• Torah (T): Bemidbar (Numbers) 23:1 – 25:9
• Prophets (P): Isaiah 49:23-26
• Apostolic (A): Revelation 2:12-17
• Additional (ADD): Sirach 45:23-26

RELATED SCRIPTURES

• Micah 6:1-8 (T)
• Deuteronomy 33:27-29 (T)
• 1 Samuel 15:1-29 (T)
• Ya’aqov (James) 1:13-17 (T)
• Titus 1:1-4 (T)
• Psalms 32:1-2; Psalms 51:6-9; Jeremiah 50:18-20 (T)
• Romans 4:1-25 (T)
• Joshua 5:1-8 (T)
• Genesis 49:8-12 (T)
• John 8:51-58 (T)
• Luke 10:21-24 (T)
• 1 Peter 1:1-12 (T)
• Hebrews 11:13, 39-40 (T)
• 2 Samuel 8:1-15 (T)
• Exodus 17:8-16 (T)
• Joshua 22:6-34 (T)
• Deuteronomy 4:1-8 (T)
• Psalms 106:28-31 (T)
• Hosea 9:1-10 (T)
• 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (T)
• 1 Corinthians 10:1-12 (T)
• 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (T)
• Hosea 2:1-23 (T)
• Isaiah 49:1-26 (P)

RELATED ADDITIONAL REA.D.INGS

• The Damascus Document 4Q266, Column 7  (T)
• 1 Maccabees 2:19-54 (T)
• Numbers 23:1 – 25:9 from the Jerusalem Targum aka Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (T)
• Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 4.6.4-12 (T)

Note: (T) means the verse relates to that week’s Torah portion. (P) means the verse relates to that week’s Prophets portion. (A) means the verse relates to that week’s Apostolic portion. (ADD) means the verse relates to that week’s Additional portion.

Torah Portion (T)

23:1 Balaam said to Balak, “Build here seven [shrines]^(LXX) for me, and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams for me.” 2 Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on [the shrine]^(LXX) a bull and a ram. 3 Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I [myself]^(DSS) will go. Perhaps [Elohim]^(DSS) will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.” [And Balak went and stood by his offering and Balaam called to Elohim and went off to a barren height].^(DSS) 4 [And the angel of]^(DSS) Elohim met Balaam, and he said to him, “I have prepared the seven [shrines],^(LXX) and I have offered up a bull and a ram on [the shrine].”^(LXX) 5 [Elohim]^(DSS) put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you will speak.” 6 He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab [and the Spirit of Elohim came upon him].^(LXX) 7 He took up his parable, and said, “From Aram has Balak brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East. Come, curse Jacob for me. Come, defy Israel. 8 How will I curse?  [YHWH]^(DSS) has not cursed. How will I defy? [Elohim]^(DSS) has not defied. 9 For from the top of the rocks I see him. From the hills I see him. Behold, it is a people that dwells alone, and will not be listed among the nations. 10 Who has [exactly counted]^(LXX) the [seed]^(LXX) of Jacob, [and who will number the peoples]^(LXX) of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous! Let my last end be like his!” 11 Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed altogether.” 12 He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak that which [Elohim]^(DSS)(LXX) puts in my mouth?” 13 Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, where you may see them. You will see just part of them, and will not see them all. Curse them from there for me.” 14 He took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven [shrines],^(LXX) and offered up a bull and a ram on [the shrine].^(LXX) 15 He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet [Elohim]^(LXX) over there.” 16 [Elohim]^(DSS)(LXX) met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and say this.” 17 He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, “What has YHWH spoken?” 18 He took up his parable, and said, “Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, you son of Zippor. 19 Elohim is not a man, that he will lie, nor a son of man, that he will comfort himself. Did he say, and will he not do, and did he speak, and will he not [make her rise]?^(MTT) 20 Behold, I have received to bless. He has blessed, and I can’t reverse it. 21 He has not seen iniquity in Jacob. Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel. YHWH his Elohim is with him. The shout of a king among them. 22 Elohim brings them out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox. 23 Surely no foretelling with Jacob; Neither is there any divination with Israel. Now it will be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘What has Elohim done!’ 24 Behold, a people rises up as a lioness. As a lion he lifts himself up. He will not lie down until he eats of the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain.” 25 Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.” 26 But Balaam answered Balak, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘All that [Elohim]^{(DSS)(LXX)(SP)} speaks, that I must do?’ ” 27 Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be straight in the eyes of the Elohim that you may curse them for me from there.” 28 Balak took Balaam to the head of Peor, that looks down on the desert. 29 Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven [shrines]^(LXX) for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.” 30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on [the shrine].^(LXX)

24:1 When Balaam saw that it pleased YHWH to bless Israel, he didn’t go, as at the other times, to use [the]^(DSS) foretellings, but he set his face toward the wilderness. 2 Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes; and the Spirit of Elohim came on him. 3 He took up his parable, and said, “Balaam the son of Beor says, the man whose eyes are open says; 4 he says, who hears the words of Elohim, who sees the vision of the Almighty [in sleep],^(LXX) and having his eyes open: 5 How goodly are your tents, Jacob, and your dwellings, Israel! 6 As valleys they are spread out, as gardens by the riverside, [like tents that YHWH has set up],^(DSS)(LXX) as cedar trees beside the waters. 7 [There will come a man out of his seed, and he will rule over many nations.]^(LXX) His king will be higher than [Gog].^(LXX)(SP) His reign will be exalted. 8 Elohim brings him out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox. He will consume the nations his adversaries, will break their bones in pieces, and pierce with his arrows. 9 He couched, he [stretches out]^(DSS) as a lion, as a lioness; who will rouse him up? Everyone who blesses you is blessed. Everyone who curses you is cursed.” 10 Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together. Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and, behold, you have altogether blessed these three times. 11 Therefore, flee to your place, now! I thought to promote you to great honor; but, behold, YHWH has kept you back from honor.” 12 Balaam said to Balak, “Didn’t I also tell your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, 13 ‘If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can’t go beyond the word of YHWH, to do good or bad from my own mind. I will say what [Elohim]^(DSS)(LXX) says’? 14 Now, behold, I go to my people. Come, I will inform you what this people will do to your people in the latter days.” 15 He took up his parable, and said, “Balaam the son of Beor says, the man whose eyes are open says; 16 he says, who hears the words of Elohim, knows the knowledge of the Most High, and who sees the vision of the Almighty [in sleep],^(LXX) and having his eyes open: 17 I see him, but not now. I see him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will rise out of Israel, and will strike through the corners of Moab, and the [crown]^(SP) of the sons of [tumult].^(SP) (cf. Jeremiah 48:45) 18 Edom will be a possession. Seir, his enemy, also will be a possession, while Israel does valiantly. 19 Out of Jacob will one have dominion, and will destroy the remnant from the city.” 20 He looked at Amalek, and took up his parable, and said, “Amalek, the beginning of nations, [yet his seed will perish].”^(LXX) 21 He looked at the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said, “Your dwelling place is strong. Your nest is set in the rock. 22 Nevertheless Kain will be wasted, until Asshur carries you away captive.” 23 He took up his parable, and said, “Alas, who will live when Elohim does this? 24 Ships from the coast of Kittim. They will afflict Asshur, and will afflict [the Hebrews].^(LXX) He also will come to destruction.” 25 Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way.

