Week 142

• Torah (T): Devarim (Deuteronomy) 21:10 – 22:7
• Prophets (P): Isaiah 54:1-10
• Apostolic (A): Galatians 3:1-29
• Additional (ADD): Sirach 37:1-31

RELATED SCRIPTURES

• Hosea 3:1-5 (T)
• Genesis 49:1-4; 1 Chronicles 5:1 (T)
• Exodus 21:7-11 (T)
• 1 Corinthians 7:1-16 (T)
• Numbers 25:1-4 (T)
• Joshua 8:28-29; Joshua 10:22-27 (T)
• John 19:30-34 (T)
• Acts 5:30-32 (T)
• Exodus 23:4-5 (T)
• Matthew 12:1-14; Luke 13:10-17; Luke 14:1-6 (T)
• 1 Corinthians 11:1-15 (T)
• Isaiah 54:1-17 (P)
• Acts 7:51-53 (A)

RELATED ADDITIONAL

• Deuteronomy 21:10 – 22:7 from the Jerusalem Targum aka Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (T)
• Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 4.8.24, 4.8.41-43 (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) 21:10 – 22:7

21:10 When you go out to battle against your enemies, and YHWH your Elohim delivers them into your hands and you carry them away captive, 11 and see among the captives a woman of beauty of form and you are attached to her, and take her as your wife, 12 then you will bring her home to your house. She will shave her head and trim her nails. 13 She will take off the garment of her captivity, and will remain in your house, and bewail her father and her mother a full new moon. After that you will go in to her and be her husband, and she will be your wife. 14 It will be, if you have no delight in her, and you will [send her free],^(LXX) you will let her go where she desires; but you will not sell her at all for money. You will not [bundle her under]^(MTT) as a commodity, because you had intercourse with her. 15 If a man has two wives, the one beloved and the other hated, and they have borne him sons, both the beloved and the hated, and if the firstborn son is hers who was hated, 16 then it will be, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he has, that he may not give the son of the beloved the rights of the firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn; 17 but he will acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he has; for he is the beginning of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his. 18 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, will not listen to them, 19 then his father and his mother will take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city and to the gate of his place. 20 They will tell the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” 21 All the men of his city will stone him to death with stones. So you will remove the evil from among you. All Israel will hear, and fear. 22 If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body will not remain all night on the tree, but you will surely bury him the same day; for [everyone]^(LXX) who is hanged [on a tree]^(LXX) is accursed of Elohim. Don’t defile your land which YHWH your Elohim gives you for an inheritance.

22:1 You will not see your brother’s ox or his sheep go astray and hide yourself from them. You will surely bring them again to your brother. 2 If your brother isn’t near to you, or if you don’t know him, then you will bring it home to your house, and it will be with you until your brother comes looking for it, and you will restore it to him. 3 So you will do with his donkey. So you will do with his garment. So you will do with every lost thing of your brother’s, which he has lost and you have found. You may not hide yourself. 4 You will not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide yourself from them. You will surely help him to lift them up again. 5 A woman will not wear a strong man’s habiliments, neither will a strong man put on a woman’s garment; for whoever does these is an abomination to YHWH your Elohim. 6 If you come across a bird’s nest on the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the hen sitting on the young, or on the eggs, you will not take the hen with the young. 7 You will surely let the hen go, but the young you may take for yourself, that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days.

Prophets Portion (P)

Isaiah 54:1-10

54:1 “Sing, barren, you who didn’t give birth! Break out into singing, and cry aloud, you who didn’t travail with child! For more are the sons of the desolate than the sons of the married woman,” says YHWH. 2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your habitations; don’t spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. 3 For you will spread out on the right hand and on the left; and your seed will possess the nations and settle in desolate cities. 4 Don’t be afraid, for you will not be ashamed. Don’t be confounded, for you will not be disappointed. For you will forget the shame of your youth. You will remember the reproach of your widowhood no more. 5 For your Maker is your husband; YHWH of Armies is his name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He will be called the Elohim of the whole land. 6 For YHWH has called you as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a woman of youth, when she is cast off,” says your Elohim. 7 “For a small moment I have forsaken you, but I will gather you with great mercies. 8 In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting loving kindness I will have mercy on you,” says YHWH your Redeemer. 9 “For this is like the waters of Noaḥ to me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noaḥ will no more go over the land, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. 10 For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed, but my loving kindness will not depart from you, and my covenant of peace will not be removed,” says YHWH who has mercy on you.

