• Torah (T): Bereshiyt (Genesis) 17:1-27
• Prophets (P): Isaiah 63:10-19
• Apostolic (A): Acts 15:1-11
• Additional (ADD): Jubilees 15:1-34

RELATED SCRIPTURES

• Leviticus 26:40-46 (T)
• Deuteronomy 10:16; Deuteronomy 30:6 (T)
• Jeremiah 4:4; Jeremiah 9:25-26 (T)
• Ezekiel 44:7-9 (T)
• 1 Chronicles 1:28-31 (T)
• Luke 1:57-60, Luke 2:21 (T)
• John 7:21-24 (T)
• Acts 7:8, 51 (T)
• Romans 2:24-29 (T)
• Romans 4:10-25 (T)
• Psalms 74:1-18; Psalms 79:1-13 (P)
• Jeremiah 51:51 (P)
• Lamentations 1:10 (P)
• Daniel 8:13; Daniel 11:31 (P)
• Matthew 24:15-22 (P)

RELATED ADDITIONAL REA.D.INGS

• Jubilees 1:7-26 (T)
• Jubilees 11:14-15 (T)
• Jubilees 20:1-3 (T)
• Judith 14:5-10 (T)
• Additions to Esther 14:15 (T)
• 1 Maccabees 1:11-15; 1 Maccabees 1:44-50; 1 Maccabees 1:60-63 (T)
• Genesis 17:1-27 from the Jerusalem Targum aka Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (T)
• Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 1.10.5 (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. We do not use the invented terms Old Testament or New Testament to refer to any portions of Scripture.

Torah Portion (T)

Bereshiyt (Genesis) 17:1-27

17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, [Elohim]^(LXX) appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Walk before me and be perfect. 2 I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” 3 Abram fell on his face. Elohim talked with him, saying, 4 “As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 Your name will no more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you. 7 I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be an Elohim to you and to your seed after you. 8 I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their Elohim.” 9 Elohim said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall guard my covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall guard, between me and you and your seed after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin. It will be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 He who is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your seed. 13 He who is born in your house, and he who is bought with your money, must be circumcised. My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin [on the eighth day],^(LXX) that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.” 15 Elohim said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah. 16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?” 18 Abraham said to [the Elohim],^(MTT) “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” 19 Elohim said [to Abraham],^(LXX) “Truly, [behold],^(LXX) Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant [and]^(LXX) for his seed after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this appointed time next year.” 22 When he finished talking with him, Elohim went up from Abraham. 23 Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house, and all who were bought with his money: every male among the men of Abraham's house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the same day, as Elohim had said to him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 In the same day both Abraham and Ishmael, his son, were circumcised. 27 All the men of his house, those born in the house, and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Prophets Portion (P)

Isaiah 63:10-19

63:10 But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. Therefore he turned and became their enemy, and he himself fought against them. 11 Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying, “Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put his Holy Spirit among them?” 12 Who caused his glorious arm to be at Moses’ right hand? Who divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name? 13 Who led them through the depths, like a horse in the wilderness, so that they didn’t stumble? 14 As the livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of YHWH caused them to rest. So you led your people to make yourself a glorious name. 15 Look down from the heavens, and see from the habitation of your holiness and of your glory. Where are your zeal and your mighty acts? The yearning of your heart and your compassion is restrained toward me. 16 For you are our Father, though Abraham doesn’t know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, YHWH, are our Father. Our Redeemer from everlasting is your name. 17 O YHWH, why do you make us wander from your ways, and harden our heart from your fear? Return for your servants’ sake, the tribes of your inheritance. 18 Your holy people possessed it but a little while. Our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary. 19 We have become like those over whom you never ruled, like those who were not called by your name.

Apostolic Portion (A)

Acts 15:1-11

15:1 Some men came down from Judea and taught the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised after the custom of Moses, you can’t be saved.” 2 Therefore when Paul and Barnabas had no small discord and discussion with them, they appointed Paul and Barnabas, and some others of them, to go up to Jerusalem to the emissaries and elders about this question. 3 They, being sent on their way by the assembly, passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Nations. They caused great joy to all the brothers. 4 When they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the assembly and the emissaries and the elders, and they reported everything that Elohim had done with them. 5 But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to guard the Torah of Moses.” 6 The emissaries and the elders were gathered together to see about this matter. 7 When there had been much discussion, Peter rose up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that a good while ago Elohim made a choice among you that by my mouth the nations should hear the word of the Good News and believe. 8 Elohim, who knows the heart, witnessed about them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just like he did to us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore why do you try Elohim, that you should put a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Yeshua, just as they are.”

