Week 134

• Torah (T): Devarim (Deuteronomy) 10:1 – 11:25
• Prophets (P): 2 Kings 13:22-25
• Apostolic (A): 2 Corinthians 3:1-18
• Additional (ADD): 2 Esdras 14:13-48

RELATED SCRIPTURES

• Exodus 34:1-35 (T)
• Jeremiah 31:31-34 (T, A)
• Numbers 20:23-29 (T)
• Numbers 33:32-39 (T)
• Numbers 18:1-24; Deuteronomy 12:8-12; Deuteronomy 14:22-29; Deuteronomy 18:1-8; Joshua 13:32-33; Ezekiel 44:1-31 (T)
• Deuteronomy 9:8-18 (T)
• Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Matthew 22:34-38; Luke 10:25-28 (T)
• Joshua 22:4-6 (T)
• Genesis 14:18-20; Psalms 24:1-2; Psalms 115:15-16; Exodus 19:5-6; Job 41:11; Psalms 50:7-12 (T)
• Deuteronomy 7:6-8; Deuteronomy 14:1-2; Deuteronomy 28:18-19; Isaiah 41:8-10; Psalms 135:3-4 (T)
• Exodus 32:9-10; Exodus 33:1-6; Exodus 34:8-9; Deuteronomy 9:13-14; Jeremiah 4:1-4 (T)
• Romans 2:1-29 (T)
• Philippians 3:2-6; Colossians 2:8-14 (T)
• 2 Chronicles 19:5-7; Job 34:16-20; Acts 10:34-35; Galatians 1-9; Colossians 3:16-25; 1 Peter 1:13-21 (T)
• Psalms 136:1-3 (T)
• 1 Timothy 6:11-16 (T)
• Revelation 17:7-14 (T)
• Revelation 19:11-16 (T)
• Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 13:4; 1 Samuel 7:3; Jeremiah 12:14-17; Matthew 4:8-10; Luke 4:5-8 (T)
• Jeremiah 12:14-17 (T)
• Genesis 46:1-27; Exodus 1:1-7; Acts 7:11-14 (T)
• Genesis 15:1-6; Genesis 22:15-18; Genesis 26:1-5; Exodus 32:12-14; 1 Chronicles 27:23-24; Nehemiah 9:23; Hebrews 11:11-12 (T)
• Deuteronomy 4:26-27; Deuteronomy 28:62 (T)
• Jeremiah 5:19-24 (T)
• Romans 4:1-18 (T)
• Deuteronomy 18:19-20 (T)
• Deuteronomy 28:23-24; 1 Kings 8:35-40; Amos 4:7-8 (T)
• Deuteronomy 6:6-9; Proverbs 7:1-3 (T)
• Exodus 23:27-28 (T)
• Joshua  1:1-5 (T)
• 2 Kings 13:1-25 (P)

RELATED ADDITIONAL REA.D.INGS

• In Praise of Elohim’s Grace—Barki Nafshi 4Q434, Column 2 (T)
• The Words of Moses 1Q22 (T)
• Deuteronomy 10:1 – 11:25 from the Jerusalem Targum aka Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (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)

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 10:1 – 11:25

10:1 At that time YHWH said to me, “Chisel for yourself two stone tablets like the first, and come up to me onto the mountain, and make an ark of wood. 2 I will write on the tablets the words [of YHWH]^(DSS) that were on the first tablets which you broke, and you will put them in the ark.” 3 So I made an ark of shittim wood, and chiseled two stone tablets like the first, and went up onto the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand. 4 He wrote on the tablets, according to the first writing, the ten words, which YHWH spoke to you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the assembly; and YHWH gave them to me. 5 I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are as YHWH commanded me. 6 The sons of Israel traveled from Beeroth Bene Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son was adorned in place of him. 7 From there they traveled to Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water. 8 At that time YHWH set apart the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of YHWH, [and]^(DSS) to stand before YHWH to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day. 9 Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brothers; YHWH is his inheritance, according as YHWH your Elohim spoke to him. 10 I stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights; and YHWH listened to me that time also [and]^(DSS) YHWH would not destroy you. 11 YHWH said to me, “Arise, take your journey before the people; and they will go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give to them.” 12 Now, Israel, what does YHWH your Elohim ask of you, but to fear YHWH your Elohim, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 to guard the commandments of YHWH [your Elohim]^(LXX)(SP) and his statutes, which I command you today for your good? 14 Behold, to YHWH your Elohim belongs the heavens, the heavens of the heavens, and the land, with all that is therein. 15 Only YHWH had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all peoples, as it is today. 16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked. 17 For YHWH your Elohim, he is Elohim of Elohim and Lord of lords, the great Elohim, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn’t lift up faces or take bribes. 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and widow and loves the foreigner in giving him food and clothing. 19 Therefore love the foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20 You will fear YHWH your Elohim. You will serve him. You will cling to him, and you will swear by his name. 21 He is your praise, and he is your Elohim, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy souls; and now YHWH your Elohim has made you as the stars of the heavens for multitude.

11:1 Therefore you will love YHWH your Elohim, and guard his instructions, his statutes, his judgments, and his commandments, always. 2 Know this day—for I don’t speak with your sons who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of YHWH your Elohim, his greatness, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm, 3 his signs, and his works, which he did in the middle of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and to all his land; 4 and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Sea of Reeds to overflow them as they pursued you, and how YHWH has destroyed them to this day; 5 and what he did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place; 6 and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben—how the land opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, [from]^(DSS) the middle of all Israel; 7 but your eyes have seen all of YHWH’s great [works]^(DSS) which he did. 8 Therefore you will guard all the commandment [and the statutes and the judgments]^(DSS) which I command you today, that you may be strong [and multiply],^(DSS) and go in and possess the land that you go over [the Jordan]^(DSS) to possess; 9 and that you may prolong your days in the land which YHWH swore to your fathers to give to them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 For the land, where you came to possess [her],^(DSS) [she]^(DSS) isn’t like the land of Egypt that you went out from, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your [feet],^(DSS) as the vegetable garden; 11 but the land that you go over to possess is a land of hills and valleys which drinks water from the rain of the heavens, 12 a land which YHWH your Elohim cares for. YHWH your Elohim’s eyes are always on it, from the beginning of [a]^(DSS) year even to the end of the year. 13 It will happen, if you will listen diligently to my commandments which I command you today, to love YHWH your Elohim, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 that I will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. 15 I will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you will eat and be full. 16 Be careful, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn away to serve other elohim and worship them; 17 and the anger of YHWH be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, and the land doesn’t yield its fruit; and you perish quickly from off the good land which YHWH gives you. 18 Therefore you will lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul. You will bind them for a sign on your hand, and they will be for frontlets between your eyes. 19 You will teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 20 You will write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates; 21 that your days and your sons’ days may be multiplied in the land which YHWH swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the land. [YHWH said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Pesach. No son of a stranger will eat of it, but every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then will he eat of it. A sojourner and a hired-servant will not eat of it. It must be eaten in one house. Do not carry any of the meat outside of the house. Do not break any of its bones. All the congregation of Israel will do it. When a sojourner sojourns with you, and would like to do the Pesach to YHWH, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and do it. He will be as one who is born in the land; but no uncircumcised person will eat of it. One Torah will be to him who is born at home, and to the sojourner who sojourns among you.” All the sons of Israel did so. As YHWH commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. That same day, YHWH brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.”] (cf. Exodus 12:43-51)^(DSS) 22 For if you will diligently guard all these commandments which I command you—to do them [this day],^(LXX)(SP) to love YHWH your Elohim, to walk in all his ways, and to cling to him— 23 then YHWH will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. 24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads will be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even to the western sea will be your border. 25 No man will be able to stand before you. YHWH your Elohim will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you tread on, as he has spoken to you.

