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Weekly Scripture Reading
Torah: DEUTERONOMY 7-11
Prophets: MICAH 1-4
Historical Writings: 1 SAMUEL 20
New Testament: 2 PETER 1-3
Wisdom Writings: JOB 35-36
Non-Canonical: 2 BARUK 42-47
The following translation is from The Scriptures | ISR98
DEUTERONOMY 7-11
7 |1 “When יהוה your Elohim brings you into the land which you go to possess, He shall also clear away many nations before you: the Ḥittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Kena‛anites and the Perizzites and the Ḥiwwites and the Yeḇusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you.
2 “And when יהוה your Elohim gives them over to you, you shall smite them and put them under the ban, completely. Make no covenant with them, and show them no favour.
3 “And do not intermarry with them – you do not give your daughter to his son, and you do not take his daughter for your son,
4 for he turns your sons away from following Me, to serve other mighty ones. Then the displeasure of יהוה shall burn against you and promptly destroy you.
5 “But this is what you do to them: Break down their altars, and smash their pillars, and cut down their Ashĕrim, and burn their carved images with fire.
6 “For you are a set-apart people to יהוה your Elohim. יהוה your Elohim has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a treasured possession above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
7 “יהוה did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more numerous than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples,
8 but because of יהוה loving you, and because of Him guarding the oath which He swore to your fathers, יהוה has brought you out with a strong hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh sovereign of Mitsrayim.
9 “And you shall know that יהוה your Elohim, He is Elohim, the trustworthy Ěl guarding covenant and kindness for a thousand generations with those who love Him, and those who guard His commands,
10 but repaying those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He does not delay to do so with him who hates Him, He repays him to his face.
11 “And you shall guard the command, and the laws, and the right-rulings which I command you today, to do them.
12 “And it shall be, because you hear these right-rulings, and shall guard and do them, that יהוה your Elohim shall guard with you the covenant and the kindness which He swore to your fathers,
13 and shall love you and bless you and increase you, and shall bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you.
14 “Blessed are you above all peoples – there is not going to be a barren man or a barren woman among you or among your livestock.
15 “And יהוה shall turn away from you all sickness and put on you none of the evil diseases of Mitsrayim which you have known, but He shall put them on all those who hate you.
16 “And you shall consume all the peoples whom יהוה your Elohim is delivering over to you – your eye shall not pardon them. And do not serve their mighty ones, for that is a snare to you.
17 “When you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I, I am unable to drive them out,’
18 do not be afraid of them. Remember well what יהוה your Elohim did to Pharaoh and to all Mitsrayim,
19 the great trials which your eyes saw, and the signs and the wonders, the strong hand and the outstretched arm, by which יהוה your Elohim brought you out. יהוה your Elohim does so to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.
20 “And יהוה your Elohim also sends the hornet among them until those who are left, who hide themselves from you, are destroyed.
21 “Do not be afraid of them, for יהוה your Elohim, the great and awesome Ěl, is in your midst.
22 “And יהוה your Elohim shall drive out those nations before you, little by little. You are not allowed to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
23 “But יהוה your Elohim shall deliver them over to you and destroy them with a great destruction until they are consumed.
24 “And He shall give their sovereigns into your hand, and you shall destroy their name from under the heavens. No one is going to be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them.
25 “The carved images of their mighty ones you are to burn with fire. Do not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it, for it is an abomination to יהוה your Elohim.
26 “And do not bring an abomination into your house, lest you be accursed like it. Utterly loathe it and utterly hate it, for it is accursed.
8 |1 “Guard to do every command which I command you today, that you might live, and shall increase, and go in, and shall possess the land of which יהוה swore to your fathers.
2 “And you shall remember that יהוה your Elohim led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, prove you, to know what is in your heart, whether you guard His commands or not.
3 “And He humbled you, and let you suffer hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, to make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of יהוהa.
4 “Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.
5 “Thus you shall know in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so יהוה your Elohim disciplines you,
6 therefore you shall guard the commands of יהוה your Elohim, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.
7 “For יהוה your Elohim is bringing you into a good land, a land of streams of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills,
8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey,
9 a land in which you eat bread without scarcity, in which you do not lack at all, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you dig copper.
10 “And you shall eat and be satisfied, and shall bless יהוה your Elohim for the good land which He has given you.
11 “Be on guard, lest you forget יהוה your Elohim by not guarding His commands, and His right-rulings, and His laws which I command you today,
12 lest you eat and shall be satisfied, and build lovely houses and shall dwell in them,
13 and your herds and your flocks increase, and your silver and your gold are increased, and all that you have is increased,
14 that your heart then becomes lifted up, and you forget יהוה your Elohim who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, from the house of bondage,
15 who led you through that great and awesome wilderness – fiery serpents and scorpions and thirst – where there was no water, who brought water for you out of the flinty rock,
16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, in order to humble you and to try you, to do you good in the end,
17 you then shall say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand have made for me this wealth!’
18 “But you shall remember יהוה your Elohim, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, in order to establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is today.