25:1 Israel stayed in Shittim; and the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab; 2 for they called the people to the slaughters of their elohim. The people ate and bowed down to their elohim. 3 Israel yoked himself to Baal Peor, and the anger of YHWH burned against Israel. 4 YHWH said to Moses, “Take the heads of the people, and hang them up to YHWH before the sun, that the fierce anger of YHWH may turn away from Israel.” 5 Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Everyone kill his men who have yoked themselves to Baal Peor.” 6 Behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of the congregation of the sons of Israel, and they were weeping at the door of the Appointed Tent. 7 When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw, he rose up from the middle of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand. 8 He went after the man of Israel into the alcove, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the smiting was stopped among the sons of Israel. 9 Those who died by the smiting were twenty-four thousand.

Prophets Portion (P)

49:23 Kings will be your support, and their ruling women your breastfeeding. They will bow down to you with their faces to the land, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am YHWH; and those who wait for me won’t be disappointed.” 24 Shall the plunder be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered? 25 But YHWH says, “Even the captives of the mighty will be taken away, and the plunder retrieved from the fierce, for I will strive with your rival and I will save your sons. 26 I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they will be drunk on their own blood, as with sweet wine. Then all flesh will know that I, YHWH, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Strength of Jacob.”

Apostolic Portion (A)

2:12 “To the angel of the assembly in Pergamum write: “He who has the sharp two-edged sword says these things: 13 “I know your works and^(mss) where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. You hold firmly to my name, and didn’t deny my faith in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things slaughtered to idols, and to commit fornication. 15 So also you likewise have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Repent therefore, or else I am coming to you quickly and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows but he who receives it.

Additional Portion (ADD)

Sirach, or Wisdom of Sirach, and also known as the Book of Ecclesiasticus (abbreviated Ecclus.) or Ben Sira, is a work of ethical teachings, from approximately 200 to 175 B.C., written by the Jewish scribe Ben Sira of Jerusalem, on the inspiration of his father Joshua son of Sirach, sometimes called Jesus son of Sirach or Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira. The Sirach was almost completely uncovered in Hebrew in the Dead Sea Scrolls, at Masada, and the Cairo Geniza. The multiplicity of manuscript fragments uncovered in the Cairo Genizah evidence its authoritative status among Egyptian Jewry until the Middle Ages. Quotes from Sirach can be found in Rabbinic literature in multiple places  including the Talmud in Bava Kamma 92b:13 and Hagigah 13a:2. Additionally, the Gospels and other Apostolic Scriptures quote from the Book of Sirach including the Song of Miriam in Luke 1:52 (cf. Sirach 10:14); the description of the seed in Mark 4:5, 16–17 (cf. Sirach 40:15); the statement by Yeshua in Matthew 7:16,20 (cf. Sirach 27:6); and Ya’aqov (James) 1:19 (cf. Sirach 5:11).

45:23 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar is the third in glory, In that he was zealous in the fear of the Lord, And stood fast in the good forwardness of his soul when the people turned away, And he made reconciliation for Israel. 24 Therefore was there a covenant of peace established for him, That he should be leader of the sanctuary and of his people; That he and his seed Should have the dignity of the priesthood forever. 25 Also he cut a covenant with David the son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah; The inheritance of the king is his alone from son to son; So the inheritance of Aaron is also to his seed. 26 Elohim give you wisdom in your heart To judge his people in righteousness, That their good things be not abolished, And that their glory endure for all their generations.

Related Scriptures

6:1 Listen now to what YHWH says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say. 2 Hear, you mountains, YHWH’s indictment, and you enduring foundations of the land; for YHWH has a case against his people, and he will contend with Israel. 3 My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me! 4 For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of YHWH.” 6 How will I come before YHWH, and bow myself before the exalted Elohim? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will YHWH be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does YHWH require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your Elohim?

33:27 The eternal Elohim is your dwelling place. Underneath are the everlasting arms. He thrust out the enemy from before you, and said, ‘Destroy!’ 28 Israel dwells in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone, In a land of grain and new wine. Yes, his the heavens drop down dew. 29 You are happy, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by YHWH, the shield of your help, the sword of your excellency? Your enemies will submit themselves to you. You will tread on their high places.”