Additional Portion (ADD)

Between 1947 and 1956 approximately 15 Jubilees scrolls were found in five caves at Qumran, all written in Hebrew. The large number of manuscripts (more than for any biblical books except for Psalms, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Exodus, and Genesis, in descending order) indicates that Jubilees was widely used at Qumran. A comparison of the Qumran texts with the Ethiopic version, performed by James VanderKam, found that the Ethiopic was in most respects an accurate and literalistic translation. Scholars have dated Jubilees to have been written sometime around 160-150 B.C.

Jubilees 15:1-34

15:1 And in the fifth year of the [third] week of this jubilee, in the third new moon, in the middle of the new moon, Abram celebrated the feast of the first fruits of the grain harvest. 2. And he offered new offerings on the altar, the first fruits of the produce, unto the Lord, an heifer and a goat and a sheep on the altar as a burnt slaughter unto the Lord; their fruit-offerings and their drink-offerings he offered upon the altar with frankincense. 3. And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him: “I am El Shaddai; approve thyself before Me and be thou perfect. 4. And I will make My covenant between Me and thee, and I will multiply thee exceedingly.” 5. And Abram fell on his face, and Elohim talked with him, and said: 6. “Behold My ordinance is with thee, And thou wilt be the father of many nations. 7. Neither will thy name any more be called Abram, But thy name from henceforth, even for ever, will be Abraham. For the father of many nations have I made thee. 8. And I will make thee very great, And I will make thee into nations, And kings will come forth from thee. 9. And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee, and thy seed after thee, throughout their generations, for an eternal covenant, so that I may be an Elohim unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. 10. And I will give to thee and to thy seed after thee the land where thou hast been a sojourner, the land of Canaan, that thou mayst possess it for ever, and I will be their Elohim.” 11. And the Lord said unto Abraham: “And as for thee, do thou keep My Covenant, thou and thy seed after thee, and circumcise ye every male among you, and circumcise your foreskins, and it will be a token of an eternal covenant between Me and you. 12. And the child on the eighth day ye will circumcise, every male throughout your generations, him that is born in the house, or whom ye have bought with money from any stranger, whom ye have acquired who is not of thy seed. 13. He that is born in thy house will surely be circumcised, and those whom thou hast bought with money will be circumcised, and My covenant will be in your flesh for an eternal ordinance. 14. And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin on the eighth day, that soul will be cut off from his people, for he hath broken My covenant.” 15. And Elohim said unto Abraham: “As for Sarai thy wife, her name will no more be called Sarai, but Sarah will be her name. 16. And I will bless her, and give thee a son by her, and I will bless him, and he will become a nation, and kings of nations will proceed from him.” 17. And Abraham fell on his face, and rejoiced, and said in his heart: “Will a son be born to him that is a hundred years old, and will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bring forth?” 18. And Abraham said unto Elohim: “O that Ishmael might live before thee!” 19. And Elohim said: “Yea, and Sarah also will bear thee a son, and thou wilt call his name Isaac, and I will establish My covenant with him, an everlasting covenant, and for his seed after him. 20. And as for Ishmael also have I heard thee, and behold I will bless him, and make him great, and multiply him exceedingly, and he will beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21. But My covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to thee, in these days, in the next year.” 22. And He left off speaking with him, and Elohim went up from Abraham. 23. And Abraham did according as Elohim had said unto him, and he took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and whom he had bought with his money, every male in his house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin. 24. And on the bone of this day was Abraham circumcised, and all the men of his house, and those born in the house, and all those, whom he had bought with money from the children of the stranger, were circumcised with him. 25. This law is for all the generations for ever, and there is no circumcision of the days, and no omission of one day out of the eight days; for it is an eternal ordinance, ordained and written on the heavenly tables. 26. And every one that is born, the flesh of whose foreskin is not circumcised on the eighth day, belongeth not to the children of the covenant which the Lord made with Abraham, but to the children of destruction; nor is there, moreover, any sign on him that he is the Lord’s, but he is destined to be destroyed and slain from the land, and to be rooted out of the land, for he hath broken the covenant of the Lord our Elohim. 27. For all the angels of the face and all the angels of sanctification have been so created from the day of their creation, and before the angels of the face and the angels of sanctification He hath sanctified Israel, that they should be with Him and with His holy angels. 28. And do thou command the sons of Israel and let them observe the sign of this covenant for their generations as an eternal ordinance, and they will not be rooted out of the land. 29. For the command is ordained for a covenant, that they should observe it for ever among all the sons of Israel. 30. For Ishmael and his sons and his brothers and Esau, the Lord did not cause to approach Him, and he chose them not because they are the children of Abraham, because He knew them, but He chose Israel to be His people. 31. And He sanctified it, and gathered it from amongst all the children of men; for there are many nations and many peoples, and all are His, and over all hath He placed spirits in authority to lead them astray from Him. 32. But over Israel He did not appoint any angel or spirit, for He alone is their ruler, and He will preserve them and require them at the hand of His angels and His spirits, and at the hand of all His powers in order that He may preserve them and bless them, and that they may be His and He may be theirs from henceforth for ever. 33. And now I announce unto thee that the sons of Israel will not keep true to this ordinance, and they will not circumcise their sons according to all this law; for in the flesh of their circumcision they will omit this circumcision of their sons, and all of them, sons of Beliar, will leave their sons uncircumcised as they were born. 34. And there will be great wrath from the Lord against the sons of Israel, because they have forsaken His covenant and turned aside from His word, and provoked and blasphemed, inasmuch as they do not observe the ordinance of this law; for they have treated their members like the Nations, so that they may be removed and rooted out of the land. And there will no more be pardon or forgiveness unto them so that there should be forgiveness and pardon for all the sin of this eternal error.