Prophets Portion (P)

2 Kings 13:22-25

13:22 Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. 23 But YHWH was gracious to them, and had compassion on them, and favored them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them and he didn’t cast them from his face as yet. 24 Hazael king of Syria died; and Benhadad his son reigned in his place. 25 Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Joash struck him three times, and recovered the cities of Israel.

Apostolic Portion (A)

2 Corinthians 3:1-18

3:1 Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as do some, letters of commendation to you or from you? 2 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men, 3 being revealed that you are a letter of Messiah, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living Elohim; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh. 4 Such confidence we have through Messiah toward Elohim, 5 not that we are sufficient of ourselves to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from Elohim, 6 who also made us sufficient as servants of a renewed covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 But if the service of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face, which was passing away, 8 won’t service of the Spirit be with much more glory? 9 For if the service of condemnation has glory, the service of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. 10 For most certainly that which has been made glorious has not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasses. 11 For if that which passes away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory. 12 Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech, 13 and not as Moses, who put a veil on his face so that the sons of Israel wouldn’t look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away. 14 But their minds were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains, because in Messiah it passes away. 15 But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.

Additional Portion (ADD)

2 Esdras, consisting of chapters 3-14, (also called 4 Esdras, Latin Esdras, or Latin Ezra) is the name of a book in many English versions of the Bible. Its authorship is ascribed to Ezra, a scribe and priest of the 5th century B.C., although modern scholarship places its composition between 70 and 218 A.D.. It is reckoned among the apocrypha by Roman Catholics, Protestants, and most Eastern Orthodox Christians. The Ethiopian Church considers 4 Ezra to be canonical, written during the Babylonian captivity, and calls it “Izra Sutuel” (ዕዝራ ሱቱኤል). It was also often cited by the Fathers of the Church. In the Eastern Armenian tradition it is called 3 Ezra.

14:13 Now therefore set your house in order, and reprove your people, comfort the lowly among them, and instruct such of them as be wise, and now renounce the life that is corruptible, 14 and let go from the mortal thoughts, cast away from you the burdens of man, put off now your weak nature, 15 and lay aside the thoughts that are most grievous to you, and haste you to remove from these times. 16 For yet worse evils than those which you have seen happen will be done hereafter. 17 For look, how much the world will be weaker through age, so much the more will evils increase upon those who dwell therein. 18 For the truth will withdraw itself further off, and falsehood will be hard at hand: for now hastens the eagle to come, which you saw in vision. 19 Then answered I and said, I will speak before you, O Lord. 20 Behold, I will go, as you have commanded me, and reprove the people that now be: but those who will be born afterward, who will admonish them? for the world is set in darkness, and those who dwell therein are without light. 21 For your law is burned, therefore no man knows the things that are done of you, or the works that will be done. 22 But if I have found favor before you, send the Holy Spirit to me, and I will write all that has been done in the world since the beginning, even the things that were written in your law, that men may be able to find the path, and that they which would live in the latter days may live. 23 And he answered me and said, Go your way, gather the people together, and say to them, that they seek you not for forty days. 24 But look you prepare you many tablets, and take with you Sarea, Dabria, Selemia, Ethanus, and Asiel, these five, which are ready to write swiftly; 25 and come here, and I will light a lamp of understanding in your heart, which will not be put out, till the things be ended which you will write. 26 And when you have done, some things will you publish openly, and some things will you deliver in secret to the wise: tomorrow this hour will you begin to write. 27 Then went I forth, as he commanded me, and gathered all the people together, and said, 28 Hear these words, O Israel. 29 Our fathers at the beginning were strangers in Egypt, and they were delivered from thence, 30 and received the law of life, which they kept not, which you also have transgressed after them. 31 Then was the land, even the land of Zion, given you for a possession: but you yourselves, and your fathers, have done unrighteousness, and have not kept the ways which the Most High commanded you. 32 And forasmuch as he is a righteous judge, he took from you for a while the thing that he had given you. 33 And now you are here, and your kindred are among you. 34 Therefore if so be that you will rule over your own understanding, and instruct your hearts, you will be kept alive, and after death you will obtain mercy. 35 For after death will the judgment come, when we will live again: and then will the names of the righteous be manifest, and the works of the impious will be declared. 36 Let no man therefore come to me now, nor seek after me these forty days. 37 So I took the five men, as he commanded me, and we went forth into the field, and remained there. 38 And it came to pass on the next day that, behold, a voice called me, saying, Esdras, open your mouth, and drink what I give you to drink. 39 Then opened I my mouth, and, behold, there was reached to me a full cup, which was full as it were with water, but the color of it was like fire. 40 And I took it, and drank: and when I had drunk of it, my heart uttered understanding, and wisdom grew in my breast, for my spirit retained its memory: 41 and my mouth was opened, and shut no more. 42 The Most High gave understanding to the five men, and they wrote by course the things that were told them, in characters which they knew not, and they sat forty days: now they wrote in the day-time, and at night they ate bread. 43 As for me, I spoke in the day, and by night I held not my tongue. 44 So in forty days were written ninety-four books. 45 And it came to pass, when the forty days were fulfilled, that the Most High spoke to me, saying, The first that you have written publish openly, and let the worthy and unworthy read it: 46 but guard the seventy last, that you may deliver them to such as be wise among your people: 47 for in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the stream of knowledge. 48 And I did so.

