July 29, 2023 | 13 Chamiyshiy (Av)
Parshat: Devariym (Deuteronomy) 3:23 - 7:11
And I besought El-Yahuah at that time, saying: 24 O Adonai Yahuah, you have begun to show your servant your greatness, and your mighty hand: for what El is there in the heavens or in the earth, that can do according to your works, and according to your might? 25 I pray you, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond the Yardan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. 26 But Yahuah was wroth with me for your sakes and would not hear me: and Yahuah said unto me: Let it suffice you; speak no more unto me of this matter. 27 Get you up into the top of Picgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with your eyes: for you shall not go over this Yardan. 28 But charge Yahusha, and encourage him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you shall see. 29 So we abode in the valley over against Beyt Pe`or.
CHAPTER 4
Now therefore hearken, O Yashar’el, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which Yahuah Elohai of your fathers gives you. 2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may guard the commandments of Yahuah Elohaykem which I command you. 3 Your eyes have seen את what Yahuah did because of Ba`al Pe`or: for all the men that followed Ba`al Pe`or, Yahuah Elohayka has destroyed them from among you. 4 But ye that did cleave unto Yahuah Elohaykem are alive every one of you this day. 5 Behold, I have taught you commandments and judgments, even as Yahuah Elohai commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 6 Guard therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear את all these statutes, and say: Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7 For what nation is there so great, who has Elohiym so nigh unto them, as Yahuah Elohaynu is in all things that we call upon him for? 8 And what nation is there so great, that has commandments and judgments so righteous as all this Torah, which I set before you this day? 9 Only take heed to yourself, and guard your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life: but teach them your sons, and your sons' sons; 10 Specially the day that you stood before Yahuah Elohayka in Chorev, when Yahuah said unto me: Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. 11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. 12 And Yahuah spoke unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. 13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even Ten Devariym; and he wrote them upon two caphire stones.
14 And Yahuah commanded me at that time to teach you commandments and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it. 15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that Yahuah spoke unto you in Chorev out of the midst of the fire: 16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flies in the air, 18 The likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: 19 And lest you lift up your eyes unto the heavens, and when you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, should be driven to worship them, and serve them, which Yahuah Elohayka has divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. 20 But Yahuah has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Mitsrayim, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.
21 Furthermore Yahuah was angry with me for your sakes and swore seven oaths that I should not go over the Yardan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which Yahuah Elohayka gives you for an inheritance: 22 But I must die in this land, I must not go over the Yardan: but ye shall go over and possess that good land. 23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of Yahuah Elohaykem, which he cut with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of anything, which Yahuah Elohayka has forbidden you. 24 For Yahuah Elohayka is a consuming fire, even a jealous El.
25 When you shall beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of anything, and shall do evil in the sight of Yahuah Elohayka, to provoke him to anger: 26 I call the heavens and the earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over the Yardan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
27 And Yahuah shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither Yahuah shall lead you. 28 And there ye shall serve elohiym, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29 But if from thence you shall seek Yahuah Elohayka, you shall find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in tribulation, and all these things are come upon you, even in the latter days, if you turn to Yahuah Elohayka, and shall be obedient unto his voice; 31 (For Yahuah Elohayka is a merciful El;) he will not forsake you, neither destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore seven oaths unto them. 32 For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that Elohiym created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there has been any such thing as this great thing is, or has been heard like it? 33 Did ever people hear the voice of Elohiym speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live? 34 Or has Elohiym assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Yahuah Elohaykem did for you in Mitsrayim before your eyes? 35 Unto you it was showed that you might know that Yahuah he is Elohiym; there is no one else beside him. 36 Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, that he might instruct you: and upon earth he showed you his great fire; and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. 37 And because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought you out in his sight with his mighty power out of Mitsrayim; 38 To drive out nations from before you greater and mightier than you are, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day. 39 Know therefore this day, and consider it in your heart, that Yahuah he is Elohiym in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is no one else. 40 You shall guard therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days upon the earth, which Yahuah Elohayka gives you, forever.
41 Then Mosheh severed three cities on this side of the Yardan toward the sunrising; 42 That the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbor unawares, and hated him not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live: 43 Namely, Betser in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Re’uveniym; and Ra’moth in Gil`ad, of the Gadiym; and Golan in Bashan, of the Menashshiym.