19 “And it shall be, if you by any means forget יהוה your Elohim, and follow other mighty ones, and serve them and bow yourself to them, I have warned you this day that you shall certainly perish.
20 “Like the nations which יהוה is destroying before you, so you are to perish, because you did not obey the voice of יהוה your Elohim.
9 |1 “Hear, O Yisra’ĕl: You are passing over the Yardĕn today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and stronger than yourself, cities great and walled up to the heavens,
2 a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anaqim, whom you know, and of whom you heard it said, ‘Who does stand before the descendants of Anaq?’
3 “And you shall know today that יהוה your Elohim is He who is passing over before you as a consuming fire – He does destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall dispossess them and destroy them quickly, as יהוה has said to you.
4 “Do not think in your heart, after יהוה your Elohim has driven them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness יהוה has brought me in to possess this land.’ But it is because of the wrong of these nations that יהוה is driving them out from before you.
5 “It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wrong of these nations that יהוה your Elohim drives them out from before you, in order to establish the word which יהוה swore to your fathers, to Aḇraham, to Yitsḥaq, and to Ya‛aqoḇ.
6 “And you shall know that יהוה your Elohim is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.
7 “Remember, do not forget how you provoked to wrath יהוה your Elohim in the wilderness. From the day that you came out of the land of Mitsrayim until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against יהוה.
8 “Even in Ḥorĕḇ you made יהוה wroth, so that יהוה was enraged with you, to destroy you.
9 “When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which יהוה made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I did not eat bread nor did I drink water.
10 “Then יהוה gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of Elohim, and on them were all the Words which יהוה had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.
11 “And it came to be, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that יהוה gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.
12 “Then יהוה said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you brought out of Mitsrayim have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them, they have made themselves a moulded image.’
13 “And יהוה spoke to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and look, they are a stiff-necked people.
14 ‘Leave Me alone, so that I destroy them and blot out their name from under the heavens, and make of you a nation stronger and greater than they.’
15 “So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.
16 “And I looked and saw that you had sinned against יהוה your Elohim, and had made for yourselves a moulded calf! You had quickly turned aside from the way which יהוה had commanded you.
17 “And I took the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes,
18 “and I fell down before יהוה, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I did not eat bread and I did not drink water, because of all your sins which you committed in doing evil in the eyes of יהוה, to provoke Him.
19 “For I was afraid of the displeasure and rage with which יהוה was wroth with you, to destroy you. But יהוה listened to me that time once more.
20 “And יהוה was very enraged with Aharon, to destroy him, so I prayed for Aharon at that time also.
21 “And I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it and ground it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw its dust into the stream that came down from the mountain.
22 “And at Taḇ‛ĕrah and at Massah and at Qiḇroth Hatta’awah you made יהוה wroth.
23 “And when יהוה sent you from Qaḏĕsh Barnĕa, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the mouth of יהוה your Elohim, and you neither trusted Him nor listened to His voice.
24 “You have been rebellious against יהוה from the day that I knew you.
25“So I fell down before יהוה the forty days and forty nights, for I fell down because יהוה had said He would destroy you.
26 “And I prayed to יהוה, and said, ‘O Master יהוה, do not destroy Your people and Your inheritance whom You have redeemed in Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Mitsrayim with a strong hand.
27 ‘Remember Your servants, Aḇraham, Yitsḥaq, and Ya‛aqoḇ. Do not look on the stubbornness of this people, or on their wrong or on their sin,
28 lest the land from which You brought us should say, “Because יהוה was not able to bring them to the land which He promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.”
29 ‘And they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm.’
10 |1 “At that time יהוה said to me, ‘Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain. And you shall make yourself an ark of wood,
2 then I write on the tablets the Words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. And you shall put them in the ark.’
3 “So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain, with the two tablets in my hand.
4 “And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Words, which יהוה had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. Then יהוה gave them to me,
5 and I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made. And they are there, as יהוה commanded me.”
6 Now the children of Yisra’ĕl set out from the wells of Benĕi Ya‛aqan to Mosĕrah. Aharon died there, and he was buried there. And El‛azar his son became priest in his place.
7 From there they set out to Guḏgoḏah, and from Guḏgoḏah to Yotḇathah, a land of rivers of water.
8 At that time יהוה separated the tribe of Lĕwi to bear the ark of the covenant of יהוה, to stand before יהוה, to serve Him, and to bless in His Name, to this day.
9 Therefore Lĕwi has no portion nor inheritance with his brothers. יהוה is his inheritance, as יהוה your Elohim promised him.
10 “And I stayed in the mountain for forty days and forty nights. And יהוה heard me at that time also, and יהוה chose not to destroy you.
11 “And יהוה said to me, ‘Arise, go before the people, to set out, and let them go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.’
12 “And now, Yisra’ĕl, what is יהוה your Elohim asking of you, but to fear יהוה your Elohim, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, and to serve יהוה your Elohim with all your heart and with all your being,
13 to guard the commands of יהוה and His laws which I command you today for your good?
14 “See, the heavens and the heaven of heavens belong to יהוה your Elohim, also the earth with all that is in it.
