God is the Father and Lord of all things, and sees all things, and that thence he bestows a happy life upon those that follow him; but plunges such as do not walk in the paths of virtue into inevitable miseries.

Upon the whole, a man that will peruse this history may principally learn from it that all events succeed well, even to an incredile degree, and the reward of felicity is proposed by God; but then it is to those that follow His will, and do not venture to break His excellent laws - and that so far as men any way apostatise from the accurate observation of them, what was praticable before becomes impracticable; and whatsoever they set about as a good thing is converted into an incurable calamity.

The reader is therefore to know, that Moses deemed it exceedingly necessary that he who would conduct his own life well, and give laws to others, should first consider the divine nature; and, by contemplating the works of God, imitate the best of all patterns—so far as it is possible for human nature to do—and endeavor to follow after it.

Now, my father Matthias was not only eminent on account of his nobility, but had a higher commendation on account of his righteousness.

that we men are the most excellent of the creatures of God upon earth.

God was possessed of perfect virtue, he supposed that men also ought to strive after the participation of it; and on those who did not so think and so believe, he inflicted the severest punishments. 

Abel, the younger, was a lover of righteousness, and, believing that God was present at all his actions, he excelled in virtue

Now, this Seth, when he was brought up, and came to those years in which he could discern what was good, became a virtuous man; and as he was himself of an excellent character, so did he leave children behind him who imitated his virtues.  All these provided to be of good dispositions.  They also inhabited the same country without dissensions, and in a happy condition, without any misfortunes falling upon them, till they died. 

Now, this posterity of Seth continued to esteem God as the Lord of the universe, and to have an entire regard to virtue, for seven generations; but in process of time they were perverted, and forsook the practices of the forefathers, and did neither pay those honors to God which were appointed them, nor had they any concern to do justice towards men.  But for what degree of zeal they had formerly shewn for virtue, they now shewed for their actions a double degree of wickedness, whereby they made God to be their enemy

God, who loved the man for his righteousness (Noah), granted entire success to his prayers, and said that it was not he who brought the destruction on a polluted world, but that they underwent that vengeance on account of their own wickedness.

However, I require you (God to Noah) to abstain from shedding the blood of men, and to keep yourselves pure from murder.

Now the sons of Noah were three; yet, imagining that the prosperity they enjoyed was not due to the favor of God, but supposing that their own power was the cause of the plentiful condition they were in, they did not obey Him. Nay, they even added to their disobedience and acted contrary to the Divine will

The first commandment teaches us, That there is but one God, and that we ought to worship him only; - the second commands us not to make the image of any living creature to worship it; - the third, That we must not swear by God is a false matter; - the fourth, That we must keep the seventhh day, by resting from all sorts of work; - the fifth, That we must honour our parents; - the sixth, That we must abstain from murder; - the seventh, That we must not commit adultery; - the eighth, That we must not be guilty of theft; - the ninth, That we must no bear false witness; - the tenth, That we must not admit of the desire of any thing that is another's.

(Moses says) above all things, let us be of one mind, and let us honour God, who above all is our helper and assister.

(Moses says) O children of Israel! there is but one source of happiness for all mankind, the favour of God; for he alone is able to give good things to those that deserve them, and to deprive those of them that sin against him; towards whom if you behave yourselfs according to his will

In this city lived one Abinadab, by birth a Levite, and who was greatly commended for his righteous and religious course of life; so they brought the ark to his house, as to a place fit for God himself to abide in, since therein did inhabit a righteous man. 

(Samuel Speaking) Be righteous, then, and case sickedness out of your souls, and by your worship supplicate the Divine Majesty will all your hearts, and perserve in the honour you pay to him; for if you act thus, you will enjoy prosperity; you will be freed from your slavery, and will get the victory over your enemies: which blessings it is not possible you should attain, either by weapons of war, or by the strength of your bodies, or by the multitude of your assistants:  for God has not promised to grant these blessings by those means, but by being good and righteous men

(Cont.) God rewards those who are religious and righteous. He advised them to be righteous and good, and always to remember the miseries that had befallen them because they had departed from virtue

(about Samuel) He was a righteous man, and gentle in his nature; and on that account he was very dear to God.

(about David) Now David was in his nature just, and made his determination with regard to truth.

(David speaking)  According to the will of God, who is true and righteous, we ought to esteem truth as the strongest of all things, and understand that what is unrighteous has no power against it. Moreover, all other things that possess strength are mortal and short-lived, but truth is immortal and eternal.

 (Josepheus comments about the family of King Herod:)  This (death of Pheroras) became the origin of Antipater's misfortunes, although he had already sailed for Rome, God now being about to punish him for the murder of his brethren.  I will explain the history of this matter very distictly, that it may be a warning to mankind, that they take care of conducting their whole lives by the rules of virtue.

Now, I did not think these histories improper for the present discourse, both because my discourse now is concerning kings, and otherwise also on account of the advantage hence to be drawn, as well for the confirmation of the immortality of the soul, as of the providence of God over human affairs, I thought them fit to be set down; but if any one does not believe such relations, let him indeed enjoy his own opinion, but let him not hinder another that would thereby encourage himself in virtue.

The bodies of all men are indeed mortal, and are created out of corrptible matter; but the soul is ever immortal, and is a portion of the Divinity that inhabits our bodies.

their souls are pure and obedient, and obtain a most holy place in heaven, from whence, in the revolution of ages, they are again sent into pure bodies; while the soul of those whose hands have acted madly against themselves, are received by the darkest place in Hades,

 (Josepheus speaking about the near fall of Jerusalem) That neither did any other city ever suffer such miseries, nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness that this was, from the beginning of the world.

in reality it was God who condemned the whole nation, and turn every course that was taken for their preservation to their destruction.

and here I cannot but speak my mind, and what he concen I am under dictates to me, and it is this: - I suppose that had the Romans made any longer delay in coming against these villaims, the city would either have been swallowed up by the ground opening upon them, or been overflowed by water, or else been destroyed by such thunder as the county of Sodom perished by, for it has brough forth a generation of men much more atheistical than were those that sufffered such punishments; for by their madness it was that all the people came to be destroyed

 It is God Himself who is bringing this fire, to purge that city and temple by means of the Romans, and He is going to pluck up this place, which is filled with your pollutions.

 great rewards are proposed for you, if you preserve that virtue through your whole lives.

So long as you desire to have Him as your Protector in your pursuit of virtue, so long will you enjoy His care over you.

(God speaking to Moses) And in order to prevent your ignorance of virtue, and the degeneration of your nature into vice, I have ordained for you laws, delivered by divine inspiration

if you do what is pleasing to God, you will have a secure state of happiness.

for justice is the power of God.

(speaking for Moses) God is displeased with those that are insolent towards their parents, because he is himself the Father of the whole race of mankind

above all things, let us be of one mind, and let us honor God, who above all is our helper and assister

If you will do what is pleasing to God, you will have a secure state of happiness

all things are administered by thy providence, and that nothing happens by chance, but is governed by they will, and therby attains its end

All men ought to follow this Being, and to worship him in the exercise of virtue; for this way of worship of God is the most holy of all others.

However, there is still place left for preservation, if you be willing to accept it; and God is easily reconciled to those who confess their faults and repent. God is reconciled to those who repent, even though he had been justly angry on account of their sins; and now he is so ready to forgive you, if you will but repent