Related Scriptures

Leviticus 26:40-46 (T)

26:40 If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me; and also that because they walked contrary to me, 41 I also walked contrary to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity, 42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham; and I will remember the land. 43 The land also will be left by them, and will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; and they will accept the punishment of their iniquity because they rejected my ordinances, and their soul abhorred my statutes. 44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly and to break my covenant with them; for I am YHWH their Elohim. 45 But I will for their sake remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their Elohim. I am YHWH.’ ” 46 These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws, which YHWH made between him and the sons of Israel in Mount Sinai by Moses.

Deuteronomy 10:16; Deuteronomy 30:6 (T)

Deuteronomy 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.

Deuteronomy 30:6 YHWH your Elohim will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Jeremiah 4:4; Jeremiah 9:25-26 (T)

Jeremiah 4:4 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.

Jeremiah 9:25 “Behold, the days come,” says YHWH, “that I will punish all those who are circumcised only in their flesh: 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness, for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.”

Ezekiel 44:7-9 (T)

44:7 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 performed the duty of my holy; but you have set performers of my 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.

1 Chronicles 1:28-31 (T)

1:28 The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael. 29 These are their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth; then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 30 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, 31 Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael.

Luke 1:57-60; Luke 2:21 (T)

Luke 1:57 Now the time that Elisheva should give birth was fulfilled, and she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him Zechariah, after the name of his father. 60 His mother answered, “Not so; but he will be called John.”

Luke 2:21 When eight days were fulfilled for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Yeshua, which was given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

John 7:21-24 (T)

7:21 Yeshua answered them, “I did one work and you all marvel because of it. 22 Moses has given you circumcision, not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers, and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy. 23 If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the Torah of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me, because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath? 24 Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”

Acts 7:8; Acts 7:51 (T)

Acts 7:8 He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.

Romans 2:24-29 (T)

2:24 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 the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfills 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.

Romans 4:10-25 (T)

4:10 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 should 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.” 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 Besides 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.” 19 Without being weakened in faith, [he considered]^(mss) his own body, which was as good as dead, he being about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 Yet, looking to the promise of Elohim, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to Elohim, 21 and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform. 22 Therefore it also was “credited to him for righteousness.” 23 Now it was not written that it was accounted to him for his sake alone, 24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who believe in him who raised Yeshua, our Lord, from the dead, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.