15:1 Samuel said to Saul, “YHWH sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israel. Now therefore listen to the voice of the word of YHWHs. 2 YHWH of Armies says, ‘I remember what Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way when he came up out of Egypt. 3 Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don’t spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and nursing baby, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ” 4 Shaul summoned the people, and counted them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 Shaul came to the city of Amalek, and set an ambush in the valley. 6 Shaul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the sons of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 Shaul struck the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is before Egypt. 8 He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Shaul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, of the cattle, of the fat calves, of the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to utterly destroy them; but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. 10 Then the word of YHWH came to Samuel, saying, 11 “It grieves me that I have set up Shaul to be king, for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.” Samuel was angry; and he cried to YHWH all night. 12 Samuel rose early to meet Shaul in the morning; and Samuel was told, saying, “Shaul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, turned, passed on, and went down to Gilgal.” 13 Samuel came to Saul; and Shaul said to him, “You are blessed by YHWH! I have performed the commandment of YHWH.” 14 Samuel said, “Then what does this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the cattle which I hear mean?” 15 Shaul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the cattle, to slaughter to YHWH your Elohim. We have utterly destroyed the rest.” 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stay, and I will tell you what YHWH said to me last night.” He said to him, “Say on.” 17 Samuel said, “Though you were little in your own sight, weren’t you made the head of the tribes of Israel? YHWH anointed you king over Israel; 18 and YHWH sent you on a journey, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 Why then didn’t you obey the voice of YHWH, but took the plunder, and did that which was evil in the sight of YHWH?” 20 Shaul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of YHWH, and have gone the way which YHWH sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of the plunder, sheep and cattle, the best of the devoted things, to slaughter to YHWH your Elohim in Gilgal.” 22 Samuel said, “Has YHWH as great delight in burnt offerings and slaughters, as in obeying the voice of YHWH? Behold, to obey is better than slaughter, and to listen than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected the word of YHWH, he has also rejected you from being king.” 24 Shaul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of YHWH and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship YHWH.” 26 Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of YHWH, and YHWH has rejected you from being king over Israel.” 27 As Samuel turned around to go away, Shaul grabbed the skirt of his robe, and it tore. 28 Samuel said to him, “YHWH has torn the reign of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. 29 Also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent.”

1:13 Let no man say when he is tested, “I am tested by Elohim,” for Elohim can’t be tested by evil, and he himself trys no one. 14 But each one is tested when he is drawn away by his own coveting and enticed. 15 Then the coveting, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death. 16 Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation nor turning shadow.

1:1 Paul, a servant of Elohim and an emissary of Yeshua the Messiah, according to the faith of Elohim’s chosen ones and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which Elohim, who can’t lie, promised before time began; 3 but in his own time revealed his word in the message with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of Elohim our Savior, 4 to Titus, my true child according to a common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from Elohim the Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah our Savior.

Psalms 32:1 Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man to whom YHWH doesn’t impute iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Psalms 51:6 Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place. 7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness, that the bones which you have broken may rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities.

Jeremiah 50:18 Therefore YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: “Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. 19 I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan. His soul will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. 20 In those days, and in that time,” says YHWH, “the iniquity of Israel will be sought for, and there will be none, also the sins of Judah, and they won’t be found; for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant.

4:1 What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward Elohim. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed Elohim, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” (cf. Genesis 15:6) 4 Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as something owed. 5 But to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who justifies the impious, his faith is accounted for righteousness. 6 Even as David also pronounces blessing on the man to whom Elohim counts righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the man whom the Lord will by no means charge with sin.” (cf. Psalms 32:1-2) 9 Is this blessing then pronounced only on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 10 How then was it counted? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 11 He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they might be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might also be accounted to them. 12 He is the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had in uncircumcision. 13 For the promise to Abraham and to his seed that he would be heir of the world wasn’t through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of no effect. 15 For the law produces wrath; for where there is no law, neither is there disobedience. 16 For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. 17 As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” (cf. Genesis 17:5) This is in the face of him whom he believed: Elohim, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were. 18 Against hope, Abraham in hope believed, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So will your seed be.” (cf. Genesis 15:5) 19 Without being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 Yet, looking to the promise of Elohim, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to Elohim, 21 and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform. 22 Therefore it also was “credited to him for righteousness.” (cf. Genesis 15:6) 23 Now it was not written that it was accounted to him for his sake alone, 24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who believe in him who raised Yeshua our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.

5:1 When all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard how YHWH had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the sons of Israel until we had crossed over, their heart melted, and there was no more spirit in them, because of the sons of Israel. 2 At that time, YHWH said to Joshua, “Make flint knives, and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time.” 3 Joshua made himself flint knives, and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. 4 This is the reason Joshua circumcised them: all the people who came out of Egypt, who were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness along the way, after they came out of Egypt. 5 For all the people who came out were circumcised; but all the people who were born in the wilderness along the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised. 6 For the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness until all the nation, even the men of war who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they didn’t listen to the voice of YHWH. YHWH swore to them that he wouldn’t let them see the land which YHWH swore to their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 Their sons, whom he raised up in their place, were circumcised by Joshua, for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them on the way. 8 When they were done circumcising the whole nation, they stayed in their places in the camp until they were healed.

49:8 Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father’s sons will bow down before you. 9 Judah is a lion’s cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, as a lioness. Who will rouse him up? 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. The obedience of the peoples will be to him. 11 Binding his foal to the vine, his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes will be red with wine, his teeth white with milk.

8:52 Then the Judeans said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets; and you say, ‘If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?” 54 Yeshua answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is our Elohim. 55 You have not known him, but I know him. If I said, ‘I don’t know him,’ I would be like you, a liar. But I know him and guard his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 The Judeans therefore said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old! Have you seen Abraham?” 58 Yeshua said to them, “Amen, amen, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I am.”

10:21 In that same hour, Yeshua rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I thank you, O Father, Lord of the heavens and land, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight.” 22 Turning to the disciples, he said, “All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is, except the Father, and who the Father is, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son desires to reveal him.” 23 Turning to the disciples, he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see, 24 for I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.”

1:1 Peter, an emissary of Yeshua the Messiah, to the chosen ones who are living as strangers in the Diaspora in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of Elohim the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, that you may obey Yeshua the Messiah and be sprinkled with his blood: Grace to you and peace be multiplied. 3 Blessed be the Elohim and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah from the dead, 4 to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you, 5 who by the power of Elohim are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved in various trials, 7 that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes, even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Yeshua the Messiah— 8 whom, not having known, you love. In him, though now you don’t see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, 9 receiving the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets sought and searched diligently. They prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11 searching for who or what kind of time the Spirit of Messiah which was in them pointed to when he predicted the sufferings of Messiah and the glories that would follow them. 12 To them it was revealed that they served not themselves, but you, in these things, which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Good News to you by the Holy Spirit sent out from the heavens; which things angels desire to look into.

11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the land…39 These all, having been commended for their faith, didn’t receive the promise, 40 Elohim having provided some better thing concerning us, so that apart from us they should not be perfected.