15 “יהוה delighted only in your fathers, to love them. And He chose their seed after them, you above all peoplesa, as it is today.
16 “And you shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and harden your neck no more.
17 “For יהוה your Elohim is Elohim of mighty ones and Master of masters, the great Ěl, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.
18 “He executes right-ruling for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and a garment.
19 “And you shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Mitsrayim.
20 “Fear יהוה your Elohim. Serve Him, and cling to Him, and swear by His Name.
21 “He is your praise, and He is your Elohim, who has done for you these great and awesome deeds which your eyes have seen.
22 “Your fathers went down to Mitsrayim with seventy beings, and now יהוה your Elohim has made you as numerous as the stars of the heavens.
11 |1 “And you shall love יהוה your Elohim and guard His Chargea: even His laws, and His right-rulings, and His commands, always.
2 “And you shall know today – for it is not your children who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of יהוה your Elohim, His greatness, His strong hand and His outstretched arm,
3 and His signs, and His works which He had done in the midst of Mitsrayim, to Pharaoh sovereign of Mitsrayim, and to all his land;
4 and that which He had done to the army of Mitsrayim, to their horses and their chariots, when He made the waters of the Sea of Reeds overflow them as they pursued you, and how יהוה has destroyed them to this day;
5 and what He had done for you in the wilderness till you came to this place;
6 and what He had done to Dathan and Aḇiram the sons of Eliyaḇ, son of Re’uḇĕn, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the living creatures that were in their possession, in the midst of all Yisra’ĕl.
7 “For yours are the eyes that saw all the great work of יהוה, which He did.
8 “And you shall guard every command which I command you today, so that you are strong, and shall go in, and shall possess the land which you are passing over to possess,
9 and to prolong your days in the land which יהוה swore to give your fathers, to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10 “For the land which you are going in to possess is not like the land of Mitsrayim from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden,
11 but the land which you are passing over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of the heavens,
12 a land which יהוה your Elohim looks after. The eyes of יהוה your Elohim are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the latter end of the year.
13 ‘And it shall be that if you diligently obey My commands which I command you today, to love יהוה your Elohim and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your being,
14 then I shall give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, and you shall gather in your grain, and your new wine, and your oil.
15 ‘And I shall give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be satisfied.
16 ‘Guard yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other mighty ones and bow down to them.
17 ‘Then the displeasure of יהוה shall burn against you, and He shall shut up the heavens, and there be no rain, and the land not give its increase. And you shall perish quickly from the good land which יהוה is giving you.
18 ‘And you shall lay up these Wordsa of Mine in your heart and in your being, and shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
19 ‘And you shall teach them to your children, speaking 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,
20 and shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,
21 so that your days and the days of your children are increased on the soil of which יהוה swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens on the earth.
22 ‘For if you diligently guard all these commands which I command you, to do it, to love יהוה your Elohim, to walk in all His ways, and to cling to Him,
23 then יהוה shall drive out all these nations before you, and you shall dispossess greater and stronger nations than you.
24 ‘Every place on which the sole of your foot treads is yours: from the wilderness, and Leḇanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, even to the Western Sea is your border.
25 ‘No man shall stand against you. יהוה your Elohim shall put the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, as He has spoken to you.
26‘See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse:
27 the blessing, when you obey the commands of יהוה your Elohim which I command you today;
28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commands of יהוה your Elohim, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other mighty ones which you have not known.
29 ‘And it shall be, when יהוה your Elohim has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ěyḇal.
30 ‘Are they not beyond the Yardĕn, toward the setting sun, in the land of the Kena‛anites who dwell in the desert plain opposite Gilgal, beside the terebinth trees of Moreh?
31 ‘For you are passing over the Yardĕn to go in to possess the land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you, and you shall possess it and dwell in it,
32 and shall guard to do all the laws and right-rulings which I am setting before you today.’
MICAH 1-4
1 |1 The word of יהוה that came to Miḵah of Moresheth in the days of Yotham, Aḥaz, Ḥizqiyah, sovereigns of Yehuḏah, which he saw concerning Shomeron and Yerushalayim.
2 Hear, all you peoples! Listen, O earth, and all who are in it! And let the Master יהוה be a witness against you – יהוה from His set-apart Hĕḵal.
3 For look, יהוה is coming out of His placea, and He shall come down and shall tread on the high places of the earth.
4 And the mountains shall melt under Hima, and the valleys be cleft as wax before the fire, as waters poured down a steep place.
5 All this is for the transgression of Ya‛aqoḇ and for the sins of the house of Yisra’ĕl. What is the transgression of Ya‛aqoḇ? Is it not Shomeron? And what are the high places of Yehuḏah? Are they not Yerushalayim?
6 “And I shall make Shomeron a heap in the field, places for planting a vineyard. And I shall pour down her stones into the valley, and uncover her foundations.
7 “And all her carved images shall be beaten in pieces, and all her gifts be burned with the fire. And all her idols I shall lay waste, for she gathered it from the hire of a whore, and they shall return to the hire of a whore.”