Apostolic Portion (A)

Galatians 3:1-29

3:1 Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes Yeshua the Messiah was openly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 I just want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now completed in the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain, if it is indeed in vain? 5 He therefore who supplies the Spirit to you and does miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith? 6 Even so, Abraham “believed Elohim, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” (cf. Genesis 15:6) 7 Know therefore that those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 The Scripture, foreseeing that Elohim would justify the Nations by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.” (cf. Genesis 12:3; Genesis 18:18; Genesis 22:18) 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham. 10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the scroll of the Torah, to do them.” (cf. Deuteronomy 27:26) 11 Now that no man is justified by the law before Elohim is evident, for, “The righteous will live by faith.” (cf. Habakkuk 2:4) 12 The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them.” (cf. Leviticus 18:5) 13 Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,” (cf. Deuteronomy 21:23) 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Nations through Messiah Yeshua, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 15 Brothers, speaking of human terms, though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been confirmed, no one makes it void or adds to it. 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He doesn’t say, “To seeds”, as of many, but as of one, “To your seed”, (cf. Genesis 12:7; Genesis 13:15; Genesis 24:7) which is Messiah. 17 Now I say this: A covenant confirmed beforehand by Elohim, the law, which came four hundred thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect. 18 For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise; but Elohim has granted it to Abraham by promise. 19 Then why is there the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator is not between one, but Elohim is one. 21 Is the law then against the promises of Elohim? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Yeshua the Messiah might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, confined for the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Messiah, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of Elohim, through faith in Messiah Yeshua. 27 For as many of you as were immersed into Messiah have put on Messiah. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua. 29 If you are Messiah’s, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to promise.

Additional Portion (ADD)

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

Sirach 37:1-31

37:1 Every friend will say, “I also am his friend”; but there is a friend which is only a friend in name. 2 Isn’t there a grief in it even to death when a companion and friend is turned into an enemy? 3 O wicked imagination, why were you formed to cover the dry land with deceit? 4 There is a companion who rejoices in the gladness of a friend, but in time of affliction will be against him. 5 There is a companion who for the belly’s sake labors with his friend, yet in the face of battle will carry his buckler. 6 Don’t forget a friend in your soul. Don’t be unmindful of him in your riches. 7 Every counselor extols counsel, but some give counsel in their own interest. 8 Let your soul beware of a counselor, and know in advance what is his interest (for he will take counsel for himself), lest he cast the lot against you, 9 and say to you, “Your way is good.” Then he will stand near you, to see what will happen to you. 10 Don’t take counsel with one who looks askance at you. Hide your counsel from those who are zealous of you. 11 Don’t consult with a woman about her rival, with a coward about war, with a merchant about business, with a buyer about selling, with an envious man about thankfulness, with an unmerciful man about kindliness, with a sluggard about any kind of work, with a hireling in your house about finishing his work, or with an idle servant about much business. Pay no attention to these in any matter of counsel. 12 But rather be continually with a pious man, whom you know to be a keeper of the commandments, who in his soul is as your own soul, and who will grieve with you, if you fail. 13 Make the counsel of your heart stand, for there is no one more faithful to you than it. 14 For a man’s soul is sometimes inclined to inform him better than seven watchmen who sit on high on a watch-tower. 15 Above all this ask the Most High that he may direct your way in truth. 16 Let reason be the beginning of every work. Let counsel go before every action. 17 As a token of the changing of the heart, 18 four kinds of things rise up: good and evil, life and death. That which rules over them continually is the tongue. 19 There is one who is clever and the instructor of many, and yet is unprofitable to his own soul. 20 There is one who is subtle in words, and is hated. He will be destitute of all food. 21 For grace was not given to him from the Lord, because he is deprived of all wisdom. 22 There is one who is wise to his own soul; and the fruits of his understanding are trustworthy in the mouth. 23 A wise man will instruct his own people. The fruits of his understanding are trustworthy. 24 A wise man will be filled with blessing. All those who see him will call him happy. 25 The life of a man is counted by days. The days of Israel are innumerable. 26 The wise man will inherit confidence among his people. His name will live forever. 27 My son, test your soul in your life. See what is evil for it, and don’t give in to it. 28 For not all things are profitable for all men. Not every soul has pleasure in everything. 29 Don’t be insatiable in any luxury. Don’t be greedy in the things that you eat. 30 For overeating brings disease, and gluttony causes nausea. 31 Because of gluttony, many have perished, but he who takes heed will prolong his life.