Related Scriptures

Exodus 34:1-35 (T)

34:1 YHWH said to Moses, “Chisel two stone tablets like the first. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. 3 No one will come up with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain. Do not let the flocks or herds graze in front of that mountain.” 4 He chiseled two tablets of stone like the first; then Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to Mount Sinai, as YHWH had commanded him, and took in his hand two stone tablets. 5 YHWH descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed YHWH’s name. 6 YHWH passed by before him, and proclaimed, “YHWH! YHWH, a merciful and gracious Elohim, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, 7 preserving loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons, and on the sons of the sons, on the third and on the fourth generation.” 8 Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the land, and did bow down. 9 He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go among us, even though this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.” 10 He said, “Behold, I cut a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the land, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are will see the work of YHWH; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you. 11 Guard that which I command you today. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 12 Guard yourself, lest you cut a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare among you; 13 but you will break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you will cut down their Asherah poles; 14 for you will worship no other god; for YHWH [Elohim],^(LXX) his name is Qana, is a zealous Elohim. 15 “Don’t cut a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they whore after their elohim, and slaughter to their elohim, and one call you and you eat of his slaughter; 16 and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters whore after their elohim, and make your sons whore after their elohim. 17 “You will make no cast idols for yourselves. 18 “You will guard the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you will eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the new moon Aviv; for in the new moon Aviv you came out of Egypt. 19 “All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep. 20 You will redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb. If you will not redeem it, then you will break its neck. You will redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one will appear before me empty. 21 “Six days you will work, but on the seventh day you will rest: in plowing time and in harvest you will rest. 22 You will guard the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year’s end. 23 Three times in the year all your males will appear before the Lord YHWH, the Elohim of Israel. 24 For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither will any man desire your land when you go up to appear before YHWH, your Elohim, three times in the year. 25 You will not slaughter the blood of my slaughtering with leavened bread. The slaughter of the feast of the Pesach will not be left to the morning. 26 You will bring the first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of YHWH your Elohim. You will not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.” 27 YHWH said to Moses, “Write these words; for in accordance with these words I have cut a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 He was there with YHWH forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, ten of the words. 29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mountain, Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face [was horned]^(MTT) by reason of his speaking with him. 30 When Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face [was horned];^(MTT) and they were afraid to come near him. 31 Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the sons of Israel came near, and he gave them all the commandments that YHWH had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 34 But when Moses went in before YHWH to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the sons of Israel that which he was commanded. 35 The sons of Israel saw Moses’ face, that the skin of Moses’ face [was horned];^(MTT) so Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 (T, A)

31:31 “Behold, the days come,” says YHWH, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which covenant of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them [and I disregarded them],”^{(LXX)(cf. Hebrews 8:9)} says YHWH. 33 “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says YHWH: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 They will no longer each teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know YHWH;’ for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (cf. Hebrews 8:8-12)

Numbers 20:23-29 (T)

20:23 YHWH spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying, 24 “Aaron will be gathered to his people; for he will not enter into the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because you rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor; 26 and [you will strip]^(DSS) Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron will be gathered, and will die there.” 27 Moses did as YHWH commanded. They went up onto Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28 Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron died there on the top of the mountain, and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 When all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.

Numbers 33:32-39 (T)

33:32 They traveled from Bene Jaakan, and encamped in Hor Haggidgad. 33 They traveled from Hor Haggidgad, and encamped in Jotbathah. 34 They traveled from Jotbathah, and encamped in Abronah. 35 They traveled from Abronah, and encamped in Ezion Geber. 36 They traveled from Ezion Geber, and encamped at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin. 37 They traveled from Kadesh, and encamped in Mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom. 38 Aaron the priest went up into Mount Hor at the commandment of YHWH and died there, in the fortieth year after the sons of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth new moon, on the first day of the new moon. 39 Aaron was one hundred twenty-three years old when he died in Mount Hor.

Numbers 18:1-24; Deuteronomy 12:8-12; Deuteronomy 14:22-29; Deuteronomy 18:1-8; Joshua 13:32-33; Ezekiel 44:1-31 (T)

Numbers 18:1 YHWH said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your fathers’ house with you will bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you will bear the iniquity of your priesthood. 2 Bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, near with you, that they may be joined to you, and minister to you; but you and your sons with you will be before the Tent of the Witness. 3 They will guard your commands and the watch duty of the whole Tent; only they will not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they not die, neither they nor you. 4 They will be joined to you and guard your watch duty of the Appointed Tent, for all the service of the Tent. A stranger will not come near to you. 5 “You will perform the watch duty of the sanctuary and the watch duty of the altar, that there be no more wrath on the sons of Israel. 6 Behold, I myself have taken your brothers the Levites from among the sons of Israel. They are a gift to you, dedicated to YHWH, to do the service of the Appointed Tent. 7 You and your sons with you will keep your priesthood for everything of the altar, and for that within the veil. You will serve. I give you the service of the priesthood as a gift. The stranger inside will be put to death.” 8 YHWH spoke to Aaron, “Behold, I myself have given you the command of my wave offerings, all the holy of the sons of Israel. I have given them to you by reason of the anointing, and to your sons, as a portion forever. 9 This will be yours of the holy of holies from the fire: every offering of theirs, even every grain offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they will render to me, will be holy of holies for you and for your sons. 10 You will eat of it like the holy of holies. Every male will eat of it. It will be holy to you. 11 “This is yours, too: the wave offering of their gift, even all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel. I have given them to you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a portion forever. Everyone who is clean in your house will eat of it. 12 “I have given to you all the best of the oil, all the best of the vintage, and of the grain, the first fruits of them which they give to YHWH. 13 The first-ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to YHWH, will be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house will eat of it. 14 “Everything devoted in Israel will be yours. 15 Everything that opens the womb, of all flesh which they offer to YHWH, both of man and animal, will be yours. Nevertheless, you will surely redeem the firstborn of man, and you will redeem the firstborn of unclean animals. 16 You will redeem those who are to be redeemed of them from a new moon old, according to your estimation, for five shekels of money, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which weighs twenty gerahs. 17 “But do not redeem the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat. They are holy. You will sprinkle their blood on the altar, and will burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma to YHWH. 18 Their flesh will be yours, as the wave offering breast and as the right thigh, it will be yours. 19 All the wave offerings of the holy which the sons of Israel offer to YHWH, I have given you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a portion forever. It is a covenant of salt forever before YHWH to you and to your seed with you.” 20 YHWH said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, neither will you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel. 21 “To the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the Appointed Tent. 22 Henceforth the sons of Israel will not come near the Appointed Tent, lest they bear sin, and die. 23 But the Levites will do the service of the Appointed Tent, and they will bear their iniquity. It will be a statute forever throughout your generations. Among the sons of Israel, they will have no inheritance. 24 For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as a wave offering to YHWH, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the sons of Israel they will have no inheritance.’ ”

Deuteronomy 12:8 You will not do all the things that we do here today, every man whatever is right in his own eyes; 9 for you haven’t yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which YHWH your Elohim gives you. 10 But when you go over the Jordan and dwell in the land which YHWH your Elohim causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies around you, so that you dwell in safety, 11 then it will happen that to the place which YHWH your Elohim will choose, to cause his name to dwell there, there you will bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your slaughters, your tithes, the wave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to YHWH. 12 You will rejoice before YHWH your Elohim—you, and your sons, your daughters, your male servants, your maids, and the Levite who is within your gates, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you.