8:1 After this, David struck the Philistines and subdued them; and David took the bridle of the mother city out of the hand of the Philistines. 2 He defeated Moab, and measured them with the line, making them to lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death, and one full line to keep alive. The Moabites became servants to David, and brought tribute. 3 David also struck Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his dominion at the River. 4 David took from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand footmen. David hamstrung the chariot horses, but reserved enough of them for one hundred chariots. 5 When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck twenty two thousand men of the Syrians. 6 Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought tribute. YHWH gave victory to David wherever he went. 7 David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. 8 From Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took a great quantity of bronze. 9 When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had struck all the army of Hadadezer, 10 then Toi sent Joram his son to King David to greet him and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and struck him; for Hadadezer had wars with Toi. Joram brought with him vessels of silver, vessels of gold, and vessels of bronze. 11 King David also dedicated these to YHWH, with the silver and gold that he dedicated of all the nations which he subdued— 12 of Syria, of Moab, of the sons of Ammon, of the Philistines, of Amalek, and of the plunder of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah. 13 David earned a reputation when he returned from striking down eighteen thousand men of the Syrians in the Valley of Salt. 14 He put garrisons in Edom. Throughout all Edom, he put garrisons, and all the Edomites became servants to David. YHWH gave victory to David wherever he went. 15 David reigned over all Israel; and David executed justice and righteousness for all his people.

17:8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us, and go out to fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with Elohim’s rod in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. When he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands were heavy; so they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side. His hands were steady until sunset. 13 Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. 14 YHWH said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens.” 15 Moses built an altar, and called its name “YHWH Nissi”. 16 He said, “Because a hand is on the throne of Yah, YHWH will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” [“For with a hidden hand the Lord wages war upon Amalek to all generations.” LXX Septuagint translation]

22:6 So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they went to their tents. 7 Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given inheritance in Bashan; but Joshua gave to the other half among their brothers beyond the Jordan westward. Moreover when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them, 8 and spoke to them, saying, “Return with much wealth to your tents, with very much livestock, with silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, and with very much clothing. Divide the plunder of your enemies with your brothers.” 9 The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the sons of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they owned, according to the commandment of YHWH by Moses. 10 When they came to the region near the Jordan, that is in the land of Canaan, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a great altar to look at. 11 The sons of Israel heard this, “Behold, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar along the border of the land of Canaan, in the region around the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the sons of Israel.” 12 When the sons of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the sons of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up against them to war. 13 The sons of Israel sent to the sons of Reuben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest. 14 With him were ten lifted up ones, one prince of a fathers’ house for each of the tribes of Israel; and they were each head of their fathers’ houses among the thousands of Israel. 15 They came to the sons of Reuben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying, 16 “The whole congregation of YHWH says, ‘What trespass is this that you have committed against the Elohim of Israel, to turn away today from following YHWH, in that you have built yourselves an altar, to rebel today against YHWH? 17 Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although there came a plague on the congregation of YHWH, 18 that you must turn away today from following YHWH? It will be, since you rebel today against YHWH, that tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. 19 However, if the land of your possession is unclean, then pass over to the land of the possession of YHWH, in which the tabernacle of YHWH dwells, and take possession among us; but don’t rebel against YHWH, nor rebel against us, in building an altar other than YHWH our Elohim’s altar. 20 Didn’t Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the devoted thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? That man didn’t perish alone in his iniquity.’ ” 21 Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel, 22 “The Mighty One, Elohim, YHWH, the Mighty One, Elohim, YHWH, he knows; and Israel will know: if it was in rebellion, or if in trespass against YHWH, don’t save us today, 23 that we have built us an altar to turn away from following YHWH; or if to offer burnt offering or grain offering, or if to offer slaughters of peace offerings, let YHWH himself require it. 24 “If we have not out of concern done this, and for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your sons might speak to our sons, saying, “What have you to do with YHWH, the Elohim of Israel? 25 For YHWH has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you sons of Reuben and sons of Gad. You have no portion in YHWH.” ‘ So your sons might make our sons cease from fearing YHWH. 26 “Therefore we said, ‘Let’s now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for slaughter; 27 but it will be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we may perform the service of YHWH before him with our burnt offerings, with our slaughters, and with our peace offerings;’ that your sons may not tell our sons in time to come, ‘You have no portion in YHWH.’ 28 “Therefore we said, ‘It will be, when they tell us or our generations this in time to come, that we will say, “Behold the pattern of the altar of YHWH, which our fathers made, not for burnt offering, nor for slaughter; but it is a witness between us and you.” ‘ 29 “Far be it from us that we should rebel against YHWH, and turn away today from following YHWH, to build an altar for burnt offering, for grain offering, or for slaughter, besides YHWH our Elohim’s altar that is before his tabernacle!” 30 When Phinehas the priest, and the lifted up ones of the congregation, even the heads of the thousands of Israel that were with him, heard the words that the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the sons of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them well. 31 Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the sons of Reuben, to the sons of Gad, and to the sons of Manasseh, “Today we know that YHWH is among us, because you have not committed this trespass against YHWH. Now you have delivered the sons of Israel out of the hand of YHWH.” 32 Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the lifted up ones, returned from the sons of Reuben, and from the sons of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the sons of Israel, and brought them word again. 33 The thing pleased the sons of Israel; and the sons of Israel blessed Elohim, and spoke no more of going up against them to war, to destroy the land in which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad lived. 34 The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad named the altar “A Witness Between Us that YHWH is Elohim.”

4:1 Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances which I teach you, to do them, that you may live and go in and possess the land which YHWH, the Elohim of your fathers, gives you. 2 You will not add to the word which I command you, neither will you take away from it, that you may guard the commandments of YHWH your Elohim which I command you. 3 Your eyes have seen what YHWH did because of Baal Peor; for YHWH your Elohim has destroyed all the men who followed Baal Peor from among you. 4 But you who were faithful to YHWH your Elohim are all alive today. 5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as YHWH my Elohim commanded me, that you should do so in the middle of the land where you go in to possess it. 6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” 7 For what great nation is there that has an elohim so near to them as YHWH our Elohim is whenever we call on him? 8 What great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you today?

106:28 They yoked themselves also to Baal Peor, and ate the slaughters of the dead. 29 Thus they provoked him to anger with their deeds. The plague broke in on them. 30 Then Phinehas stood up and executed judgment, so the plague was stopped. 31 That was credited to him for righteousness, for all generations to come.