44 And this is the Torah which Mosheh set before the children of Yashar’el: 45 These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Mosheh spoke unto the children of Yashar’el, after they came forth out of Mitsrayim, 46 On this side of the Yardan, in the valley over against Beyt Pe`or, in the land of Ciychon king of the Emoriym, who dwelt at Cheshbon, whom Mosheh and the children of Yashar’el smote, after they were come forth out of Mitsrayim: 47 And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Emoriym, which were on this side of the Yardan toward the sunrising; 48 From Aro`er, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even unto Mount Siy’on, which is Chermon, 49 And all the plain on this side of the Yardan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Picgah.
CHAPTER 5
And Mosheh called all Yashar’el, and said unto them: Hear, O Yashar’el, the commandments and the judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, guard them, and do them. 2 Yahuah Elohaynu cut a covenant with us in Chorev. 3 Yahuah cut not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. 4 Yahuah talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire, 5 (I stood between Yahuah and you at that time, to show you the Word of Yahuah: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying:
6 I am Yahuah Elohayka, which brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, from the house of bondage.
7 You shall have no other elohiym before me.
8 You shall not make you any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: 9 You shall not bow down yourself unto them, nor serve them: for I Yahuah Elohayka am a jealous El, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, 10 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and guard my commandments.
11 You shall not bring the name of Yahuah Elohayka to naught: את for Yahuah will not hold him guiltless that brings his name to naught.
12 Guard the day of the Shabbath; to sanctify it as Yahuah Elohayka has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work: 14 But the seventh day is the Shabbath of Yahuah Elohayka: in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your ox, nor your ass, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates; that your manservant and your maidservant may rest as well as you. 15 And remember that you were a servant in the land of Mitsrayim, and that Yahuah Elohayka brought you out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm: therefore Yahuah Elohayka commanded you to keep the day of Shabbath.
16 Honor your father and your mother, as Yahuah Elohayka has commanded you; that your days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with you, in the land which Yahuah Elohayka gives you.
17 You shall not kill.
18 Neither shall you break wedlock.
19 Neither shall you steal.
20 Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor.
21 Neither shall you lust after your neighbor's woman, neither shall you lust after your neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.
22 These words Yahuah spoke unto all your assembly in the Mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them on two caphire stones and delivered them unto me. 23 And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; 24 And ye said: Behold, Yahuah Elohaynu has showed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that Elohiym talks with man, and he lives. 25 Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of Yahuah Elohaynu anymore, then we shall die. 26 For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living Elohiym speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? 27 Go near and hear את all that Yahuah Elohaynu shall say: and speak you unto us את all that Yahuah Elohaynu shall speak unto you; and we will hear it and do it.
28 And Yahuah heard the voice of your words, when ye spoke unto me; and Yahuah said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto you: they have well said all that they have spoken. 29 O that there was such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and guard all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!
30 Go say to them: Get you into your tents again. 31 But as for you, stand here by me, and I will speak unto you את all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it. 32 Ye shall guard to do therefore as Yahuah Elohaykem has commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 33 Ye shall walk in all the ways which Yahuah Elohaykem has commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.
CHAPTER 6
Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which Yahuah Elohaykem commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: 2 That you might fear Yahuah Elohayka, to guard all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, you, and your son, and your son's son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged.
3 Hear therefore, O Yashar’el, and guard to do it; that it may be well with you, and that ye may increase mightily, as Yahuah Elohai of your fathers has promised you, in the land that flows with milk and honey. 4 Hear, O Yashar’el: Yahuah Elohaynu, Yahuah is one: 5 And you shall love את Yahuah Elohayka with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart: 7 And you shall teach them diligently unto your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 And you shall write them upon the posts of your house, and on your gates. 10 And it shall be, when Yahuah Elohayka shall have brought you into the land which he swore seven oaths unto your fathers, to Avraham, to Yitschaq, and to Ya`aqov, to give you great and goodly cities, which you built not, 11 And houses full of all good things, which you filled not, and wells dug, which you dug not, vineyards and olive trees, which you planted not; when you shall have eaten and be full; 12 Then beware lest you forget Yahuah, which brought you forth out of the land of Mitsrayim, from the house of bondage. 13 You shall fear Yahuah Elohayka, and serve him, and shall swear seven oaths by his name. 14 Ye shall not go after other elohiym, of the elohiym of the people which are round about you; 15 (For Yahuah Elohayka is a jealous El among you) lest the anger of Yahuah Elohayka be kindled against you and destroy you from off the face of the earth.
16 Ye shall not tempt Yahuah Elohaykem, as ye tempted him in Maccah. 17 Ye shall diligently guard the commandments of Yahuah Elohaykem, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 And you shall do that which is right and good in the sight of Yahuah: that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land which Yahuah swore seven oaths unto your fathers, 19 To cast out all your enemies from before you, as Yahuah has spoken. 20 And when your son asks you in time to come, saying: What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Yahuah Elohaynu has commanded you?