Deuteronomy 14:22 You will surely tithe all the increase of your seed, that which comes out of the field year by year. 23 You will eat before YHWH your Elohim, in the place which he chooses to cause his name to dwell, the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to fear YHWH your Elohim always. 24 If the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it because the place which YHWH your Elohim will choose to set his name there is too far from you, when YHWH your Elohim blesses you, 25 then you will turn it into money, bind up the money in your hand, and will go to the place which YHWH your Elohim will choose. 26 You will trade the money for whatever your soul desires: for cattle, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever your soul asks of you. You will eat there before YHWH your Elohim, and you will rejoice, you and your household. 27 You will not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no portion nor inheritance with you. 28 At the end of every three years you will bring all the tithe of your increase in the same year, and will store it within your gates. 29 The Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, as well as the foreigner living among you, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates will come, and will eat and be satisfied; that YHWH your Elohim may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Deuteronomy 18:1 The priests and the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—will have no portion nor inheritance with Israel. They will eat the offerings of YHWH made by fire and his portion. 2 They will have no inheritance among their brothers. YHWH is their inheritance, as he has spoken to them. 3 This will be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a slaughter, whether it be ox or sheep, that they will give to the priest: the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the inner parts. 4 You will give him the first fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep. 5 For YHWH your Elohim has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in YHWH’s name, him and his sons forever. 6 If a Levite comes from any of your gates out of all Israel where he lives, and comes with all the desire of his soul to the place which YHWH will choose, 7 then he will minister in the name of YHWH his Elohim, as all his brothers the Levites do, who stand there before YHWH. 8 They will have like portions to eat, in addition to that which comes from the sale of his family possessions.

Joshua 13:32 These are the inheritances which Moses distributed in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan at Jericho, eastward. 33 But Moses gave no inheritance to the tribe of Levi. YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, is their inheritance, as he spoke to them.

Ezekiel 44:1 Then he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looks toward the east; and it was shut. 2 YHWH said to me, “This gate will be shut. It will not be opened, no man will enter in by it; for YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, has entered in by it. Therefore it will be shut. 3 As for the prince, he will sit in it as prince to eat bread before YHWH. He will enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and will go out the same way.” 4 Then he brought me by the way of the north gate before the house; and I looked, and behold, the glory of YHWH filled YHWH’s house; so I fell on my face. 5 YHWH said to me, “Son of man, mark well, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I tell you concerning all the judgments of YHWH’s house and all its Torot; and mark well the entrance of the house, with every exit of the sanctuary. 6 You will tell the rebellious, even the house of Israel, ‘The Lord YHWH says: “You house of Israel, let that be enough of all your abominations, 7 in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood; and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations. 8 You have not guarded my watch duty of my holy; but you have set guards of my watch duty in my sanctuary for yourselves.” 9 The Lord YHWH says, “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, will enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who are among the sons of Israel. 10 “ ‘ “But the Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they will bear their iniquity. 11 Yet they will be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house. They will kill the burnt offering and the slaughter for the people, and they will stand before them to minister to them. 12 Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have lifted up my hand against them,” says the Lord YHWH, “and they will bear their iniquity. 13 They will not come near to me, to execute the office of priest to me, nor to come near to any of my holy, to the things that are most holy; but they will bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. 14 Yet I will make them performers of the duty of the house, for all its service and for all that will be done therein. 15 “ ‘ “But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who performed the duty of my sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from me, will come near to me to minister to me. They will stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood,” says the Lord YHWH. 16 “They will enter into my sanctuary, and they will come near to my table, to minister to me, and they will guard my watch duty. 17 “ ‘ “It will be that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they will be clothed with linen garments. No wool will come on them while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. 18 They will have linen turbans on their heads, and will have linen trousers on their waists. They will not clothe themselves with anything that makes them sweat. 19 When they go out into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they will put off their garments in which they minister and lay them in the holy rooms. They will put on other garments, that they not sanctify the people with their garments. 20 “ ‘ “They will not shave their heads, or allow their locks to grow long. They will only cut off the hair of their heads. 21 None of the priests will drink wine when they enter into the inner court. 22 They will not take for their wives a widow, or her who is put away; but they will take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest. 23 They will teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. 24 “ ‘ “In a controversy they will stand to judge. They will judge it according to my judgments. They will guard my Torot and my statutes in all my appointed times. They will make my Sabbaths holy. 25 “ ‘ “They will go in to no dead person to defile themselves; but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister who has had no husband, they may defile themselves. 26 After he is cleansed, they will reckon to him seven days. 27 In the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he will offer his sin offering,” says the Lord YHWH. 28 “ ‘They will have an inheritance: I am their inheritance; and you will give them no possession in Israel. I am their possession. 29 They will eat the grain offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; and every devoted thing in Israel will be theirs. 30 The first of all the first fruits of every thing, and every offering of everything, of all your offerings, will be for the priest. You will also give to the priests the first of your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on your house. 31 The priests will not eat of anything that dies of itself or is torn, whether it is bird or animal.

Deuteronomy 9:8-18 (T)

9:8 Also in Horeb you provoked YHWH to wrath, and YHWH was angry with you to destroy you. 9 When I had gone up onto the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant which YHWH made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10 YHWH delivered to me the two stone tablets written with Elohim’s finger. On them were all the words which YHWH spoke with you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the assembly. 11 It came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights that YHWH gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. 12 YHWH said to me, “Arise, get down quickly from here; for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have corrupted. They have quickly turned away from the way which I commanded them. They have made a molten image for themselves!” 13 Furthermore YHWH spoke to me, saying, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. 14 Leave me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under the heavens; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.” 15 So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. The two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 I looked, and behold, you had sinned against YHWH your Elohim. You had made yourselves a molded calf. You had quickly turned away from the way which YHWH had commanded you. 17 I took hold of the two tablets, and threw them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. 18 I fell down before YHWH, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of YHWH, to provoke him to anger.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Matthew 22:34-38; Luke 10:25-28 (T)

Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, Israel: YHWH is our Elohim. YHWH is one. 5 You will love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.

Matthew 22:34 But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, gathered themselves together. 35 One of them, a Torah scholar, asked him a question, testing him. 36 “Rabbi, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” 37 Yeshua said to him, “ ‘You will love the Lord your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ (cf. Deuteronomy 6:5) 38 This is the first and great commandment.

Luke 10:25 Behold, a certain Torah scholar stood up and tested him, saying, “Rabbi, what will I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Torah? How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “You will love the Lord your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; (cf. Deuteronomy 6:5) and your neighbor as yourself.” (cf. Leviticus 19:18)  28 He said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.”

Joshua 22:4-6 (T)

22:4 Now YHWH your Elohim has given rest to your brothers, as he spoke to them. Therefore now return and go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of YHWH gave you beyond the Jordan. 5 Only take diligent heed to do the commandment and the Torah which Moses the servant of YHWH commanded you, to love YHWH your Elohim, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, to hold fast to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” 6 So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they went to their tents.

Genesis 14:18-20; Psalms 24:1-2; Psalms 115:15-16; Exodus 19:5-6; Job 41:11; Psalms 50:7-12 (T)

Genesis 14:18 Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of Elohim Most High. 19 He blessed him, and said, “Blessed be Abram of Elohim Most High, possessor of the heavens and land. 20 Blessed be Elohim Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Abram gave him a tenth of all.

Psalms 24:1 The land is YHWH’s, with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell in it. 2 For he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the floods.

Psalms 115:15 Blessed are you by YHWH, who made the heavens and land. 16 The heavens are YHWH’s the heavens, but he has given the land to the sons of men.