9:1 Don’t rejoice, Israel, to jubilation like the nations; for you were unfaithful to your Elohim. You love the wages of a prostitute at every grain threshing floor. 2 The threshing floor and the wine press won’t feed them, and the new wine will fail her. 3 They won’t dwell in the land of YHWH; but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria. 4 They won’t pour out wine offerings to YHWH, neither will they be pleasing to him. Their slaughters will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat of it will be polluted; for their bread will be for their appetite. It will not come into YHWH’s house. 5 What will you do in the day of closing assembly, and in the day of the feast of YHWH? 6 For, behold, when they flee destruction, Egypt will gather them up. Memphis will bury them. Nettles will possess their pleasant things of silver. Thorns will be in their tents. 7 The days of inspection have come. The days of reckoning have come. Israel will consider the prophet to be a fool, and the man who is inspired to be insane, because of the abundance of your sins, and because your hostility is great. 8 A prophet watches over Ephraim with my Elohim. A fowler’s snare is on all of his paths, and hostility in the house of his Elohim. 9 They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity. He will punish them for their sins. 10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at its first season; but they came to Baal Peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.

6:12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything. 13 “Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,” but Elohim will bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for whoring, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 Now Elohim raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Don’t you know that your bodies are members of Messiah? Shall I then take the members of Messiah and make them members of a whore? May it never be! 16 Or don’t you know that he who is joined to a whore is one body? For, “The two”, he says, “will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. 18 Flee whoring! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits whoring sins against his own body. 19 Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from Elohim? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify Elohim in your body and in your spirit, which are Elohim’s.

10:1 Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 and were all immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 and all ate the same spiritual food; 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Messiah. 5 However with most of them, Elohim was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not covet after evil things as they also coveted. 7 Don’t be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” 8 Let’s not commit whoring, as some of them committed, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell. 9 Let’s not test Messiah, as some of them tested, and perished by the nachashim. 10 Don’t grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer. 11 Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall.

6:14 Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship do righteousness and iniquity have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? 15 What agreement does Messiah have with Belial? Or what portion does a believer have with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement does a temple of Elohim have with idols? For you are a temple of the living Elohim. Even as Elohim said, “I will dwell in them and walk in them. I will be their Elohim and they will be my people.” (cf. Leviticus 26:12) 17 Therefore Come out from among them, and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing. I will receive you. 18 I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

2:1 “Say to your brothers, ‘Ammi’ (My people) and to your sisters, ‘Ruchamah’ (Compassion) 2 Contend with your mother! Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts; 3 lest I strip her naked, and make her bare as in the day that she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst. 4 Indeed, on her sons I will have no mercy, for they are sons of unfaithfulness. 5 For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’ 6 Therefore behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she can’t find her way. 7 She will follow after her lovers, but she won’t overtake them; and she will seek them, but won’t find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now.’ 8 For she didn’t know that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. 9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness. 10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand. 11 I will also cause all her celebrations to cease: her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies. 12 I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, about which she has said, ‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me,’ and I will make them a forest, and the animals of the field will eat them. 13 I will visit on her the days of the Baalim, to which she burned incense when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers and forgot me,” says YHWH. 14 “Therefore behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. 15 I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will respond there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. 16 It will be in that day,” says YHWH, “that you will call me ‘my husband,’ and no longer call me ‘my master.’ 17 For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name. 18 In that day I will cut a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely. 19 I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion. 20 I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you will know YHWH. 21 It will happen in that day, that I will respond,” says YHWH. “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the land; 22 and the land will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will respond to Jezreel. 23 I will sow her to me in the land; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people;’ and they will say, ‘You are My Elohim!’ ”

49:1 Listen, islands, to me. Listen, you peoples, from afar: YHWH has called me from the womb; from the inside of my mother, he has mentioned my name. 2 He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. He has made me a polished shaft. He has kept me close in his quiver. 3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” 4 But I said, “I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength in vain for nothing; yet surely the justice due to me is with YHWH, and my reward with my Elohim.” 5 Now YHWH, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, says to bring Jacob again to him, and to gather Israel to him, for I am honorable in the eyes of YHWH, and my Elohim has become my strength. 6 Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the land.” 7 YHWH, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, says to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: “Kings will see and rise up, princes, and they will worship, because of YHWH who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” 8 YHWH says, “I have answered you in an acceptable time. I have helped you in a day of salvation. I will preserve you and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritage, 9 saying to those who are bound, ‘Come out!’; to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’ “They will feed along the paths, and their pasture will be on all treeless heights. 10 They will not hunger nor thirst; neither will the heat nor sun strike them, for he who has mercy on them will lead them. He will guide them by springs of water. 11 I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways will be exalted. 12 Behold, these will come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim.” 13 Sing, the heavens, and be joyful, land! Break out into singing, mountains! For YHWH has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted. 14 But Zion said, “YHWH has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.” 15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you! 16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me. 17 Your sons hurry. Your destroyers and those who devastated you will leave you. 18 Lift up your eyes all around, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live,” says YHWH, “you will surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and dress yourself with them, like a bride. 19 “For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now that land will be too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away. 20 The sons of your bereavement will say in your ears, ‘This place is too small for me. Give me a place to live in.’ 21 Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved and am barren, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought these up? Behold, I was left alone. Where were these?’ ” 22 The Lord YHWH says, “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and lift up my banner to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders. 23 Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the land, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am YHWH; and those who wait for me won’t be disappointed.” 24 Shall the plunder be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered? 25 But YHWH says, “Even the captives of the mighty will be taken away, and the plunder retrieved from the fierce, for I will contend with him who contends with you and I will save your sons. 26 I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they will be drunk on their own blood, as with sweet wine. Then all flesh will know that I, YHWH, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Related Additional Readings​

The fulfillment of prophecy, indicating the inevitability of punishment on those who Reject Elohim’s laws. Manuscript B from the Geniza has a different version of this pas sage. Note the interpretive section embedded in this paragraph.

The below excerpt is from Wise, Michael Owen, et al. The Dead Sea Scrolls: a New Translation. HarperSanFrancisco, 2005.