Psalms 74:1-18; Psalms 79:1-13 (P)

Psalms 74:1 Elohim, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture? 2 Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance: Mount Zion, in which you have lived. 3 Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary. 4 Your adversaries have roared in the middle of your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs. 5 They behaved like men wielding axes, cutting through a thicket of trees. 6 Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers. 7 They have burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name. 8 They said in their heart, “We will crush them completely.” They have burned up all the places in the land where Elohim was worshiped. 9 We see no miraculous signs. There is no longer any prophet, neither is there among us anyone who knows how long. 10 How long, Elohim, will the adversary reproach? Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever? 11 Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it from your chest and consume them! 12 Yet Elohim is my King of old, working salvation throughout the land. 13 You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters. 14 You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces. You gave him as food to people and desert creatures. 15 You opened up spring and stream. You dried up mighty rivers. 16 The day is yours, the night is also yours. You have prepared the light and the sun. 17 You have set all the boundaries of the land. You have made summer and winter. 18 Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, YHWH. Foolish people have blasphemed your name.

Psalms 79:1 Elohim, the nations have come into your inheritance. They have defiled your holy temple. They have laid Jerusalem in heaps. 2 They have given the dead bodies of your servants to be food for the birds of the heavens, the flesh of your saints to the animals of the land. 3 They have shed their blood like water around Jerusalem. There was no one to bury them. 4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and derision to those who are around us. 5 How long, YHWH? Will you be angry forever? Will your zeal burn like fire? 6 Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you, on the reigns that don’t call on your name, 7 for they have devoured Jacob, and destroyed his homeland. 8 Don’t hold the iniquities of our forefathers against us. Let your tender mercies speedily meet us, for we are in desperate need. 9 Help us, Elohim of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake. 10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their Elohim?” Let it be known among the nations, before our eyes, that vengeance for your servants’ blood is being poured out. 11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you. According to the greatness of your power, preserve those who are sentenced to death. 12 Pay back to our neighbors seven times into their bosom their reproach with which they have reproached you, Lord. 13 So we, your people and sheep of your pasture, will give you thanks forever. We will praise you forever, to all generations.

Jeremiah 51:51 (P)

51:51 “We are confounded, because we have heard reproach. Confusion has covered our faces, for strangers have come into the sanctuaries of the house of YHWH.”

Lamentations 1:10 (P)

1:10 The adversary has spread out his hand on all her pleasant things; for she has seen that the nations have entered into her sanctuary, concerning whom you commanded that they should not enter into your assembly.

Daniel 8:13; Daniel 11:31 (P)

Daniel 8:13 Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who spoke, “How long will the vision about the continual burnt offering, and the disobedience that makes desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the army to be trodden under foot be?”

Daniel 11:31 “Forces will stand on his part, and they will profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and will take away the continual burnt offering. Then they will set up the abomination that makes desolate.

Matthew 24:15-22 (P)

24:15 “When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand, 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house. 18 Let him who is in the field not return back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days! 20 Pray that your flight will not be in the winter nor on a Sabbath, 21 for then there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be. 22 Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.

Related Additional Readings

Jubilees 1:7-26; Jubilees 11:14-15; Jubilees 20:1-3 (T)

Between 1947 and 1956 approximately 15 Jubilees scrolls were found in five caves at Qumran, all written in Hebrew. The large number of manuscripts (more than for any biblical books except for Psalms, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Exodus, and Genesis, in descending order) indicates that Jubilees was widely used at Qumran. A comparison of the Qumran texts with the Ethiopic version, performed by James VanderKam, found that the Ethiopic was in most respects an accurate and literalistic translation. Scholars have dated Jubilees to have been written sometime around 160-150 B.C.