Exodus 19:5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and guard my covenant, then you will be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the land is mine; 6 and you will be to me a reign of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you will speak to the sons of Israel.”

Job 41:11 Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.

Psalms 50:7 “Hear, my people, and I will speak. Israel, I will testify against you. I am Elohim, your Elohim. 8 I don’t rebuke you for your slaughters. Your burnt offerings are continually before me. 9 I have no need for a bull from your stall, nor male goats from your pens. 10 For every animal of the forest is mine, and the livestock on a thousand hills. 11 I know all the birds of the mountains. The wild animals of the field are mine. 12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

Deuteronomy 7:6-8; Deuteronomy 14:1-2; Deuteronomy 28:18-19; Isaiah 41:8-10; Psalms 135:3-4 (T)

Deuteronomy 7:6 For you are a holy people to YHWH your Elohim. YHWH your Elohim has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the land. 7 YHWH didn’t set his love on you nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples; 8 but because YHWH loves you, and because he desires to guard the oath which he swore to your fathers, YHWH has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 14:1 You are the sons of YHWH your Elohim. You will not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. 2 For you are a holy people to YHWH your Elohim, and YHWH has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the land.

Deuteronomy 28:18 The fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock will be cursed. 19 You will be cursed when you come in, and you will be cursed when you go out.

Isaiah 41:8 “But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend, 9 you whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the land, and called from its corners, and said to you, ‘You are my servant. I have chosen you and have not cast you away.’ 10 Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your Elohim. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.

Psalms 135:3 Praise Yah, for YHWH is good. Sing praises to his name, for that is pleasant. 4 For Yah has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel for his own possession.

Exodus 32:9-10; Exodus 33:1-6; Exodus 34:8-9; Deuteronomy 9:13-14; Jeremiah 4:1-4 (T)

Exodus 32:9 YHWH said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”

Exodus 33:1 YHWH spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people that you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your seed.’ 2 I will send an angel before you; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 3 Go to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.” 4 When the people heard this evil news, they mourned; and no one put on his jewelry. 5 YHWH had said to Moses, “Tell the sons of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go up among you for one moment, I would consume you. Therefore now take off your jewelry from you, that I may know what to do to you.’ ” 6 The sons of Israel stripped themselves of their jewelry from Mount Horeb onward.

Exodus 34:8 Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the land, and did bow down. 9 He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go among us, even though this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

Deuteronomy 9:13 Furthermore YHWH spoke to me, saying, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. 14 Leave me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under the heavens; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.”

Jeremiah 4:1 “If you will return, Israel,” says YHWH, “if you will return to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight; then you will not be removed; 2 and you will swear, ‘As YHWH lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations will bless themselves in him, and they will glory in him.” 3 For YHWH says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, and don’t sow among thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to YHWH, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

Romans 2:1-29 (T)

2:1 Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. 2 We know that the judgment of Elohim is according to truth against those who practice such things. 3 Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of Elohim? 4 Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of Elohim leads you to repentance? 5 But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of Elohim, 6 who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:” 7 to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath, indignation, 9 oppression, and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 10 But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with Elohim. 12 For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it isn’t the hearers of the law who are righteous before Elohim, but the doers of the law will be justified, 14 for when Nations who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them, 16 in the day when Elohim will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Yeshua the Messiah. 17 Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, rest on the law, glory in Elohim, 18 know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, 19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babies, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth. 21 You therefore who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who proclaim that a man shouldn’t steal, do you steal? 22 You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who glory in the law, do you dishonor Elohim by disobeying the law? 24 For “the name of Elohim is blasphemed among the Nations because of you,” just as it is written. 25 For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 If therefore the uncircumcised guard the ordinances of the law, won’t his uncircumcision be accounted as circumcision? 27 Won’t those who are physically uncircumcised, but fulfill the law, judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the law? 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from Elohim.

Philippians 3:2-6; Colossians 2:8-14 (T)

Philippians 3:2 Beware of the dogs; beware of the evil workers; beware of the mutilation. 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship Elohim in the Spirit, and rejoice in Messiah Yeshua, and have no confidence in the flesh; 4 though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If any other man thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I yet more: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.

Colossians 2:8 Be careful that you don’t let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elemental spirits of the world, and not after Messiah. 9 For in him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Messiah, 12 having been buried with him in immersion, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of Elohim, who raised him from the dead. 13 You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 wiping out the handwriting in the decrees which was against us. He has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.

2 Chronicles 19:5-7; Job 34:16-20; Acts 10:34-35; Galatians 1-9; Colossians 3:16-25; 1 Peter 1:13-21 (T)

2 Chronicles 19:5 He set judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, 6 and said to the judges, “Consider what you do, for you don’t judge for man, but for YHWH; and he is with you in the judgment. 7 Now therefore let the fear of YHWH be on you. Take heed and do it; for there is no iniquity with YHWH our Elohim, nor respect of persons, nor taking of bribes.”

Job 34:16 “If now you have understanding, hear this. Listen to the voice of my words. 17 Should even one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty, 18 who says to a king, ‘Vile!’ or to nobles, ‘Wicked!’? 19 He doesn’t respect the persons of princes, nor respect the rich more than the poor, for they all are the work of his hands. 20 In a moment they die, even at midnight. The people are shaken and pass away. The mighty are taken away without a hand.

Acts 10:34 Peter opened his mouth and said, “Truly I perceive that Elohim doesn’t show favoritism; 35 but in every nation he who fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.

Galatians 2:1 Then after a period of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me. 2 I went up by revelation, and I laid before them the Good News which I proclaim among the Nations, but privately before those who were respected, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain. 3 But not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 4 This was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who stole in to spy out our liberty which we have in Messiah Yeshua, that they might bring us into bondage, 5 to whom we gave no place in the way of subjection, not for an hour, that the truth of the Good News might continue with you. 6 But from those who were reputed to be important—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; Elohim doesn’t show partiality to man—they, I say, who were respected imparted nothing to me, 7 but to the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the uncircumcised, even as Peter with the Good News for the circumcised— 8 for he who worked through Peter in the apostleship with the circumcised also worked through me with the Nations— 9 and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, Jacob and Kefa and John, those who were reputed to be pillars, gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Nations, and they to the circumcision.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Messiah dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord. 17 Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Yeshua, giving thanks to Elohim the Father through him. 18 Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and don’t be bitter against them. 20 Children, obey your parents in all things, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, don’t provoke your children, so that they won’t be discouraged. 22 Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not just when they are looking, as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing Elohim. 23 And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Messiah. 25 But he who does wrong will receive again for the wrong that he has done, and there is no partiality.

1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, having girded up the hips of your mind, being sober, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Yeshua the Messiah— 14 as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former coveting as in your ignorance, 15 but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior, 16 because it is written, “You will be holy, for I am holy.” 17 If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as strangers here in reverent fear, 18 knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things like silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Messiah, 20 who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in this last age for your sake, 21 who through him are believers in Elohim, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in Elohim.