Column 7 But those who reject the commandments and the rules <will perish>. When Elohim judged the land, bringing the just deserts of the wicked to them, that is when the oracle of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came true, which says, “Days are coming upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house that have never come before, since the departure of Ephraim from Judah” (Isa. 7:17), that is, when the two houses of Israel separated, Ephraim departing from Judah. All who backslid were handed over to the sword, but all who held fast escaped to the land of the north, as it says, “I will exile the tents of your king and the foundation of your images beyond the tents of Damascus” (Amos 5:27). The books of Law are the tents of the king, as it says, “I will re-erect the fallen tent of David” (Amos 9:11). The king is <Leader of> the nation and the “foundation of your images” is the books of the prophets whose words Israel despised. The star is the Interpreter of the Law who comes to Damascus, as it is written, “A star has left Jacob, a staff has risen from Israel” (Num. 24:17). The latter is the Leader of the whole nation; when he appears, “he will shatter all the sons of Sheth” (Num. 24:17). They escaped in the first period of Elohim’s judgment, but those who held back were handed over to the sword.

1 and 2 Maccabees are set during the reign of the Seleucid Greek empire (the part of the Greek empire that found its roots in Syria). It tells the story of how the Greek ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes attested to suppress Temple worship and to destroy the practice of Jewish law. This caused the Maccabean revolt, led by Mattathias and his sons. As a part of the revolt, the Temple was freed from the control of the Greek empire and rededicated (an act that is still commemorated yearly in the festival of Hanukkah). The Maccabees then ruled over Israel, first as High Priests and then as High Priests and Princes of Israel.

1 Maccabees follows this story until the death of Shimon (the third son of Mattathias to rule over Israel) at the hands of the Egyptian Greeks (from about 175-134 B.C.).

2:19 And Mattathias answered and said with a loud voice, If all the nations that are in the house of the king’s dominion listen to him, to fall away each one from the worship of his fathers, and have made choice to follow his commandments, 20 yet I and my sons and my kindred will walk in the covenant of our fathers. 21 Heaven forbid that we should forsake the law and the ordinances. 22 We will not listen to the king’s words, to go aside from our worship, on the right hand, or on the left. 23 And when he had left speaking these words, there came a Jew in the sight of all to slaughter on the altar which was at Modin, according to the king’s commandment. 24 And Mattathias saw it, and his zeal was kindled, and his reins trembled, and he showed forth his wrath according to judgment, and ran, and killed him upon the altar. 25 And the king’s officer, who compelled men to slaughter, he killed at that time, and pulled down the altar. 26 And he was zealous for the law, even as Phinehas did to Zimri the son of Salu. 27 And Mattathias cried out in the city with a loud voice, saying, Whosoever is zealous for the law, and maintains the covenant, let him come forth after me. 28 And he and his sons fled into the mountains, and forsook all that they had in the city. 29 Then many that sought after justice and judgment went down into the wilderness,to dwell there, 30 they, and their sons, and their wives, and their cattle; because evils were multiplied upon them. 31 And it was told the king’s officers, and the forces that were in Jerusalem, the city of David, that certain men, who had broken the king’s commandment, were gone down into the secret places in the wilderness; 32 and many pursued after them, and having overtaken them, they encamped against them, and set the battle in array against them on the Sabbath day. 33 And they said to them, Thus far. Come forth, and do according to the word of the king, and you will live. 34 And they said, We will not come forth, neither will we do the word of the king, to profane the Sabbath day. 35 And they hurried to give them battle. 36 And they answered them not, neither cast they a stone at them, nor stopped up the secret places, 37 saying, Let us die all in our innocency: the heavens and land witness over us, that you put us to death without trial. 38 And they rose up against them in battle on the Sabbath, and they died, they and their wives and their children, and their cattle, to the number of a thousand souls of men. 39 And Mattathias and his friends knew it, and they mourned over them exceedingly. 40 And one said to another, If we all do as our kindred have done, and fight not against the Nations for our lives and our ordinances, they will now quickly destroy us from off the land. 41 And they took counsel on that day, saying, whoever will come against us to battle on the Sabbath day, let’s fight against him, and we will in no wise all die, as our kindred died in the secret places. 42 Then were gathered together to them a company of Chasdim, mighty men of Israel, every one that offered himself willingly for the law. 43 And all those who fled from the evils were added to them, and became a stay to them. 44 And they mustered an army, and struck sinners in their anger, and lawless men in their wrath: and the rest fled to the Nations for safety. 45 And Mattathias and his friends went round about, and pulled down the altars; 46 and they circumcised by force the children that were uncircumcised, as many as they found in the coasts of Israel. 47 And they pursued after the sons of pride, and the work prospered in their hand. 48 And they rescued the law out of the hand of the Nations, and out of the hand of the kings, neither gave they a horn to the sinner. 49 And the days of Mattathias drew near that he should die, and he said to his sons, Now have pride and rebuke gotten strength, and a season of overthrow, and wrath of indignation. 50 And now, my children, be you zealous for the law, and give your lives for the covenant of your fathers. 51 And call to remembrance the deeds of our fathers which they did in their generations; and receive great glory and an everlasting name. 52 Was not Abraham found faithful in trial, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness? 53 Joseph in the time of his distress kept the commandment, and became lord of Egypt. 54 Phinehas our father, for that he was zealous exceedingly, obtained the covenant of an everlasting priesthood.

Josephus was born Joseph ben Mattathias in 37 AD in Jerusalem of a priestly and royal family. He excelled in his studies of Jewish law and studied with the Sadducees, Pharisees, and the Essenes, eventually aligning himself with the Pharisees. In 62 AD he went to Rome to free some imprisoned priests. After accomplishing this mission through the intercession of Nero’s wife, Poppaea, he returned to Jerusalem in 65 AD to find the country in revolt against Rome. Josephus shrewdly reinterpreted the Messianic prophecies. He predicted that Vespasian would become the ruler of the ‘entire world’. His prophecy became true in 68 AD when Nero committed suicide and Vespasian became Ceasar. As a result, Josephus was freed; he moved to Rome and became a Roman citizen, taking the Vespasian family name Flavius. Vespasian commissioned Josephus to write a history of the war, which he finished in 78 AD, the Jewish War. His second major work, the Antiquities of the Jews, was completed in 93 AD. The extant manuscripts of the book Antiquities of the Jews contain two references to Yeshua of Nazareth (18.3.3. and 20.9.1.) and one reference to the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist (18.5.2.).