Jubilees 1:7 And do thou write for thyself all these words which I declare unto thee this day, for I know their rebellion and their stiff neck, before I bring them into the land of which I sware to their fathers, to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob, saying: “Unto your seed will I give a land flowing with milk and honey. 8. And they will eat and be satisfied, and they will turn to strange Elohim, to Elohim which cannot deliver them from aught of their tribulation: “and this witness will be heard for a witness against them. 9. For they will forget all My commandments, even all that I command them, and they will walk after the Nations, and after their uncleanness, and after their shame, and will serve their elohim, and these will prove unto them an offence and a tribulation and an affliction and a snare. 10. And many will perish and they will be taken captive, and will fall into the hands of the enemy, because they have forsaken My ordinances and My commandments, and the festivals of My covenant, and My sabbaths, and My holy place which I have hallowed for Myself in their midst, and My tabernacle, and My sanctuary, which I have hallowed for Myself in the midst of the land, that I should set My name upon it, and that it should dwell there. 11. And they will make to themselves high places and groves and graven images, and they will worship, each his own graven image, so as to go astray, and they will slaughter their children to demons, and to all the works of the error of their hearts. 12. And I will send witnesses unto them, that I may witness against them, but they will not hear, and will slay the witnesses also, and they will persecute those who seek the law, and they will abrogate and change everything so as to work evil before My eyes. And I will hide My face from them, and I will deliver them into the hand of the Nations for captivity, and for a prey, and for devouring, and I will remove them from the midst of the land, and I will scatter them amongst the Nations. 14. And they will forget all My law and all My commandments and all My judgments, and will go astray as to new moons, and sabbaths, and festivals, and jubilees, and ordinances. 15. And after this they will turn to Me from amongst the Nations with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their strength, and I will gather them from amongst all the Nations, and they will seek Me, so that I will be found of them, when they seek Me with all their heart and with all their soul. 16. And I will disclose to them abounding peace with righteousness, [and I will plant them the plant of uprightness in the land], with all My heart and with all My soul, and they will be for a blessing and not for a curse, and they will be the head and not the tail. 17. And I will build My sanctuary in their midst, and I will dwell with them, and I will be their Elohim and they will be My people in truth and righteousness. 18. And I will not forsake them nor fail them; for I am the Lord their Elohim.” 19. And Moses fell on his face and prayed and said, “O Lord my Elohim, do not forsake Thy people and Thy inheritance, so that they should wander in the error of their hearts, and do not deliver them into the hands of their enemies, the Nations, lest they should rule over them and cause them to sin against Thee. 20. Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be lifted up upon Thy people, and create in them an upright spirit, and let not the spirit of Beliar rule over them to accuse them before Thee, and to ensnare them from all the paths of righteousness, so that they may perish from before Thy face. 21. But they are Thy people and Thy inheritance, which Thou hast delivered with Thy great power from the hands of the Egyptians: create in them a clean heart and a holy Spirit, and let them not be ensnared in their sins from henceforth until eternity.” 22. And the Lord said unto Moses: “I know their contrariness and their thoughts and their stiffneckedness, and they will not be obedient till they confess their own sin and the sin of their fathers. 23. And after this they will turn to Me in all uprightness and with all their heart and with all their soul, and I will circumcise the foreskin of their heart and the foreskin of the heart of their seed, and I will create in them a holy spirit, and I will cleanse them so that they will not turn away from Me from that day unto eternity. 24. And their souls will cleave to Me and to all My commandments, and they will fulfill My commandments, and I will be their Father and they will be My children. 25. And they will all be called children of the living Elohim, and every angel and every spirit will know, yea, they will know that these are My children, and that I am their Father in uprightness and righteousness, and that I love them. 26. And do thou write down for thyself all these words which I declare unto thee on this mountain, the first and the last, which will come to pass in all the divisions of the days in the law and in the witness and in the weeks and the jubilees unto eternity, until I descend and dwell with them throughout eternity.”

Jubilees 11:14 And in this thirty-ninth jubilee, in the second week in the first year, Terah took to himself a wife, and her name was ‘Êdnâ, the daughter of ‘Abrâm the daughter of his father’s sister. 15. And in the seventh year of this week she bare him a son, and he called his name Abram, by the name of the father of his mother; for he had died before his daughter had conceived a son. And the child (Abram) began to understand the errors of the land that all went astray after graven images and after uncleanness, and his father taught him writing, and he was two weeks of years old, [1890 A.M.] and he separated himself from his father that he might not worship idols with him.