Psalms 136:1-3 (T)

136:1 Give thanks to YHWH, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever. 2 Give thanks to the Elohim of Elohim, for his loving kindness endures forever. 3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his loving kindness endures forever

1 Timothy 6:11-16 (T)

6:11 But you, man of Elohim, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses. 13 I command you before Elohim who gives life to all things, and before Messiah Yeshua who before Pontius Pilate witnessed the good confession, 14 that you guard the commandment without spot, blameless until the appearing of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, 15 which at the right time he will show, who is the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords. 16 He alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen nor can see, to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.

Revelation 17:7-14 (T)

17:7 The angel said to me, “Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. 8 The beast that you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go into destruction. Those who dwell on the land and whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel when they see that the beast was, and is not, and will be present.* 9 Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. 10 They are seven kings. Five have fallen, the one is, and the other has not yet come. When he comes, he must continue a little while. 11 The beast that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven; and he goes to destruction. 12 The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have received no reign as yet, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. 13 These have one mind, and they give their power and authority to the beast. 14 These will war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with him are called, chosen, and faithful.”

Revelation 19:11-16 (T)

19:11 I saw the heavens opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it is called Faithful and True. In righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has names written and a name written which no one knows but he himself. 13 He is clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood. His name is called “The Word of Elohim.” 14 The armies which are in the heavens, clothed in white, pure, fine linen, followed him on white horses. 15 Out of his mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. (cf. Psalms 2:9) He treads the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of Elohim, the Almighty. 16 He has on his garment and on his thigh a name written, “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 13:4; 1 Samuel 7:3; Matthew 4:8-10; Luke 4:5-8 (T)

Deuteronomy 6:13 You will fear YHWH your Elohim; and you will serve him, [and you will cling to him,]^(LXX) and shall swear by his name.

Deuteronomy 13:4 You will walk after YHWH your Elohim, fear him, keep his commandments, and obey his voice. You will serve him, and cling to him.

1 Samuel 7:3 Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you are returning to YHWH with all your heart, then put away the foreign elohim and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts to YHWH, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”

Matthew 4:8 Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the reigns of the world and their glory. 9 He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Yeshua said to him, “Get behind me,* Satan! For it is written, ‘You will worship the Lord your Elohim, and you will serve him only.’ ” (cf. Deuteronomy 6:13)

Luke 4:5 The devil, leading him up on a high mountain, showed him all the reigns of the world in a moment of time. 6 The devil said to him, “I will give you all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I want. 7 If you therefore will worship before me, it will all be yours.” 8 Yeshua answered him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You will worship the Lord your Elohim, and you will serve him only.’ ” (cf. Deuteronomy 6:13)

Jeremiah 12:14-17 (T)

12:14 YHWH says, “Concerning all my evil neighbors, who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. 15 It will happen that after I have robbed them up, I will return and have compassion on them. I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land. 16 It will happen, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As YHWH lives;’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will be built up in the middle of my people. 17 But if they will not hear, then I will pluck up that nation, robbery up and destroying it,” says YHWH.

Genesis 46:1-27; Exodus 1:1-7; Acts 7:11-14 (T)

Genesis 46:1 Israel traveled with all that he had, and came to Be’ersheba, and offered slaughters to the Elohim of his father, Isaac. 2 Elohim spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” He said, “Here I am.” 3 He said, “I am Elohim, the Elohim of your father. Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation. 4 I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Joseph’s hand will close your eyes.” 5 Jacob rose up from Be’ersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6 They took their livestock, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt—Jacob, and all his seed with him, 7 his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and he brought all his seed with him into Egypt. 8 These are the names of the sons of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. 9 The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 10 The sons of Shimon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. 11 The sons of Levi: Gershon, Qohath, and Merari. 12 The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. 13 The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Iob, and Shimron. 14 The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. 15 These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three. 16 The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. 17 The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah their sister. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. 18 These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, even sixteen souls. 19 The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife: Joseph and Benjamin. 20 To Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. 21 The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. 22 These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen. 23 The son of Dan: Hushim. 24 The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. 25 These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob: all the souls were seven. 26 All the souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, who were his direct seed, in addition to Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were sixty-six. 27 The sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob, who came into Egypt, were seventy.

Exodus 1:1 Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, who came into Egypt, every man and his household came with Jacob: 2 Reuben, Shimon, Levi, and Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5 All the souls who came out of Jacob’s body were seventy souls, and Joseph was in Egypt already. 6 Joseph died, as did all his brothers, and all that generation. 7 The sons of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.

Acts 7:11 Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time. 13 On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh. 14 Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his relatives, seventy-five souls.

Genesis 15:1-6; Genesis 22:15-18; Genesis 26:1-5; Exodus 32:12-14; 1 Chronicles 27:23-24; Nehemiah 9:23; Hebrews 11:11-12 (T)

Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of YHWH came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” 2 Abram said, “Lord YHWH, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Abram said, “Behold, you have given no children to me: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir.” 4 Behold, the word of YHWH came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but he who will come out of your own body will be your heir.” 5 YHWH brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So your seed will be.” 6 He believed in YHWH, who credited it to him for righteousness.

Genesis 22:15 the angel of YHWH called to Abraham a second time out of the heavens, 16 and said, I have sworn by myself,’ says YHWH, ‘because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your seed greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your seed will possess the gate of his enemies. 18 All the nations of the land will be blessed by your seed, because you have obeyed my voice.’

Genesis 26:1 There was a famine in the land, in addition to the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar. 2 YHWH appeared to him, and said, “Don’t go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about. 3 Live in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For I will give to you, and to your seed, all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4 I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and will give all these lands to your seed. In your seed all the nations of the land will be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

Exodus 32:12 Why should the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the land?’ Turn from your fierce wrath, and turn away from this evil against your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they will inherit it forever.’ ” 14 So YHWH turned away from the evil which he said he would do to his people.

1 Chronicles 27:23 But David didn’t take the number of them from twenty years old and under, because YHWH had said he would increase Israel like the stars of the heavens. 24 Joab the son of Zeruiah began to reckon, but didn’t finish; and wrath came on Israel for this. The number wasn’t put into the account in the words of the days to king David.

Nehemiah 9:23 You also multiplied their sons as the stars of the heavens, and brought them into the land concerning which you said to their fathers that they should go in to possess it.

Hebrews 11:11 In faith also Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore as many as the stars of the heavens in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore, were fathered by one man, and him as good as dead.

Deuteronomy 4:26-27; Deuteronomy 28:62 (T)

Deuteronomy 4:26 I call the heavens and the land to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from off the land which you go over the Jordan to possess it. You will not prolong your days on it, but will utterly be destroyed. 27 YHWH will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where YHWH will lead you away.

Deuteronomy 28:62 You will be left few in number, even though you were as the stars of the heavens for multitude, because you didn’t listen to YHWH your Elohim’s voice.