8 Because of this I lament and howl. I go stripped and naked. I make a lamentation like jackals, and a mourning like ostriches.
9 For her wounds are incurable. For it has come to Yehuḏah, it has come to the gate of My people, to Yerushalayim.
10 Do not declare it in Gath, weep not at all in Bĕyth Aphrah, roll yourself in the dust.
11 Pass by in nakedness and shame, you inhabitant of Shaphir. The inhabitant of Tsa’anan has not gone out. The lamentation of Bĕyth Ětsel takes from you its standing place.
12 Though the inhabitants of Maroth waited for good, yet evil came down from יהוה to the gate of Yerushalayim.
13 O inhabitant of Laḵish, harness the chariot to the horse – she was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Tsiyon – for the transgressions of Yisra’ĕl were found in you.
14 Therefore you shall give parting gifts to Moresheth Gath, the houses of Aḵziḇ becoming a deception to the sovereigns of Yisra’ĕl.
15 Again I shall bring a dispossessor to you, O inhabitant of Marĕshah. The esteem of Yisra’ĕl shall come to Aḏullam.
16 Make yourself bald and cut off your hair for the children of your delight. Enlarge your baldness like an eagle, for they shall be exiled from you.
2 |1 Woe to those plotting wickedness, and working out evil upon their beds! In the light of the morning they practise it, because it is in the might of their hand.
2 And they coveted fields and seized them, also houses, and took them away. And they oppressed a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.
3 Therefore thus said יהוה, “See, against this clan I am planning evil, from which you do not remove your necks, nor walk proudly, for this is a time of evil.
4 “In that day one shall lift up a proverb against you, and he shall lament with a bitter lamentation, and shall say, ‘We have been utterly ravaged! He changes the inheritance of my people. How He removes it from me! He apportions our fields to the backslider.’ ”
5 “Therefore you shall have no one in the assembly of יהוה to divide the land by lot.
6 “You do not preach, they preach. They do not preach to these, reproaches are not turned back.
7 “Are you called ‘House of Ya‛aqoḇ’? Has the Spirit of יהוה been limited? Are these His doings? Do not My words do good to the one walking uprightly?
8 “And lately My people have risen up as an enemy. You strip off the robe with the garment from those who trust you, as they pass by – those returning from battle.
9 “You have driven the women of My people from their pleasant houses. You have taken away My splendour from their children forever.
10 “Arise and go, for this is not your rest, because uncleanness destroys, and the destruction is grievous.
11 “If a man walking after wind and falsehood has lied: ‘I preach to you of wine and of strong drink,’ he shall be the ‘preacher’ of this people!
12 “I shall certainly gather all of you, O Ya‛aqoḇ, I shall bring together the remnant of Yisra’ĕl, put them together like sheep of the fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture, they being noisy because of men.
13 “The breach-maker shall go up before them. They shall break out, and pass through the gate, and go out by it, and their sovereign pass before them, with יהוה at their head!”
3 |1 Then I said, “Hear now, O heads of Ya‛aqoḇ, and you rulers of the house of Yisra’ĕl: Should you not know right-ruling,
2 you who are hating good and loving evil, tearing away the skin from My people, and the flesh from their bones,
3 and who have eaten the flesh of My people, and stripped off their skin, and have broken their bones, and have cut it up as into a pot, like flesh in the cooking pot?”
4 Therefore, when they cry to יהוה He does not answer them, and hides His face from them at that time, as they have made their deeds evil.
5 Thus said יהוה concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who are biting with their teeth and have called out, “Peace!” They even set apart a battle against him who does not give for their mouths.
6 Therefore it shall be night to you without vision, and darkness to you without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be dark for them.
7 And the seers shall be ashamed, and the diviners embarrassed. And they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer, O Elohim.
8 But truly I am filled with power, with the Spirit of יהוה, and with right-ruling and with might, to declare to Ya‛aqoḇ his transgression and to Yisra’ĕl his sina.
9 Hear this, please, you heads of the house of Ya‛aqoḇ and you rulers of the house of Yisra’ĕl, who despise right-ruling and distort all that is straight,
10 those building up Tsiyon with bloodshed and Yerushalayim with unrighteousness.
11 Her heads judge for a bribe, her priests teach for paya, and her prophets divine for a price. Yet they lean on יהוה, and say, “Is not יהוה in our midst? Evil does not come upon us.”
12 Therefore, because of you, Tsiyon is ploughed like a field, and Yerushalayim becomes heaps, and the mountain of the House like a wooded height.
4 |1 And in the latter days it shall be that the mountain of the House of יהוה is established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills. And peoples shall flow to it.
2 And many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of יהוה, to the House of the Elohim of Ya‛aqoḇ, and let Him teach us His ways, and let us walk in His paths. For out of Tsiyon comes forth the Torah, and the word of יהוה from Yerushalayima.”
3 And He shall judge among many peoples, and reprove strong nations afar off. They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks – nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither teach battle any more.
4 But each one shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, with no one to make them afraid, for the mouth of יהוה of hosts has spoken.