Related Scriptures

Hosea 3:1-5 (T)

3:1 YHWH said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as YHWH loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other elohim, and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley. 3 I said to her, “You will stay with me many days. You will not whore, and you will not be with any other man. I will also be so toward you.” 4 For the sons of Israel will live many days without king, without prince, without slaughter, without sacred stone, and without ephod or idols. 5 Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek YHWH their Elohim, and David their king, and will come with trembling to YHWH and to his blessings in the last days.

Genesis 49:1-4; 1 Chronicles 5:1 (T)

Genesis 49:1 Jacob called to his sons, and said: “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the days to come. 2 Assemble yourselves, and hear, you sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel, your father. 3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in dignity, and excelling in power. 4 Boiling over like water, do not excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, then defiled it. He went up to my couch.

1 Chronicles 5:1 The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, for he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s couch, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel; and the genealogy is not to be listed according to the birthright.

Exodus 21:7-11 (T)

21:7 If a man sells his daughter to be a maid, she shall not go out as the male servants do. 8 If she doesn’t please her master, who has married her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her. 9 If he marries her to his son, he shall deal with her as a daughter. 10 If he takes another, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her sexual relations. 11 If he doesn’t do these three things for her, she may go free without paying any money.

1 Corinthians 7:1-16 (T)

7:1 Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: it is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2 But, because of sexual immoralities, let each man have his own woman, and let each woman have her own husband. 3 Let the husband give his wife the affection owed her, and likewise also the woman her husband. 4 The woman doesn’t have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise also the husband doesn’t have authority over his own body, but the woman does. 5 Don’t deprive one another, unless it is by consent for a season, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and may be together again, that Satan doesn’t tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 But this I say by way of concession, not of commandment. 7 Yet I wish that all men were like me. However, each man has his own gift from God, one of this kind, and another of that kind. 8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they remain even as I am. 9 But if they don’t have self-control, let them marry. For it’s better to marry than to burn with passion. 10 But to the married I command—not I, but the Lord—that the woman not leave her husband, 11 but if she departs, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband, and that the husband not leave his wife. 12 But to the rest I—not the Lord—say, if any brother has an unbelieving woman, and she is content to live with him, let him not leave her. 13 The woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he is content to live with her, let her not leave her husband. 14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the woman, and the unbelieving woman is sanctified in the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. 15 Yet if the unbeliever departs, let there be separation. The brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but Elohim has called us in peace. 16 For how do you know, woman, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

Numbers 25:1-4 (T)

25:1 Israel stayed in Shittim; and the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab; 2 for they called the people to the slaughters of their elohim. The people ate and bowed down to their elohim. 3 Israel yoked himself to Baal Peor, and the anger of YHWH burned against Israel. 4 YHWH said to Moses, “Take the heads of the people, and hang them up to YHWH before the sun, that the fierce anger of YHWH may turn away from Israel.”

Joshua 8:28-29; Joshua 10:22-27 (T)

Joshua 8:28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, even a desolation, to this day. 29 He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until the evening. At sundown, Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised a great heap of stones on it that remains to this day.

Joshua 10:22 Then Joshua said, “Open the cave entrance, and bring those five kings out of the cave to me.” 23 They did so, and brought those five kings out of the cave to him: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon. 24 When they brought those kings out to Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the men of war who went with him, “Come near. Put your feet on the necks of these kings.” They came near, and put their feet on their necks. 25 Joshua said to them, “Don’t be afraid, nor be dismayed. Be strong and courageous, for YHWH will do this to all your enemies against whom you fight.” 26 Afterward Joshua struck them, put them to death, and hanged them on five trees. They were hanging on the trees until the evening. 27 At the time of the going down of the sun, Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees, and threw them into the cave in which they had hidden themselves, and laid great stones on the mouth of the cave, which remain to this very day.

John 19:30-34 (T)

19:30 When Yeshua therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 31 Therefore the Judeans, because it was the Preparation Day, so that the bodies wouldn’t remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special one), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 Therefore the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with him; 33 but when they came to Yeshua and saw that he was already dead, they didn’t break his legs. 34 However, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

Acts 5:30-32 (T)

5:30 The Elohim of our fathers raised up Yeshua, whom you killed, hanging him on a tree. 31 Elohim exalted him with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins. 32 We are his witnesses of these things; and so also is the Holy Spirit, whom Elohim has given to those who obey him.

Exodus 23:4-5 (T)

23:4 If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you will surely bring it back to him again. 5 If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don’t leave him. You will surely help him with it.