4.6.4. …Now when he saw them, he desired the king to build him seven altars, and to bring him as many bulls and rams; to which desire the king did presently conform. He then slew the slaughters, and offered them as burnt-offerings, that he might observe some signal of the flight of the Hebrews. Then said he, “Happy is this people, on whom Elohim bestows the possession of innumerable good things, and grants them his own providence to be their assistant and their guide; so that there is not any nation among mankind but you will be esteemed superior to them in virtue, and in the earnest prosecution of the best rules of life, and of such as are pure from wickedness, and will leave those rules to your excellent children; and this out of the regard that Elohim bears to you, and the provision of such things for you as may render you happier than any other people under the sun. You will retain that land to which he hath sent you, and it will ever be under the command of your children; and both all the land, as well as the seas, will be filled with your glory: and you will be sufficiently numerous to supply the world in general, and every region of it in particular, with inhabitants out of your stock. However, O blessed army! wonder that you are become so many from one father: and truly, the land of Canaan can now hold you, as being yet comparatively few; but know ye that the whole world is proposed to be your place of habitation for ever. The multitude of your posterity also will live as well in the islands as on the continent, and that more in number than are the stars of the heavens. And when you are become so many, Elohim will not relinquish the care of you, but will afford you an abundance of all good things in times of peace, with victory and dominion in times of war. May the children of your enemies have an inclination to fight against you; and may they be so hardy as to come to arms, and to assault you in battle, for they will not return with victory, nor will their return be agreeable to their children and wives. To so great a degree of valor will you be raised by the providence of Elohim, who is able to diminish the affluence of some, and to supply the wants of others.”

4.6.5. Thus did Balaam speak by inspiration, as not being in his own power, but moved to say what he did by the Divine Spirit. But then Balak was displeased, and said he had broken the contract he had made, whereby he was to come, as he and his confederates had invited him, by the promise of great presents: for whereas he came to curse their enemies, he had made an encomium upon them, and had declared that they were the happiest of men. To which Balaam replied, “O Balak, if thou rightly considerest this whole matter, canst thou suppose that it is in our power to be silent, or to say any thing, when the Spirit of Elohim seizes upon us? – for he puts such words as he pleases in our mouths, and such discourses as we are not ourselves conscious of. I well remember by what entreaties both you and the Midianites so joyfully brought me hither, and on that account I took this journey. It was my prayer, that I might not put any affront upon you, as to what you desired of me; but Elohim is more powerful than the purposes I had made to serve you; for those that take upon them to foretell the affairs of mankind, as from their own abilities, are entirely unable to do it, or to forbear to utter what Elohim suggests to them, or to offer violence to his will; for when he prevents us and enters into us, nothing that we say is our own. I then did not intend to praise this army, nor to go over the several good things which Elohim intended to do to their race; but since he was so favorable to them, and so ready to bestow upon them a happy life and eternal glory, he suggested the declaration of those things to me: but now, because it is my desire to oblige thee thyself, as well as the Midianites, whose entreaties it is not decent for me to reject, go to, let us again rear other altars, and offer the like slaughters that we did before, that I may see whether I can persuade Elohim to permit me to bind these men with curses.” Which, when Balak had agreed to, Elohim would not, even upon second slaughters, consent to his cursing the Israelites. Then fell Balaam upon his face, and foretold what calamities would befall the several kings of the nations, and the most eminent cities, some of which of old were not so much as inhabited; which events have come to pass among the several people concerned, both in the foregoing ages, and in this, till my own memory, both by sea and by land. From which completion of all these predictions that he made, one may easily guess that the rest will have their completion in time to come.

4.6.6. But Balak being very angry that the Israelites were not cursed, sent away Balaam without thinking him worthy of any honor. Whereupon, when he was just upon his journey, in order to pass the Euphrates, he sent for Balak, and for the princes of the Midianites, and spake thus to them: – “O Balak, and you Midianites that are here present, (for I am obliged even without the will of Elohim to gratify you,) it is true no entire destruction can seize upon the nation of the Hebrews, neither by war, nor by plague, nor by scarcity of the fruits of the land, nor can any other unexpected accident be their entire ruin; for the providence of Elohim is concerned to preserve them from such a misfortune; nor will it permit any such calamity to come upon them whereby they may all perish; but some small misfortunes, and those for a short time, whereby they may appear to be brought low, may still befall them; but after that they will flourish again, to the terror of those that brought those mischiefs upon them. So that if you have a mind to gain a victory over them for a short space of time, you will obtain it by following my directions: – Do you therefore set out the handsomest of such of your daughters as are most eminent for beauty, and proper to force and conquer the modesty of those that behold them, and these decked and trimmed to the highest degree able. Then do you send them to be near camp, and give them in charge, that the young men of the Hebrews desire their allow it them; and when they see they are enamored of them, let them take leaves; and if they entreat them to stay, let give their consent till they have persuaded leave off their obedience to their own laws, the worship of that Elohim who established them to worship the elohim of the Midianites and for by this means Elohim will be angry at them . Accordingly, when Balaam had suggested counsel to them, he went his way.

4.6.7. So when the Midianites had sent their daughters, as Balaam had exhorted them, the Hebrew men were allured by their beauty, and came with them, and besought them not to grudge them the enjoyment of their beauty, nor to deny them their conversation. These daughters of Midianites received their words gladly, and consented to it, and staid with them; but when they brought them to be enamored of them, and their inclinations to them were grown to ripeness, they began to think of departing from them: then it was that these men became greatly disconsolate at the women’s departure, and they were urgent with them not to leave them, but begged they would continue there, and become their wives; and they promised them they should be owned as mistresses all they had. This they said with an oath, and called Elohim for the arbitrator of what they promised; and this with tears in their eyes, and all such marks of concern, as might shew how miserable they thought themselves without them, and so might move their compassion for them. So the women, as soon as they perceived they had made their slaves, and had caught them with their conservation began to speak thus to them: –