5 For all the peoples walk, each one in the name of his mighty one, but we walk in the Name of יהוה our Elohim forever and evera.
6 “In that day,” declares יהוה, “I gather the lame, and I bring together the outcast and those whom I have afflicted.
7 “And I shall make the lame a remnant, and the outcast a strong nation. And יהוה shall reign over them in Mount Tsiyona, from now on and forever.
8 “And you, O tower of the flock, stronghold of the daughter of Tsiyon, it shall come to you, the former rule shall come, the reign of the daughter of Yerushalayim.”
9 Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no sovereign in you? Has your counsellor perished? For pain has gripped you like a woman in labour.
10 Be in pain, and deliver, O daughter of Tsiyon, like a woman in labour. For now you are to leave the city, and you shall dwell in the field. And you shall go to Baḇel, there you shall be delivered, there יהוה shall redeem you from the hand of your enemies.
11 And now, many gentiles shall be gathered against you, who are saying, “Let her be defiled, and let our eyes look upon Tsiyon!”
12 But they do not know the thoughts of יהוה, nor do they understand His counsel. For He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing-floor.
13 “Arise and thresh, O daughter of Tsiyon, for I make your horn iron and your hooves bronze. And you shall beat many peoples into pieces, and I shall seclude their gain to יהוה, and their wealth to the Master of all the earth.”
1 Samuel 20
20 1 And Dawiḏ fled from Nawith in Ramah, and went and said to Yehonathan, “What have I done? What is my crookedness, and what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?”
2 And Yehonathan said to him, “Far be it! You are not going to die! See, my father does no big matter nor small matter without disclosing it to me. And why should my father hide this matter from me? It is not so!”
3 But Dawiḏ swore again, and said, “Your father knows well that I have found favour in your eyes, and he says, ‘Do not let Yehonathan know this, lest he be grieved.’ But truly, as יהוה lives and as your being lives, there is but a step between me and death.”
4 And Yehonathan said to Dawiḏ, “Whatever your desire is, I do it for you.”
5 And Dawiḏ said to Yehonathan, “See, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I ought to sit with the sovereign to eat. But let me go, and I shall hide in the field until the third day at evening.
6 “If your father misses me at all, then you shall say, ‘Dawiḏ earnestly asked my permission to run over to Bĕyth Leḥem, his city, for a yearly slaughtering is made there for all the clan.’
7 “If he says thus, ‘It is well,’ your servant is safe. But if he is very displeased, then know that he has resolved to do evil.
8 “And you shall show kindness to your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of יהוה with you. And if there is crookedness in me, put me to death yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?”
9 And Yehonathan said, “Far be it from you! For if I knew with certainty that my father has resolved that evil is to come upon you, then would I not make it known to you?”
10 And Dawiḏ said to Yehonathan, “Who would make it known to me, or what if your father answers you sharply?”
11 And Yehonathan said to Dawiḏ, “Come, and let us go out into the field.” And they both went out into the field.
12 And Yehonathan said to Dawiḏ, “יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl be witness! When I search out my father sometime tomorrow, or the third day, and see if there is good toward Dawiḏ, and I do not send to you or disclose it to you,
13 so let יהוה do so and much more to Yehonathan. And if it pleases my father to do you evil, then I shall disclose it to you and send you away, and you shall go in peace. And יהוה be with you as He has been with my father.
14 “But show me the kindness of יהוה, not only while I still live, so that I do not die,
15 and do not cut off your kindness from my house forever, no, not when יהוה has cut off every one of the enemies of Dawiḏ from the face of the earth.”
16 And Yehonathan made a covenant with the house of Dawiḏ, saying, “יהוה shall require it at the hand of the enemies of Dawiḏ.”
17 And Yehonathan again made Dawiḏ swear, because he loved him, for he loved him as he loved his own being.
18 So Yehonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the New Moon, and you shall be missed, because your seat shall be empty.
19 “And on the third day, go down quickly and you shall come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed, and shall remain by the stone Ětsel.
20 “And let me shoot three arrows to the side of it as though shooting at a target,
21 and see, I shall send the youth, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I expressly say to the youth, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you, get them and come,’ then, as יהוה lives, there is safety for you and no concern.
22 “But if I say thus to the youth, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ go your way, for יהוה has sent you away.
23 “And as for the word which you and I have spoken of, see, יהוה is between you and me forever.”
24 And Dawiḏ hid in the field. And when the New Moon came, the sovereign sat down by the food to eat.
25 And the sovereign sat on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall, with Yehonathan standing, and Aḇnĕr sitting by Sha’ul’s side, but the place of Dawiḏ was empty.
26 But Sha’ul spoke not a word that day, for he thought, “It is an accident; he is not clean, for he has not been cleansed.”
27 And it came to be the next day, the second day of the month, that Dawiḏ’s place was empty. And Sha’ul said to Yehonathan his son, “Why has the son of Yishai not come to eat, either yesterday or today?”
28 And Yehonathan answered Sha’ul, “Dawiḏ earnestly asked my permission to go to Bĕyth Leḥem.
29 “And he said, ‘Please let me go, for our clan has a slaughtering in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. And now, if I have found favour in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the sovereign’s table.”