Jubilees 20:1 And in the forty-second jubilee, in the first year of the [sixth] week, Abraham called Ishmael, and his twelve sons, and Isaac and his two sons, and the six sons of Keturah, and their sons. 2. And he commanded them that they should observe the way of the Lord; that they should work righteousness, and love each his neighbour, and act on this manner amongst all men; that they should each so walk with regard to them as to do judgment and righteousness on the land. 3. That they should circumcise their sons, according to the covenant which He had made with them, and not deviate to the right hand or the left of all the paths which the Lord had commanded us; and that we should keep ourselves from all fornication and uncleanness, and renounce from amongst us all fornication and uncleanness.

Judith 14:5-10 (T)

The Book of Judith relates the story of God’s deliverance of the Jewish people. This was accomplished “by the hand of a female”—a constant motif meant to recall the “hand” of Elohim in the Exodus narrative. The work may have been written around 100 B.C., but its historical range is extraordinary.

14:5 But before you do these things, summon Achior the Ammonite to me, that he may see and know him that despised the house of Israel, and that sent him to us, as it were to death. 6 And they called Achior out of the house of Ozias; but when he came, and saw the head of Holofernes in a man’s hand in the assembly of the people, he fell upon his face, and his spirit failed. 7 But when they had recovered him, he fell at Judith’s feet, and bowed down to her, and said, “Blessed are you in every tent of Judah, and in every nation, which hearing your name will be troubled. 8 Now tell me all the things that you have done in these days.” And Judith declared to him in the midst of the people all the things that she had done, from the day that she went out until the time that she spoke to them. 9 But when she finished speaking, the people shouted with a loud voice, and made a joyful noise in their city. 10 But when Achior saw all the things that the Elohim of Israel had done, he believed in Elohim exceedingly, and circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, and was joined to the house of Israel, to this day.

Additions to Esther 14:15 (T)

14:43 (4:43) You know all things, and know that I hate the glory [or, opinion] of transgressors, and that I abhor the couch of the uncircumcised, and of every stranger.

Enoch 9:10 (ADD)

9:10 And now, behold, the souls of those who have died are crying and making their suit to the gates of the heavens, and their lamentations have ascended: and cannot cease because of the lawless deeds which are wrought on the land.

1 Maccabees 1:11-15; 1 Maccabees 1:44-50; 1 Maccabees 1:60-63 (T)

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

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

1 Maccabees 1:11 In those days came there forth out of Israel transgressors of the law, and persuaded many, saying, let’s go and cut a covenant with the Nations that are round about us; for since we were parted from them many evils have befallen us. 12 And the saying was good in their eyes. 13 And certain of the people were forward herein and went to the king, and he gave them license to do after the ordinances of the Nations. 14 And they built a place of exercise in Jerusalem according to the laws of the Nations; 15 and they made themselves uncircumcised, and forsook the holy covenant, and joined themselves to the Nations, and sold themselves to do evil.

1 Maccabees 1:44 And the king sent letters by the hand of messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, that they should follow laws strange to the land, 45 and should forbid whole burnt offerings and slaughter and libation offerings in the sanctuary; and should profane the Sabbaths and feasts, 46 and pollute the sanctuary and those who were holy; 47 that they should build altars, and temples, and shrines for idols, and should slaughter swine’s flesh and unclean beasts: 48 and that they should leave their sons uncircumcised, that they should make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and profanation; 49 so that they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances. 50 And whoever will not do according to the word of the king, he will die.

1 Maccabees 1:60 And the women that had circumcised their children they put to death according to the commandment. 61 And they hanged their babes about their necks, and destroyed their houses, and those who had circumcised them. 62 And many in Israel were fully resolved and confirmed in themselves not to eat unclean things. 63 And they chose to die, that they might not be defiled with the meats, and that they might not profane the holy covenant: and they died.

2 Maccabees 6:9-11 (T)

Unlike 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees was written in Koine Greek, probably in Alexandria, Egypt, c. 124 B.C. It presents a revised version of the historical events recounted in the first seven chapters of 1 Maccabees, adding material from the Pharisaic tradition, including prayer for the dead and a resurrection on Judgment Day.