4.6.8. “O you illustrious young men! we have of our own at home, and great plenty of good things there, together with the natural, affectionate parents and friends; nor is it out of our want of any such things that we came to discourse with you; nor did we admit of your invitation with design to prostitute the beauty of our bodies for gain; but taking you for brave and worthy men, we agreed to your request, that we might treat you with such honors as hospitality required: and now seeing you say that you have a great affection for us, and are troubled when you think we are departing, we are not averse to your entreaties; and if we may receive such assurance of your good-will as we think can be alone sufficient, we will be glad to lead our lives with you as your wives; but we are afraid that you will in time be weary of our company, and will then abuse us, and send us back to our parents, after an ignominious manner.” And they desired that they would excuse them in their guarding against that danger. But the young men professed they would give them any assurance they should desire; nor did they at all contradict what they requested, so great was the passion they had for them. “If then,” said they, “this be your resolution, since you make use of such customs and conduct of life as are entirely different from all other men, insomuch that your kinds of food are peculiar to yourselves, and your kinds of drink not common to others, it will be absolutely necessary, if you would have us for your wives, that you do withal worship our elohim. Nor can there be any other demonstration of the kindness which you say you already have, and promise to have hereafter to us, than this, that you worship the same elohim that we do. For has any one reason to complain, that now you are come into this country, you should worship the proper elohim of the same country? especially while our elohim are common to all men, and yours such as belong to nobody else but yourselves.” So they said they must either come into such methods of divine worship as all others came into, or else they must look out for another world, wherein they may live by themselves, according to their own laws.

4.6.9. Now the young men were induced by the fondness they had for these women to think they spake very well; so they gave themselves up to what they persuaded them, and transgressed their own laws, and supposing there were many elohim, and resolving that they would slaughter to them according to the laws of that country which ordained them, they both were delighted with their strange food, and went on to do every thing that the women would have them do, though in contradiction to their own laws; so far indeed that this transgression was already gone through the whole army of the young men, and they fell into a sedition that was much worse than the former, and into danger of the entire abolition of their own institutions; for when once the youth had tasted of these strange customs, they went with insatiable inclinations into them; and even where some of the principal men were illustrious on account of the virtues of their fathers, they also were corrupted together with the rest.

4.6.10. Even Zimri, the head of the tribe of Shimon accompanied with Cozbi, a Midianitish women, who was the daughter of Sur, a man of authority in that country; and being desired by his wife to disregard the laws of Moses, and to follow those she was used to, he complied with her, and this both by slaughtering after a manner different from his own, and by taking a stranger to wife. When things were thus, Moses was afraid that matters should grow worse, and called the people to a congregation, but then accused nobody by name, as unwilling to drive those into despair who, by lying concealed, might come to repentance; but he said that they did not do what was either worthy of themselves, or of their fathers, by preferring pleasure to Elohim, and to the living according to his will; that it was fit they should change their courses while their affairs were still in a good state, and think that to be true fortitude which offers not violence to their laws, but that which resists their coveting. And besides that, he said it was not a reasonable thing, when they had lived soberly in the wilderness, to act madly now when they were in prosperity; and that they ought not to lose, now they have abundance, what they had gained when they had little: – and so did he endeavor, by saying this, to correct the young inert, and to bring them to repentance for what they had done.

4.6.11. But Zimri arose up after him, and said, “Yes, indeed, Moses, thou art at liberty to make use of such laws as thou art so fond of, and hast, by accustoming thyself to them, made them firm; otherwise, if things had not been thus, thou hadst often been punished before now, and hadst known that the Hebrews are not easily put upon; but thou shalt not have me one of thy followers in thy tyrannical commands, for thou dost nothing else hitherto, but, under pretense of laws, and of Elohim, wickedly impose on us slavery, and gain dominion to thyself, while thou deprivest us of the sweetness of life, which consists in acting according to our own wills, and is the right of free-men, and of those that have no lord over them. Nay, indeed, this man is harder upon the Hebrews then were the Egyptians themselves, as pretending to punish, according to his laws, every one’s acting what is most agreeable to himself; but thou thyself better deservest to suffer punishment, who presumest to abolish what every one acknowledges to be what is good for him, and aimest to make thy single opinion to have more force than that of all the rest; and what I now do, and think to be right, I will not hereafter deny to be according to my own sentiments. I have married, as thou sayest rightly, a strange woman, and thou hearest what I do from myself as from one that is free, for truly I did not intend to conceal myself. I also own that I slaughtered to those elohim to whom you do not think it fit to slaughter; and I think it right to come at truth by inquiring of many people, and not like one that lives under tyranny, to suffer the whole hope of my life to depend upon one man; nor will any one find cause to rejoice who declares himself to have more authority over my actions than myself.”

4.6.12. Now when Zimri had said these things, about what he and some others had wickedly done, the people held their peace, both out of fear of what might come upon them, and because they saw that their legislator was not willing to bring his insolence before the public any further, or openly to contend with him; for he avoided that, lest many should imitate the impudence of his language, and thereby disturb the multitude. Upon this the assembly was dissolved. However, the mischievous attry had proceeded further, if Zimri had not been first slain, which came to pass on the following occasion: – Phineas, a man in other respects better than the rest of the young men, and also one that surpassed his contemporaries in the dignity of his father, (for he was the son of Eleazar the high priest, and the grandson of [Aaron] Moses’s brother,) who was greatly troubled at what was done by Zimri, he resolved in earnest to inflict punishment on him, before his unworthy behavior should grow stronger by impunity, and in order to prevent this transgression from proceeding further, which would happen if the ringleaders were not punished. He was of so great magnanimity, both in strength of mind and body, that when he undertook any very dangerous attry, he did not leave it off till he overcame it, and got an entire victory. So he came into Zimri’s tent, and slew him with his javelin, and with it he slew Cozbi also, Upon which all those young men that had a regard to virtue, and aimed to do a glorious action, imitated Phineas’s boldness, and slew those that were found to be guilty of the same crime with Zimri. Accordingly many of those that had transgressed perished by the magnanimous valor of these young men; and the rest all perished by a plague, which distemper Elohim himself inflicted upon them; so that all those their kindred, who, instead of hindering them from such wicked actions, as they ought to have done, had persuaded them to go on, were esteemed by Elohim as partners in their wickedness, and died. Accordingly there perished out of the army no fewer than fourteen [twenty-four] thousand at this time.