30 Then the displeasure of Sha’ul burned against Yehonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Yishai to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?
31 “For as long as the son of Yishai lives on the earth, you shall not be established, you and your reign. And now, send and bring him to me, for he is a son of death.”
32 And Yehonathan answered Sha’ul his father, and said to him, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”
33 At that, Sha’ul hurled a spear at him to smite him. Then Yehonathan knew that his father had resolved to put Dawiḏ to death.
34 And Yehonathan rose up from the table in the heat of displeasure, and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for Dawiḏ, because his father put him to shame.
35 And it came to be, in the morning, that Yehonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with Dawiḏ, and a small youth was with him.
36 And he said to the youth, “Now run, find the arrows which I shoot.” As the youth ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.
37 And when the youth came to the place where the arrow was which Yehonathan had shot, Yehonathan called out after the youth and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?”
38 And Yehonathan shouted after the youth, “Make haste, hurry, do not stand still!” And Yehonathan’s youth picked up the arrows and came to his master.
39 But the youth knew not a speck. Only Yehonathan and Dawiḏ knew of the matter.
40 Then Yehonathan gave his weapons to the youth and said to him, “Go, take them to the city.”
41 And as soon as the youth had gone, Dawiḏ rose up from the south side, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another. And they wept together, but Dawiḏ more so.
42 And Yehonathan said to Dawiḏ, “Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the Name of יהוה, saying, ‘יהוה is between you and me, and between your seed and my seed, forever.’ ” Then he arose and left, and Yehonathan went into the city.
2 PETER 1-3
1 | 1 Shim‛on Kĕpha, a servant and emissary of יהושע Messiah, to those who have obtained a belief as precious as ours by the righteousness of our Elohim and Saviour יהושע Messiah:
2 Favour and peace be increased to you in the knowledge of Elohim and of יהושע our Master,
3 as His Mighty-like power has given to us all we need for life and reverence, through the knowledge of Him who called us to esteem and uprightness.
4 Through these there have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, so that through these you might be partakers of the Mighty-like nature, having escaped from the corruption in the world, caused by lust.
5 And for this reason do your utmost to add to your belief uprightness, to uprightness knowledge,
6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control endurance, to endurance reverence,
7 to reverence brotherly affection, and to brotherly affection love.
8 For if these are in you and increase, they cause you to be neither inactive nor without fruit in the knowledge of our Master יהושע Messiah.
9 For he in whom these are not present is blind, being shortsighted, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his old sins.
10 For this reason, brothers, all the more do your utmost to make firm your calling and choosing,a for if you are doing these matters you shall never stumble at all,
11 for in this way an entrance into the everlasting reign of our Master and Saviour יהושע Messiah shall be richly supplied to you.
12 And so I intend to remind you of these matters again and again, though you know them and have been established in the present truth.
13 But I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by a reminder,
14 knowing that the putting off of my tent is soon, even as our Master יהושע Messiah made clear to me.
15 And I shall do my utmost also, to see to it that you always have a reminder of these matters after my departure.
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we made known to you the power and coming of our Master יהושע Messiah, but were eye-witnesses of His superbness.
17 For when He received respect and esteem from Elohim the Father, such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Esteem, “This is My Son, the Beloved in whom I did delight.”
18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the set-apart mountain.
19 And we have the prophetic word made more certain, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture came to be of one’s own interpretation,
21 for prophecy never came by the desire of man, but men of Elohim spoke, being moved by the Set-apart Spirit.
2 | 1 But there also came to be false prophetsa among the people, as also among you there shall be false teachers, who shall secretly bring in destructive heresies, and deny the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2 And many shall follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of,
3 and in greed, with fabricated words, they shall use you for gain. From of old their judgment does not linger, and their destruction does not slumber.
4 For if Elohim did not spare the messengers who sinned, but sent them to Tartaros, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be kept for judgment,
5 and did not spare the world of old, but preserved Noaḥ, a proclaimer of righteousness, and seven others, bringing in the flood on the world of the wicked,
6 and having reduced to ashes the cities of Seḏom and Amorah condemned them to destruction – having made them an example to those who afterward would live wickedly,
7 and rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed with the indecent behaviour of the lawlessa
8 (for day after day that righteous man, dwelling among them, tortured his righteous being by seeing and hearing their lawless works),
9 then יהוה knows how to rescue the reverent ones from trial and to keep the unrighteous unto the day of judgment, to be punished,
10 and most of all those walking after the flesh in filthy lust and despising authority – bold, headstrong, speaking evil of esteemed ones,
11 whereas messengers who are greater in strength and power do not bring a slanderous accusation against them before the Master.
12 But these, like natural unreasoning beasts, having been born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheme that which they do not know, shall be destroyed in their destruction,
13 being about to receive the wages of unrighteousness, deeming indulgence in the day of pleasure, spots and blemishes, revelling in their own deceptions while they feast with you,
14 having eyes filled with an adulteress, and unable to cease from sin, enticing unstable beings, having a heart trained in greed, children of a curse,
15 having left the right way they went astray, having followed the way of Bil‛am the son of Be‛or, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,
16 but he was rebuked for his transgression: a dumb donkey speaking with the voice of a man restrained the madness of the prophet.