Jeremiah 5:19-24 (T)

5:19 It will happen when you say, ‘Why has YHWH our Elohim done all these things to us?’ Then you will say to them, ‘Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign elohim in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’ 20 “Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, 21 ‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear: 22 Don’t you fear me?’ says YHWH; ‘Won’t you tremble at my face, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? Though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail. Though they roar, they still can’t pass over it.’ 23 “But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone. 24 They don’t say in their heart, ‘Let’s now fear YHWH our Elohim, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’

Romans 4:1-18 (T)

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)

Deuteronomy 18:19-20 (T)

18:19 It will happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he will speak in my name, I will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other elohim, that same prophet will die.”

Deuteronomy 28:23-24; 1 Kings 8:35-40; Amos 4:7-8 (T)

Deuteronomy 28:23 Your heavens that is over your head will be bronze, and the land that is under you will be iron. 24 YHWH will make the rain of your land powder and dust. It will come down on you from the heavens, until you are destroyed.

1 Kings 8:35 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and confess your name, and turn from their sin when you afflict them, 36 then hear in the heavens, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on your land which you have given to your people for an inheritance. 37 “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight, mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, 38 whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who will each know the plague of his own heart, and spread out his hands toward this house, 39 then hear in the heavens, your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know, for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the sons of men; 40 that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.

Amos 4:7 “I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three new moons to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city. One field was rained on, and the field where it didn’t rain withered. 8 So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says YHWH.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9; Proverbs 7:1-3 (T)

Deuteronomy 6:6 These words, which I command you today, will be on your heart; 7 and you will teach them diligently to your sons, and will talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You will bind them for a sign on your hand, and they will be for frontlets between your eyes. 9 You will write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates.

Proverbs 7:1 My son, guard my words. Lay up my commandments within you. 2 Guard my commandments and live! Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye. 3 Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

Exodus 23:27-28 (T)

23:27 I will send my terror before you, and will confuse all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you.

Joshua  1:1-5 (T)

1:1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of YHWH,* YHWH spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying, 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go across this Jordan, you and all these people, to the land which I am giving to them, even to the sons of Israel. 3 I have given you every place that the sole of your foot will tread on, as I told Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun, will be your border. 5 No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you.

2 Kings 13:1-25 (P)

13:1 In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria for seventeen years. 2 He did that which was evil in the sight of YHWH, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. He didn’t depart from it. 3 the anger of YHWH burned against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael, continually. 4 Jehoahaz begged YHWH, and YHWH listened to him; for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them. 5 YHWH gave Israel a savior, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians; and the sons of Israel lived in their tents as before. 6 Nevertheless they didn’t depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin, but walked in them; and the Asherah also remained in Samaria. 7 For he didn’t leave to Jehoahaz of the people any more than fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria destroyed them and made them like the dust in threshing. 8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 9 Jehoahaz slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria; and Joash his son reigned in his place. 10 In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria for sixteen years. 11 He did that which was evil in the sight of YHWH. He didn’t depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin; but he walked in them. 12 Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 13 Joash slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat on his throne. Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. 14 Now Elisha became sick with the illness of which he died; and Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over him, and said, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” 15 Elisha said to him, “Take bow and arrows;” and he took bow and arrows for himself. 16 He said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow;” and he put his hand on it. Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. 17 He said, “Open the window eastward;” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” and he shot. He said, “YHWH’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Syria; for you will strike the Syrians in Aphek until you have consumed them.” 18 He said, “Take the arrows;” and he took them. He said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground;” and he struck three times, and stopped. 19 The man of Elohim was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times. Then you would have struck Syria until you had consumed it, but now you will strike Syria just three times.” 20 Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. 21 As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a band of raiders; and they threw the man into Elisha’s tomb. As soon as the man touched Elisha’s bones, he revived, and stood up on his feet. 22 Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. 23 But YHWH was gracious to them, and had compassion on them, and favored them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them and he didn’t cast them from his face as yet. 24 Hazael king of Syria died; and Benhadad his son reigned in his place. 25 Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Joash struck him three times, and recovered the cities of Israel.

Related Additional Readings​

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

In Praise of Elohim’s Grace—Barki Nafshi 4Q434, Column 2 (T)

4Q434, Column 2 Bless, O my soul, the Lord, for all His wonderful deeds for ever, and blessed be His name, “for He has saved the life of the poor” (Jer 20:13) and the humble He has not spurned, and He has not overlooked the needy in trouble, He has kept his eyes on the weak, and paid attention to the cry of orphans for help. He has inclined His ears to their cry, and because of His abundant mercies, has shown favor to the meek. He has opened their eyes to see His ways and their ears to hear His teaching. “He has circumcised their hearts’ foreskin” (Deut. 10:16), and delivered them for the sake of His kindness. He has directed their feet to the true path, and has not abandoned them in their great distress. He has not given them into the power of cruel tyrants, nor judged them with the wicked, nor aroused his anger against them, nor destroyed them all in His wrath. His fierce wrath has not blazed out against all, and He has not judged them in the fire of His zeal. No, He has judged them by His abundant mercies, sent grievous judgments only for the sake of testing them that He may increase His mercies [… from the power of] mortals He has saved them, nor has He judged them by a mass of Nations. He has not [abandoned] them within the nations, and hidden them in […] “He made dark places light in front of them, and He made rough places smooth” (Isa. 42:16). He revealed to them laws of peace and truth, [He weighed] their breath in a measure, He apportioned their words by the proper weight, and made them sing like flutes, He gave them a different mind, so they could walk in [the ways of peace.] He also brought them near to His heart’s path, for they had risked their life’s breath. So He wove a protective hedge around them, and commanded that no plague should [smite them], “His angels camped around them” (Ps. 34:7) for protection, lest [Belial] attack them through] their enemies. [The fire of] his wrath burned […], His anger […] in them […] […]

The Words of Moses 1Q22 (T)

[So] Moses [called] and [said to the children of] Israel, It is now forty [years] since we [came out of] the land of [Egypt. This very] day [the Lord] our Elohim [has expressed these words] from his mouth: [all his] statutes and all his <regulations> (MS: statutes). How [will I bear alone] your trouble [and your burdens and your quarreling]? So it will be, [when I finish giving the covenant and commanding [the] way [that you] should walk in, [appoint for yourself wise men who] should explain [to you and to your children] all [these] words of the [Law]. Be [very careful] of yourselves [to do them lest] his anger burn and his wrath ignite against you, and He closes the heavens above from raining [upon you], and the [waters below the land] from giving you [produce].

Deuteronomy 10:1 – 11:25 from the Jerusalem Targum aka Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (T)

Composed in Talmudic Israel (c.150 – c.250 AD). Targum Pseudo-Jonathan is a western targum (translation) of the Torah (Pentateuch) from the land of Israel (as opposed to the eastern Babylonian Targum Onkelos). Its correct title was originally Targum Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Targum), which is how it was known in medieval times. But because of a printer’s mistake it was later labeled Targum Jonathan, in reference to Jonathan ben Uzziel. Some editions of the Pentateuch continue to call it Targum Jonathan to this day. Most scholars refer to the text as Targum Pseudo-Jonathan. This targum is more than a mere translation. It includes much Aggadic material collected from various sources as late as the Midrash Rabbah as well as earlier material from the Talmud. It is effectively a combination of a commentary and a translation. In the portions where it is pure translation, it often agrees with the Targum Onkelos. The date of its composition is disputed. It cannot have been completed before the Arabic conquest as it refers to Mohammad’s wife Fatimah, but might have been initially composed in the 4th Century AD. However, some scholars date it in the 14th Century.