21 Then you shall say unto your son: We were Phar`oh’s bondmen in Mitsrayim; and Yahuah brought us out of Mitsrayim with a mighty hand: 22 And Yahuah showed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Mitsrayim, upon Phar`oh, and upon all his household, before our eyes: 23 And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore seven oaths unto our fathers. 24 And Yahuah commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Yahuah Elohaynu, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. 25 And it shall be our righteousness, if we guard to do all these commandments before Yahuah Elohaynu, as he has commanded us.
CHAPTER 7
When Yahuah Elohaykem shall bring you into the land whither you go to possess it, and has cast out many nations before you, the Chittiym, and the Girgashiym, and the Emoriym, and the Kena`aniym, and the Perizziym, and the Chivviym, and the Yevuciym, seven nations greater and mightier than you; 2 And when Yahuah Elohayka shall deliver them before you; you shall smite them, and utterly destroy them; you shall cut no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them: 3 Neither shall you make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give unto his son, nor his daughter shall you take unto your son. 4 For they will turn away your son from following me, that they may serve other elohiym: so will the anger of Yahuah be kindled against you and destroy you suddenly.
5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their graven images with fire. 6 For you are a holy people unto Yahuah Elohayka: Yahuah Elohayka has chosen you to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. 7 Yahuah did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: 8 But because Yahuah loved you, and because he would guard the oath which he had sworn seven oaths unto your fathers, has Yahuah brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Phar`oh king of Mitsrayim. 9 Know therefore that Yahuah Elohayka, he is Elohiym, the faithful El, which guards his covenant and mercy with them that love him and guard his commandments to a thousand generations; 10 And repays them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hates him, he will repay him to his face. 11 You shall therefore guard the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command you this day, to do them.
Haftorah: Yesha`yahu (Isaiah) 40:1-26
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, says your Elohiym. 2 Speak ye comfortably to Yerushalayim, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she has received of Yahuah’s hand double for all her sins.
3 The voice of him that cries in the wilderness: Prepare ye the Way of Yahuah, make straight in the desert a highway for our Elohiym. 4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5 And the glory of Yahuah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of Yahuah has spoken it. 6 The voice said: Cry. And he said: What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: 7 The grass withers, the flower fades: because the Ruach Yahuah blows upon it: surely the people is grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our Elohiym shall stand forever.
9 O Tsiyon, that bring good news, get you up into the high mountain; O Yerushalayim, that bring good news, lift up your voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Yahudah: Behold your Elohiym! 10 Behold, Adonai Yahuah will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. 11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has directed the Ruach Yahuah, or being his counselor has taught him? 14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he takes up the isles as a very little thing. 16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for an ascending smoke offering. 17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
18 To whom then will ye liken El? Or what likeness will ye compare unto him? 19 The workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains. 20 He that is so impoverished that he has no oblation chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved. 21 Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who establishes the circuit of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain and spreads them out as a tabernacle to dwell in: 23 That brings the princes to nothing; he makes the judges of the earth as vanity. 24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. 25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? Says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who has created these things, that brings out their host by number: he calls them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one fails.
Besorah: Luqas (Luke) 22:13-38
And they went and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the Pecach. 14 And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. 15 And he said unto them: With desire I have desired to eat this Pecach with you before I suffer: 16 For I say unto you, I will not anymore eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of Elohiym. 17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said: Take this, and divide it among yourselves: 18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the Kingdom of Elohiym shall come.
19 And he took the bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave unto them, saying: This is my body which is given for you: do this in remembrance of me. 20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying: This cup is the Renewed Covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.
21 But, behold, the hand of him that betrays me is with me on the table. 22 And truly the Son of A’dam goes, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed! 23 And they began to inquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing.
24 And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. 25 And he said unto them: The kings of the other nations exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. 26 But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that serves. 27 For which is greater, he that sits to eat, or he that serves? Is not he that sits to eat? But I am among you as he that serves. 28 Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. 29 And I appoint unto you a Kingdom, as my Father has appointed unto me; 30 That ye may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Yashar’el.
31 And Adonai said: Shim`on, Shim`on, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not: and when you are turned back, strengthen your brethren. 33 And he said unto him: Adonai, I am ready to go with you, both into prison, and to death. 34 And he said, I tell you, Kepha, the cock shall not crow this day, before that you shall thrice deny that you know me. 35 And he said unto them: When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing. 36 Then said he unto them: But now, he that has a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that has no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. 37 For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me,
And he was reckoned among the transgressors:
for the things concerning me have an end. 38 And they said: Adonai, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them: It is enough.