17 These are fountains without water, clouds driven by a storm, to whom the blackest darkness is kept forever.
18 For speaking arrogant nonsense, they entice – through the lusts of the flesh, through indecencies – the ones who have indeed escaped from those living in delusion,
19 promising them freedom, though themselves being slaves of corruption – for one is a slave to whatever overcomes him.
20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Master and Saviour יהושע Messiah, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the first.
21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the set-apart commanda delivered unto them.
22 For them the proverb has proved true, “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “A washed sow returns to her rolling in the mud.”
3 | 1 This is now, beloved ones, the second letter I write to you, in which I stir up your sincere mind, to remember
2 the words previously spoken by the set-apart prophets, and of the command of the Master and Saviour, spoken by your emissaries,
3 knowing this first: that mockers shall come in the last days with mocking, walking according to their own lusts,
4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all continues as from the beginning of creation.”
5 For they choose to have this hidden from them: that the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by the Word of Elohim,a
6 through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water.
7 And the present heavens and the earth are treasured up by the same Word, being kept for fire, to a day of judgment and destruction of wicked men.
8 But, beloved ones, let not this one matter be hidden from you: that with יהוה one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 יהוה is not slow in regard to the promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward us, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.a
10 But the day of יהוה shall come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with intense heat, and the earth and the works that are in it shall be burned up.
11 Seeing all these are to be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be in set-apart behaviour and reverence,
12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of Elohim, through which the heavens shall be destroyed, being set on fire, and the elements melt with intense heat!
13 But according to His promise we wait for a renewed heavens and a renewed earth in which righteousness dwells.
14 So then, beloved ones, looking forward to this, do your utmost to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,
15 and reckon the patience of our Master as deliverance, as also our beloved brother Sha’ul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him,
16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them concerning these matters, in which some are hard to understand,a which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the other Scriptures.
17 You, then, beloved ones, being forewarned, watch, lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the delusion of the lawless,
18 but grow in the favour and knowledge of our Master and Saviour יהושע Messiah. To Him be the esteem both now and to a day that abides. Amĕn.
Job 35-36
35 | 1 And Elihu responded and said,
2 “Do you think this is right? Do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than that of Ěl’?
3 For you say, ‘Of what use is it to you? What do I gain more than if I had sinned?’
4 Let me answer you and your friends with you.
5 Look to the heavens, and see. And consider the clouds which are higher than you.
6 If you sin, what would you do against Him? If your transgressions are increased, what would you do to Him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give Him? Or what does He receive from your hand?
8 Your wrong is for a man like yourself, and your righteousness for a son of man.
9 Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out; they cry out for help because of the arm of the many.
10 And no one says, ‘Where is Eloah my Maker, who gives songs in the night,
11 teaching us more than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’
12 There they cry, but He answers not, because of the pride of evil ones.
13 Only, it is false that Ěl does not hear, and that the Almighty pays no attention to it.
14 Although you say you do not see Him, yet right-ruling is before Him, and you wait for Him.
15 And now, is it for naught that His displeasure has come? Yet He has not taken note of extreme arrogance,
16 so Iyoḇ opens his mouth in vain, he increases words without knowledge.”
36 | 1 Then Elihu continued and said,
2 “Bear with me a little, and let me show you there is still more to say for Elohim.
3 I bring my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
4 For truly my words are not false; the One perfect in knowledge is with you.
5 See, Ěl is mighty, but rejects no one – mighty in power and heart.
6 He does not keep the wrongdoer alive, but He gives right-ruling to the oppressed ones.
7 He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous, and sovereigns on the throne, and seats them forever, and they are exalted.
8 And if they are bound in shackles, caught in the cords of affliction,
9 then He reveals to them their work, and their transgressions, that they behaved proudly.
10 And He opens their ear for discipline, and commands that they turn back from wickedness.
11 If they obey and serve, they complete their days in blessedness, and their years in pleasantness.
12 But if they do not obey, they perish by the sword, and die without knowledge.
13 But the defiled ones in heart become enraged – let them not cry for help when He binds them.
14 Their being dies in youth, and their life among the male prostitutes.
15 He rescues the afflicted one in his affliction, and opens their ears in oppression.
16 And He also would have brought you out of distress, into a broad place where there is no restraint. And what is set on your table would be filled with rich food.
17 But you are filled with the judgment of the wrong, judgment and right-ruling take hold of you.
18 Beware, that rage does not entice you to scoffing. And do not let a large bribe turn you aside.
19 Would He value your riches? No, not precious ore, nor all your strength!
20 Do not long for the night, when people go up in their place.
21 Beware, do not turn to wickedness, for you have chosen this rather than affliction.
22 See, Ěl is exalted by His power; who is a Teacher like Him?
23 Who has appointed Him His way, or who has said, ‘You have worked unrighteousness’?
24 Remember to extol His work, of which men have sung.
25 All men have seen it, man looks on it from afar.
26 See, Ěl is great, beyond our under-standing, and we do not know the number of His years.
27 For He draws up drops of water, which distil as rain from the mist,
28 which the clouds drop down – pour down in showers on man.