Matthew 12:1-14; Luke 13:10-17; Luke 14:1-6 (T)

Matthew 12:1 At that time, Yeshua went on the Sabbath day through the grain fields. His disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, “Behold, your disciples do what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3 But he said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered into Elohim’s house and ate the bread of the presence, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? (cf. 1 Samuel 21:3-6) 5 Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath day the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 6 But I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. 7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not slaughter,’ (cf. Hosea 6:6) you wouldn’t have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” 9 He departed from there and went into their synagogue. 10 And behold, there was a man with a withered hand. They asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?” so that they might accuse him. 11 He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if this one falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, won’t he grab on to it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day.” 13 Then he told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out; and it was restored whole, just like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how they might destroy him.

Luke 13:10 He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day. 11 Behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years. She was bent over and could in no way straighten herself up. 12 When Yeshua saw her, he called her and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” 13 He laid his hands on her, and immediately she stood up straight and glorified Elohim. 14 The ruler of the synagogue, being indignant because Yeshua had healed on the Sabbath, said to the multitude, “There are six days in which men ought to work. Therefore come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day!” 15 Therefore the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each one of you free his ox or his donkey from the stall on the Sabbath and lead him away to water? 16 Ought not this wife, being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan had bound eighteen long years, be freed from this bondage on the Sabbath day?” 17 As he said these things, all his adversaries were disappointed; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

Luke 14:1 When he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching him. 2 Behold, a certain man who had dropsy was in front of him. 3 Yeshua, answering, spoke to the Torah scholars and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” 4 But they were silent. He took him, and healed him, and let him go. 5 He answered them, “Which of you, if your son* or an ox fell into a well, wouldn’t immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?” 6 They couldn’t answer him regarding these things.

1 Corinthians 11:1-15 (T)

11:1 Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Messiah. 2 Now I praise you, that you remember me in all things, and hold firm the traditions, even as I delivered them to you. 3 But I would have you know that the head of every man is Messiah, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Messiah is Elohim. 4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head veiled, dishonors his head. 5 But every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonors her head. For it is one and the same thing as if she were shaved. 6 For if a woman is not veiled, let her hair also be cut off. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or be shaved, let her be veiled. 7 For a man indeed ought not to have his head veiled, because he is the image and glory of Elohim, but the woman is the glory of the man. 8 For man is not from woman, but woman from man; 9 for man wasn’t created for the woman, but woman for the man. 10 For this cause the woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels. 11 Nevertheless, neither is the woman independent of the man, nor the man independent of the woman, in the Lord. 12 For as wife came from man, so a man also comes through a woman; but all things are from Elohim. 13 Judge for yourselves. Is it appropriate that a woman pray to Elohim unveiled? 14 Doesn’t even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? 15 But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a veil.

Isaiah 54:1-17 (P)

54:1 “Sing, barren, you who didn’t give birth! Break out into singing, and cry aloud, you who didn’t travail with child! For more are the sons of the desolate than the sons of the married woman,” says YHWH. 2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your habitations; don’t spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. 3 For you will spread out on the right hand and on the left; and your seed will possess the nations and settle in desolate cities. 4 Don’t be afraid, for you will not be ashamed. Don’t be confounded, for you will not be disappointed. For you will forget the shame of your youth. You will remember the reproach of your widowhood no more. 5 For your Maker is your husband; YHWH of Armies is his name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He will be called the Elohim of the whole land. 6 For YHWH has called you as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a woman of youth, when she is cast off,” says your Elohim. 7 “For a small moment I have forsaken you, but I will gather you with great mercies. 8 In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting loving kindness I will have mercy on you,” says YHWH your Redeemer. 9 “For this is like the waters of Noaḥ to me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noaḥ will no more go over the land, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. 10 For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed, but my loving kindness will not depart from you, and my covenant of peace will not be removed,” says YHWH who has mercy on you. 11 “You afflicted, tossed with storms, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in beautiful colors, and lay your foundations with sapphires. 12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. 13 All your sons will be taught by [Elohim],^(LXX) and your sons’ peace will be great. 14 You will be established in righteousness. You will be far from oppression, for you will not be afraid, and far from terror, for it will not come near you. 15 Behold, they may gather together, but not by me. Whoever gathers together against you will fall because of you. 16 Behold, I have created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame, and forges a weapon for his work; and I have created the destroyer to destroy. 17 No weapon that is formed against you will prevail; and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of YHWH’s servants, and their righteousness is of me,” says YHWH.

