CHAPTER XXXIII.

XXXIII. And Debbora went down thence, and judged Israel 40 years. And it came to pass when the day of her death drew near, that she sent and gathered all the people and said unto them: Hearken now, my people. Behold, I admonish you as a woman of God, and give you light as one of the race of women; obey me now as your mother, and give ear to my words, as men that shall yourselves die. 2. Behold, I depart to die by the way of all flesh, whereby ye also shall go: only direct your heart unto the Lord your God in the time of your life, for after your death ye will not be able to repent of those things wherein ye live. 3. For death is now sealed up, and accomplished, and the measure and the time and the years have restored that which was committed to them. For even if ye seek to do evil in hell after your death, ye will not be able, because the desire of sin shall cease, and the evil creation 2 shall lose its power, and hell,

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which receiveth that that is committed to it, will not restore it unless it be demanded by him that committed it. Now, therefore, my sons, obey ye my voice while ye have the time of life and the light of the law, and direct your ways. 4. And when Debbora spake these words, all the people lifted up their voice together and wept, saying: Behold now, mother, thou diest and forsakest thy sons; and to whom dost thou commit them? Pray thou, therefore, for us, and after thy departure thy soul shall be mindful of us for ever. 5. And Debbora answered and said to the people: While a man yet liveth he can pray for himself and for his sons; but after his end he will not be able to

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entreat nor to remember any man. Therefore, hope not in your fathers, for they will not profit you unless ye be found like unto them. But then your likeness shall be as the stars of the heaven, which have been manifested unto you at this time.

6. And Debbora died and slept with her fathers and was buried in the city of her fathers, and the people mourned for her 70 days. And as they bewailed her, thus they spake a lamentation, saying: Behold, a mother is perished out of Israel, and an holy one that bare rule in the house of Jacob, which made fast the fence about her generation, and her generation shall seek after her. And after her death the land had rest seven years.

Footnotes

179:2 XXXIII. 3. the evil creation: Plasmatio iniqua. The equivalent of the yetzer hara’, the evil tendency, of Rabbinic theology.