6:9 and that they should kill such as didn’t choose to go over to the Greek rites. So the present misery was for all to see: 10 for two women were brought up for having circumcised their children; and these, when they had led them publicly round about the city, with the babes hung from their breasts, they cast down headlong from the wall. 11 And others, that had run together into the caves near by to guard the seventh day secretly, being betrayed to Philip were all burned together, because they scrupled to defend themselves, from regard to the honor of that most solemn day.

Genesis 17:1-27 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 17 And Abram was the son of ninety and nine years, and the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am El Shaddai; serve before Me and be perfect (shelim) in thy flesh. And I will set My covenant between My Word and thee, and will multiply thee very greatly. And because Abram was not circumcised, he was not able to stand, but he bowed himself upon his face; and the Lord spake with him, saying, Behold, I have confirmed (or divided) my covenant with thee; and thou shalt be the father of many peoples. And thy name will be no more called Abram, but Abraham will be thy name, because to be the father of a great multitude of peoples have I appointed thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and will set thee for congregations; and kings ruling over peoples will come forth from thee. And I have established My covenant between My Word and thee, and thy sons after thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be an Elohim to thee and to thy sons after thee. And I will give to thee and to thy sons after thee the land of thy habitation, all the land of Kenaan, for an everlasting possession: and I will be to them Eloha. And the Lord said to Abraham, And thou shalt observe my covenant, thou and thy sons after thee in their generations. This is My covenant, that you will observe between My Word and you, and your sons after you:–Every male of you being circumcised, though he have not a father to circumcise him. And you will circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, as a sign of the covenant between My Word and you. And the son of eight days will be circumcised among you, every male in your generations; from him who is brought up in your house, or bought with your silver, unto every son of the peoples who is not of you. He who is circumcised will circumcise him who is brought up among you, or bought with your silver; and it will be My covenant in your flesh for a covenant for ever. And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, unless he have some one to circumcise him, that man will be cut off from his people; he hath made My covenant to pass away. And the Lord said to Abraham, The name of Sara thy wife will be no more called Sara; for Sarah will be her name. And I will bless in her body, and will also give from her a son to thee, and I will bless, him, and he will be for assemblies, and kings ruling over nations will be from her.

And Abraham fell on his face, and wondered, and said in his heart, Will the son of a hundred years have progeny, and Sarah, the daughter of ninety years, bear a child? [JERUSALEM. And Abraham bowed upon his face, and wondered.] And Abraham said before the Lord, May not Ishmael be established, and serve before Thee? And the Lord said, In truth Sarah thy wife will bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name Izhak; and with him I will confirm My covenant for an everlasting covenant to his sons after him. And concerning Ishmael I have heard thy prayer. Behold, I have blessed him; and I will spread him abroad, and multiply him very greatly. Twelve princes will he beget, and I will give him to be a great people. But My COVENANT will I establish with Izhak, whom Sarah will bear to thee at this time in the year after. And He ceased speaking with him; and the Glory of the Lord ascended from Abraham.

And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all brought up in his house, and all bought with money, every male among the household people of Abraham, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the same day in which the Lord spake with him. And Abraham was the son of ninety and nine years when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin. In the same day, in the fourteenth year, was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son. And every man of his house, the house-trained, and the purchased with money of the sons of the people, was circumcised with him.

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Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 1.10.5 (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.).

1.10.5. The forementioned son was born to Abram when he was eighty-six years old: but when he was ninety-nine, Elohim appeared to him, and promised him that he Should have a son by Sarai, and commanded that his name should be Isaac; and showed him, that from this son should spring great nations and kings, and that they should obtain all the land of Canaan by war, from Sidon to Egypt. But he charged him, in order to guard his posterity unmixed with others, that they should be circumcised in the flesh of their foreskin, and that this should be done on the eighth day after they were born: the reason of which circumcision I will explain in another place. And Abram inquiring also concerning Ismael, whether he should live or not, Elohim signified to him that he should live to be very old, and should be the father of great nations. Abram therefore gave thanks to Elohim for these blessings; and then he, and all his family, and his son Ismael, were circumcised immediately; the son being that day thirteen years of age, and he ninety-nine.