Acts 7:51-53 (A)

7:51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do. 52 Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers. 53 You received the Torah as it was ordained by angels, and didn’t keep it!”

Related Additional​

Deuteronomy 21:10 – 22:7 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 21 …When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your Elohim will deliver them into your hands, and you take some of them captive: if you see in the captivity a woman of fair countenance, and you approve of her, and would take her to you to wife; then thou shalt take her into thy house, and let her cut off the hair of her head, pare her nails, and put off the dress of her captivity, and, dipping herself, become a proselyte in thy house, and weep on account of the idols of the house of her father and mother. And thou shalt wait three new moons to know whether she be with child; and afterwards thou mayest go to her, endow her, and make her thy wife. But if thou hast no pleasure in her, then thou mayest send her away, only with a writing of divorce: but thou shalt in no wise sell her for money, nor make merchandise of her, after thou hast had intercourse with her. [JERUSALEM. If thou hast no pleasure in her, thou mayest send her away with power over herself; but thou shalt in no wise sell her for money, nor make merchandise of her; because thy power over her is given up.] If a man have two wives, and one is beloved and the other hated, and they bear him sons, both the beloved and the hated (woman), and the first-born son be of the hated, it will be in the day that he deviseth to his sons the inheritance of the wealth that may be his, he will not be allowed to give the birthright portion to the son of the beloved, over the head of the son of the hated woman, to whom the birthright belongs; but (let him acknowledge) the birthright of the son of her who is disliked, and all that belongeth to it, to give him the double portion of all that may be found with him, because he is the beginning of his strength, and to him pertaineth the birthright. If a man hath a son depraved and rebellious, who will not obey the word of his father or of his mother, and who, when they reprove him, will not receive admonition from them; his father and mother will take him, and bring him before the sages of the city at the door of the court of justice in that place, and say to the sages of the city, We had transgressed the decree of the Word of the Lord; therefore was born to us this son, who is presumptuous and disorderly; he will not hear our word, but is a glutton and a drunkard. And it will be that if he brought to fear and receive instruction, and beg that his life may be spared, you will let him live; but if he refuse and continue rebellious, then all the men of his city will stone him with stones that he die; and so will you put away the evil doer from among you, and all Israel will hear, and be afraid. When a man hath become guilty of the judgment of death, and is condemned to be stoned, and they afterwards hang him on a beam, [JERUSALEM. And you hang him on a beam,] his dead body will not remain upon the beam, but he will be certainly buried on the same day; for it is execrable before Elohim to hang a man, but that his guilt gave occasion for it; and because he was made in the image of Elohim, you will bury him at the going down of the sun, lest wild beasts abuse him, and lest you overspread your land, which the Lord your Elohim giveth you to possess, with the dead bodies of criminals.

Chapter 22 Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his lamb going astray, and estrange thy knowledge from them; thou shalt certainly restore them to him. But if knowledge of thy brother is not thine, if thou knowest him not, thou shalt bring it into thy house, and it will be supported by thee till the time that thou hast sought out thy brother, and thou shalt restore it to him. So shalt thou do with his donkey, with his garment, and with any lost thing of thy brother’s. If thou find, it is not lawful for thee to hide it from him; thou shalt cry it, and restore it. [JERUSALEM. And so shalt thou do with his donkey, and with his robe.] Thou shalt not see thy brother’s donkey nor his ox thrown on the way, and turn thy eyes from them; thou shalt verily lift it up for him. [JERUSALEM. Thou shalt forgive what may be in thy heart against him, thou shalt deliver and lead it.] Neither fringed robes nor tephillin which are the ornaments of a man will be upon a woman; neither will a man shave himself so as to appear like a woman; for every one who doeth so is an abomination before the Lord thy Elohim. If thou find the nest of a clean bird before thee in the way, in a tree, or upon the ground, in which there are young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting upon the young ones or eggs, thou shalt be sure to send the mother away, but thou mayest take the young for thyself that it may be well with thee in this world, and that thou mayest prolong thy days in the world to come…

Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 4.8.24, 4.8.41-43 (T)