29 Also, who understands the spreading of clouds, the crashing from His booth?
30 See, He has spread his light upon it, and He has covered the depths of the sea.
31 For by these He judges the peoples; He gives plenty of food.
32 He has covered His hands with lightning, and commands it to strike.
33 Its noise declares concerning Him, also the cattle, as to what is coming up.
2 Baruk 42-47
(CEPHER TRANSLATION)
42 | 1 AND he answered and said unto me: These things also will I show unto you.
2 As for what you said, to whom will these things be, and how many will they be? To those who have believed there shall be the good which was spoken of aforetime, and to those who despise there shall be the contrary of these things.
3 And as for what you said regarding those who have drawn near and those who have withdrawn this is the word.
4 As for those who were before subject, and afterwards withdrew and mingled themselves with the seed of mingled peoples, the time of these was the former, and was accounted as something exalted.
5 And as for those who before knew not but afterwards knew life, and mingled only with the seed of the people which had separated itself the time of these is the latter, and is accounted as something exalted.
6 And time shall succeed to time and season to season, and one shall receive from another, and then with a view to the consummation shall everything be compared according to the measure of the times and the hours of the seasons.
7 For corruption shall take those that belong to it, and life those that belong to it.
8 And the dust shall be called, and there shall be said to it: Give back that which is not yours, and raise up all that you have kept until its time.
43 | 1 BUT you Baruk, direct your heart to that which has been said to you, and understand those things which have been shown to you; for there are many eternal consolations for you.
2 For you shall depart from this place, and you shall pass from the regions which are now seen by you, and you shall forget whatsoever is corruptible, and shall not again recall those things which happen among mortals.
3 Go therefore and command your people, and come to this place, and afterwards fast seven days, and then I will come to you and speak with you.
44 | 1 AND I, Baruk, went from thence, and came to my people, and I called my firstborn son and the Gadolyahus my friends, and seven of the elders of the people, and I said unto them:
2 Behold, I go unto my fathers according to the way of all the earth.
3 But withdraw ye not from the way of the Torah, but guard and admonish the people which remain; lest they withdraw from the commandments of EL ELOHIYM.
4 For ye see that he whom we serve is just, and our Creator is no respecter of persons.
5 And see ye what has befallen Tsiyon and what has happened to Yerushalayim.
6 For the judgment of EL ELOHIYM shall thereby be made known and his ways, which though past finding out, are right.
7 For if ye endure and persevere in his fear and do not forget his Torah, the times shall change over you for good. And ye shall see the consolation of Tsiyon.
8 Because whatsoever is now is nothing, but that which shall be is very great. For everything that is corruptible shall pass away and everything that dies shall depart and all the present time shall be forgotten.
9 Nor shall there be any remembrance of the present time, which is defiled with evils.
10 For that which runs now runs unto vanity and that which prospers shall quickly fall and be humiliated.
11 For that which is to be shall be the object of desire and for that which comes afterwards shall we hope. For it is a time that passes not away.
12 And the hour comes which abides forever and the new world comes which does not turn to corruption those who depart to its blessedness and has no mercy on those who depart to torment and leads not to perdition those who live in it.
13 For these are they who shall inherit that time which has been spoken of and theirs is the inheritance of the promised time.
14 These are they who have acquired for themselves treasures of wisdom and with them are found stores of understanding and from mercy have they not withdrawn and the Truth of the Torah have they preserved.
15 For unto them shall be given the world to come, but the dwelling of the rest who are many shall be in the fire.
45 | 1 DO ye therefore so far as ye are able instruct the people, for that labour is ours. For if ye teach them, ye shall quicken them.
46 | 1 AND my son and the elders of the people answered and said unto me: Has EL ELOHIYM humiliated us to such a degree as to take you from us quickly?
2 And truly we shall be in darkness and there shall be no light to the people who are left.
3 For where again shall we seek the Torah, or who will distinguish for us between death and life?
4 And I said unto them: The throne of EL ELOHIYM I cannot resist. Nevertheless, there shall not be wanting to Yashar’el a wise man nor a son of the Torah to the seed of Ya`aqov.
5 But only prepare ye your hearts that ye may obey the Torah and be subject to those who in fear are wise and understanding; and prepare your souls that ye may not depart from them.
6 For if ye do these things good news shall come unto you. Which I before told you of; nor shall ye fall into the torment, of which I testified to you before.
7 But with regard to the word that I was to be taken I did not make it known to them or to my son.
47 | 1 AND when I had gone forth and dismissed them, I went thence and said unto them: Behold! I go to Chevron: for thither EL ELOHIYM has sent me.
2 And I came to that place where the word had been spoken unto me and I sat there and fasted seven days.
Thank you for joining us as we read through the entire WORD of GOD! As for me and My House, we will serve the LORD.
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