The Book of the Wars of the Lord ( סֵפֶר מִלְחֲמֹת יהוה ) is one of several non-canonical books referenced in the Bible which have now been completely lost. It is mentioned in Numbers 21:14–15, which reads: "From there they set out and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the desert and bounding the Amorite territory. For Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. That is why the Book of the Wars of the LORD says: '... Waheb in Suphah and the ravines of Arnon, and at the stream of the ravines that lead to the dwelling of Ar, which lies along the border of Moab.'"
Amongst academics, it is generally thought to be a collection of victory songs or poems, although some readers have suggested it may be a prose military history. It has been suggested by the theologian Joseph Barber Lightfoot that the book was one and the same as the mysterious biblical Book of Jasher.
The Book of the Wars of the LORD is cited in the mediaeval Book of Jasher Chapter 90:48 as being a collaborative record written by Moses, Joshua, and the children of Israel.
Famous quotes containing the words the lord, book of, book, wars and/or lord:
“And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“Good artists exist simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are. A really great poet is the most unpoetical of all creatures. But inferior poets are absolutely fascinating. The worse their rhymes are, the more picturesque they look. The mere fact of having published a book of second-rate sonnets makes a man quite irresistible. He lives the poetry that he cannot write. The others write the poetry that they dare not realise.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“The two great things yet to be discovered are these—The Art of rejuvenating old age in men, & oldageifying youth in books.—Who in the name of the trunk-makers would think of reading Old Burton were his book published for the first to day.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.”
—Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
“The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Job 42:12.