in everything wherein they are to be protected.

“And as for thee, O my Lady, thy wisdom is good, and it surpasseth the wisdom of men. There is none that can be compared with thee in respect of thy intelligence, not only in the matter of the intuition of the women who have been created up to this present, but the understanding of thine heart is deeper than that of men, and there is none who can be compared with thee in the abundance of thine understanding, except my lord SOLOMON. And thy wisdom so far exceedeth that of SOLOMON that thou hast been able to draw hither the mighty men of Israel, and the Tabernacle of the Law of God, with the ropes of thine understanding, and thou hast overthrown the house of their idols, and destroyed their images, and thou hast cleansed what was unclean among thy people, for thou hast driven away from them that which God hateth.

“And as concerning thy name, God hath prepared it [especially], for He hath called thee ‘MÂKĔD‘, whereof the interpretation is ‘Not thus’. Consider thou [the people] of thy nation with whom God was not well pleased, and thou wilt say ‘Not thus [is it] good, but it is right that we should worship God’; ‘Not thus is it good to worship the sun, but it is right to worship God,’ thou wilt say. ‘Not thus is it good to enquire of the diviner, but it is better to trust in God,’ thou wilt say. ‘Not thus is it good to resort to the working of magic, but it is better to lean upon the Holy One of Israel,’ thou wilt say. ‘Not thus is it good to offer up sacrifices to stones and trees, but it is right to offer up sacrifices to God,’ thou wilt say. ‘Not thus is it good to seek augury from birds, but it is right to put confidence in the Creator,’ thou wilt say.

“And besides, inasmuch as thou hast chosen wisdom she hath become to thee a mother; thou didst seek her, and she hath become unto thee a treasure. Thou hast made her a place of refuge for thyself, and she hath become to thee a wall. Thou hast desired her eagerly, and she hath loved thee above everything. Thou hast placed thy confidence in her, and she hath taken thee to her bosom like a child. Thou hast loved her, and she hath become unto thee as thou didst desire. Thou hast laid hold upon her, and she will not let thee go until the day of thy death. Thou hast been sorrowful on her account, and she hath made thee rejoice forever. Thou hast toiled for her sake, and she hath made thee vigorous forever. Thou hast hungered for her sake, and she hath filled thee with food forever. Thou hast thirsted for wisdom, and she hath given thee drink in abundance forever. Thou hast suffered tribulation for the sake of wisdom, and she hath become unto thee a healing forever. Thou hast made thyself deaf for the sake of wisdom, and she hath made thee hear forever.

Thou hast made thyself blind for the sake of wisdom, and she hath illumined thee more than the sun forever. And all this hath happened from God because thou hast loved wisdom forever. For wisdom, and knowledge and understanding are from the Lord. Understanding and knowledge, and the beginning of wisdom, and the fear of the Lord, and knowledge, and the perception of good, and sympathy, and compassion that existeth forever, all these things thou hast found, O my Lady, with the God of Israel, the Holy of the holiest, the Knower of hearts, Who searcheth out what is in the heart of man; from Him everything is. And it came to pass by the Will of God, that ZION hath come unto this country of Ethiopia, and it shall be a guide to our King David, the lover of God, the guardian of her pavilion, and the director of the habitation of His glory.”