Chapter 10 At that time did the Lord say to me: Hew thee two tables of marble according to the form of the first; and ascend before Me into the mountain, and make thee an ark of wood. And I will write upon the tables the words which were upon the former ones, which thou didst break with thy entire strength; and thou shalt put them within the ark. And I made an ark of sitta wood, and hewed two marble tables according to the form of the first, and went up into the mountain, having the two tables in my hand. And He wrote upon the tables according to the former writing, the Ten Words which the Lord spake with you from the mount in the midst of the fire on the day that the congregation was gathered together, and the Lord gave them to me. And I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tables into the ark which I had made, and there are they laid up (hidden) as the Lord commanded me.

And the sons of Israel journeyed from the villages of the wells of the Beni Jahakan to Mosera. There Amalek, who reigned in Arad, and who had heard that Aharon was dead, and that the Cloud of Glory had gone up, (came and) fought with them. And those of Israel who were distressed by that war sought to go back into Mizraim, and returned (towards it) six journeys; (but) the sons of Levi followed after them, and slew eight families of them, and the remainder returned. Of the sons of Levi also four families were slain. And they said one to another, What hath been the cause of this slaughter? Because we have been remiss in the mourning for Aharon the Saint. Therefore all the sons of Israel observed there a mourning for Aharon’s death; and there was he buried, and Elazar his son ministered in his stead. Thence they journeyed to Gudgod, and from Gudelohim to Jotbath, a land flowing with streams of water. At that time the Lord distinguished the tribe of Levi, because they had been zealous (even) to slay for His honour; that they should bear the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and stand before the Lord to minister unto Him and to bless in His Name until this day. Therefore the tribe of Levi hath not a portion or inheritance with his brethren; the gifts which the Lord giveth him are his inheritance, as the Lord your Elohim hath spoken to him. But I stood in the mount praying and interceding as in the former days (of the) forty days and nights, and the Lord received my prayer at that time also, and the Lord would not destroy you. And the Lord said to me, Arise, go, lead forth the people, that they be brought in, and possess the land which I promised to their fathers to give them.

And now, Israel, what doth the Lord your Elohim require of you, but that you fear the Lord your God, to walk in all the ways that are right before Him, and that you love Him, and serve the Lord your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you this day, that it may be well with you ? Behold, the heavens, and the heavens of the heavens, are be Lord’s your God, and the hosts of angels are in them to minister before Him, and the earth, and whatsoever is therein. Only the Lord had pleasure in your fathers, and because He would love you He hath had favour to their children after them, as you, above all the nations upon the face of the earth, at the time of this day. Put away folly, therefore, from your heart, and be not stiff-necked any more; for the Lord thy Elohim is God, the Judge, and the Monarch of kings, a Great God, mighty and terrible, before whom there is no respect of persons, and who taketh no bribe; He doeth judgment for the orphan and widow, and hath compassion upon the stranger to give him food and raiment. Have pity then (yourselves) upon the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Mizraim. Revere the Lord your God, and worship before Him, and cleave closely to His fear, and swear by His Name. He is your praise, and He is your God, who hath done for thee these great and mighty acts which thou hast beheld with thy eyes. With seventy souls your fathers went down into Mizraim, and now hath the Lord your Elohim set you as the stars of the heavens for multitude.

Chapter 11 Therefore shall you love the Lord your God, and diligently observe His Word, His statutes, and His judgments always. And know you this day, for (I speak) not with your children who have not known or seen the instruction of the law of the Lord your God, nor His greatness, nor His mighty hand, nor His uplifted arm, or His signs and works which He wrought in Mizraim, on Pharoh king of Mizraim, and on all the inhabitants of his land; what He did also to the hosts of Mizraim, to their horses and chariots, when He made the waters of the Red Sea to overwhelm their faces when they followed after you, when the Lord destroyed them unto this day’s time; and what He hath done to you in the wilderness till the time that you came to this place; and what He did unto Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab bar Reuben, when the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up with the men of their house, and all their substance, in the midst of all Israel: for with your eyes have you seen all the great work of the Lord which He hath wrought. Therefore shall you keep all the precepts which I command you this day, that you may be strengthened, and go in, and inherit the land to possess which you go over; and that your days may be multiplied upon the land which the Lord sware to your fathers to give it to them and their children; a land whose fruits are rich as milk, and sweet as honey. For the land to which thou goest in to possess it is not like the land of Mizraim, from whence you have come, in which thou didst sow thy seed, and water it thyself as a garden of herbs; but the land which you pass over to inherit is a land of mountains and valleys: it drinketh water from the rain that cometh down from the heavens; it is a land which the Lord your Elohim inquireth after by His Word, that He may bless it evermore; [JERUSALEM. A land which the Lord your Elohim inquireth after continually.] the eyes of the Lord your Elohim look upon it from the beginning of the year to the year’s end. And it shall be that if you diligently obey My commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve Him with all your heart, and with all your soul, then will I give you the rain of your land in its time, the early in Marchesvan, and the latter in Nisan, that you may gather in your corn, your wine., and your oil. I will give herbage also in thy field for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and have enough.

Take heed to yourselves, lest you be led away by the imagination of your heart, and turn aside to serve the idols of the Gentiles, and worship them, and the Lord’s anger be provoked against you, and He shut up the clouds of heaven, and let not the rain come down, and the earth yield no provender, and you perish soon from off the glorious land which the Lord shall give you. But lay these my words upon your heart, and upon your soul, and bind them, written upon tephillin, as a sign upon the upper part (wrist?) of your left hands, and let them be for tephillin over thy forehead between thy eyes. And thou shalt teach them to thy children to study them when you are sitting in your house with your kindred, and when you are walking in the way, and in the evening when you lie down, and in the morning when you arise. [JERUSALEM. And when you repose, and when you rise up.] And you shall write them upon parchment, upon the posts, and affix them to three (things), against thy chest, against the pillars of thy house, and against thy gates: that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied on the land which the Lord sware to your fathers to give you, as the number of the days that the heavens abide over the earth.

For if you diligently keep every commandment that I command you to do it, to love the Lord your God, and walk in all the ways that are right before Him, and cleave unto His fear, then will the Word of the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall possess the heritage of nations greater and stronger than yourselves. Every place where the sole of your foot shall tread will be yours, from the wilderness and the mountain; (among) your mountains shall be the house of the sanctuary, and from the great river, the River Phrat, unto the ocean sea, whose waters are (old as) the creation, on the western side shall be your limit. Not a man will be able to stand before you; but the Lord your Elohim will set the fear and dread of you upon the faces of all the inhabiters of the land that you tread upon, as it hath been told you. [JERUSALEM. Not a ruler nor a prince shall stand before you; but your terror and your fear.]