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

4.8.24. As to those young men that despise their parents, and do not pay them honor, but offer them affronts, either because they are ashamed of them or think themselves wiser than they, – in the first place, let their parents admonish them in words, (for they are by nature of authority sufficient for becoming their judges,) and let them say thus to them: – That they cohabited together, not for the sake of pleasure, nor for the augmentation of their riches, by joining both their stocks together, but that they might have children to take care of them in their old age, and might by them have what they then should want. And say further to him, “That when thou wast born, we took thee up with gladness, and gave Elohim the greatest thanks for thee, and brought time up with great care, and spared for nothing that appeared useful for thy preservation, and for thy instruction in what was most excellent. And now, since it is reasonable to forgive the sins of those that are young, let it suffice thee to have given so many indications Of thy contempt of us; reform thyself, and act more wisely for the time to come; considering that Elohim is displeased with those that are insolent towards their parents, because he is himself the Father of the whole race of mankind, and seems to bear part of that dishonor which falls upon those that have the same name, when they do not meet with dire returns from their children. And on such the law inflicts inexorable punishment; of which punishment mayst thou never have the experience.” Now if the insolence of young men be thus cured, let them escape the reproach which their former errors deserved; for by this means the lawgiver will appear to be good, and parents happy, while they never behold either a son or a daughter brought to punishment. But if it happen that these words and instructions, conveyed by them in order to reclaim the man, appear to be useless, then the offender renders the laws implacable enemies to the insolence he has offered his parents; let him therefore be brought forth by these very parents out of the city, with a multitude following him, and there let him be stoned; and when he has continued there for one whole day, that all the people may see him, let him be buried in the night. And thus it is that we bury all whom the laws condemn to die, upon any account whatsoever. Let our enemies that fall in battle be also buried; nor let any one dead body lie above the ground, or suffer a punishment beyond what justice requires.

4.8.41. Let this be the constitution of your political laws in time of peace, and Elohim will be so merciful as to preserve this excellent settlement free from disturbance: and may that time never come which may innovate any thing, and change it for the contrary. But since it must needs happen that mankind fall into troubles and dangers, either undesignedly or intentionally, come let us make a few constitutions concerning them, that so being apprised beforehand what ought to be done, you may have salutary counsels ready when you want them, and may not then be obliged to go to seek what is to be done, and so be unprovided, and fall into dangerous circumstances. May you be a laborious people, and exercise your souls in virtuous actions, and thereby possess and inherit the land without wars; while neither any strangers make war upon it, and so afflict you, nor any internal sedition seize upon it, whereby you may do things that are contrary to your fathers, and so lose the laws which they have established. And may you continue in the observation of those laws which Elohim hath approved of, and hath delivered to you. Let all sort of warlike operations, whether they befall you now in your own time, or hereafter in the times of your posterity, be done out of your own borders: but when you are about to go to war, send embassages and heralds to those who are your voluntary enemies, for it is a right thing to make use of words to them before you come to your weapons of war; and assure them thereby, that although you have a numerous army, with horses and weapons, and, above these, an Elohim merciful to you, and ready to assist you, you do however desire them not to compel you to fight against them, nor to take from them what they have, which will indeed be our gain, but what they will have no reason to wish we should take to ourselves. And if they hearken to you, it will be proper for you to keep peace with them; but if they trust in their own strength, as superior to yours, and will not do you justice, lead your army against them, making use of Elohim as your supreme Commander, but ordaining for a lieutenant under him one that is of the greatest courage among you; for these different commanders, besides their being an obstacle to actions that are to be done on the sudden, are a disadvantage to those that make use of them. Lead an army pure, and of chosen men, composed of all such as have extraordinary strength of body and hardiness of soul; but do you send away the timorous part, lest they run away in the time of action, and so afford an advantage to your enemies. Do you also give leave to those that have lately built them houses, and have not yet lived in them a year’s time; and to those that have planted them vineyards, and have not yet been partakers of their fruits, – to continue in their own country; as well as those also who have betrothed, or lately married them wives, lest they have such an affection for these things that they he too sparing of their lives, and, by reserving themselves for these enjoyments, they become voluntary cowards, on account of their wives.

4.8.42. When you have pitched your camp, take care that you do nothing that is cruel. And when you are engaged in a siege; and want timber for the making of warlike engines, do not you render the land naked by cutting down trees that bear fruit, but spare them, as considering that they were made for the benefit of men; and that if they could speak, they would have a just plea against you, because, though they are not occasions of the war, they are unjustly treated, and suffer in it, and would, if they were able, remove themselves into another land. When you have beaten your enemies in battle, slay those that have fought against you; but preserve the others alive, that they may pay you tribute, excepting the nation of the Canaanites; for as to that people, you must entirely destroy them.

4.8.43. Take care, especially in your battles, that no woman use the habit of a man, nor man the garment of a woman.