• Torah (T): Shemot (Exodus) 18:1-26
• Prophets (P): 1 Samuel 8:1-22
• Apostolic (A): Acts 6:1-7
• Additional (ADD): Jubilees 1:1-29

RELATED SCRIPTURES

• Exodus 2:18-22 (T)
• Judges 1:16; 1 Samuel 15:5-7; Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus, 6.7.3 (T)
• Deuteronomy 1:9-18 (T)
• 1 Chronicles 12:30; 2 Chronicles 17:12-14 (T)
• Acts 6:1-7 (T)
• Acts 7:35-38, 52-53; Galatians 3:19 (T)
• Deuteronomy 7:6; Deuteronomy 10:14-15; Deuteronomy 14:2; Deuteronomy 26:18; Psalms 135:1-4; Malachi 3:13-18; Titus 2:11-15 (T)
• Ephesians 1:1-14; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17; Hebrews 10:32-39; 1 Peter 2:1-12 (T)
• 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:1-6; Revelation 5:9-10; Revelation 20:1-6 (T)
• Psalms 68:8 (T)
• 1 Samuel 21:1-6 (T)
• Hebrews 12:18-29 (T)
• Nehemiah 9:13-14 (T)
• Psalms 81:7-16 (T)
• Deuteronomy 27:1-8; Joshua 8:30-35 (T)
• Exodus 28:42-43; Deuteronomy 23:10-14; Isaiah 20:4 (T)
• Deuteronomy 4:10-20; 5:1-29 (T)
• Matthew 19:16-19; Matthew 22:37-38; Romans 13:9;  Ya’aqov (James) 2:8-13; 1 John 5:1-3; Revelation 14:12 (T)
• Jude 1:5; Acts 17:28-31; Matthew 5:33-37; Mark 2:27-28; Matthew 15:1-6; Ephesians 6:1-3; Matthew 5:21-22; Matthew 19:8-9; Ephesians 4:28; 1 Corinthians 15:14-15; Luke 12:15 (T)

RELATED ADDITIONAL READINGS

• 2 Esdras 3:17-22 (T)
• Sirach 48:1-11 (T)
• A Moses Apocryphon 4Q377 Fragment 2 Column 2 (T)
• Exodus 18:1 – 20:26 from the Jerusalem Targum aka Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (T)
• Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 3.3.1 – 3.5.6 (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)

Prophets Portion (P)

1 Samuel 8:1-22

8:1 When Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 Now the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba. 3 His sons didn’t walk in his ways, but turned away after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice. 4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel to Ramah. 5 They said to him, “Behold, you are old, and your sons don’t walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” Samuel prayed to YHWH. 7 YHWH said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me as the king over them. 8 According to all the works which they have done [to me]^(LXX) since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, in that they have forsaken me and served other gods, so they also do to you. 9 Now therefore, listen to their voice. However, you shall protest solemnly to them, and shall show them the way of the king who will reign over them.” 10 Samuel told all the words of YHWH to the people who asked him for a king. 11 He said, “This will be the way of the king who shall reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them as his servants, for his chariots and to be his horsemen; and they will run before his chariots. 12 He will appoint them to him for captains of thousands and captains of fifties; and he will assign some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, [and gather his vintage,]^(LXX) and to make his instruments of war and the instruments of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers, to be cooks, and to be bakers. 14 He will take your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, even your best, and give them to his servants. 15 He will take one tenth of your seed and of your vineyards, and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 He will take your male servants, your maids, your best [cattle],^(LXX) and your donkeys, and assign them to his own work. 17 He will take one tenth of your flocks; and you will be his servants. 18 You will cry out in that day because of your king whom you will have chosen for yourselves; and YHWH will not answer you in [those days]^(DSS)(LXX) [because you have chosen a king for yourselves.]”^(LXX) 19 But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.” 21 Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of YHWH. 22 YHWH said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice, and make them a king.”

Apostolic Portion (A)

Acts 6:1-7

6:1 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, a complaint arose from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily service. 2 The twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not appropriate for us to forsake the word of Elohim and serve tables. 3 Therefore, select from among you, brothers, seven men of good report, full of the [Spirit]^(mss) and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. 4 But we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word.” 5 These words pleased the whole multitude. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch, 6 whom they set before the emissaries. When they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. 7 The word of Elohim increased and the number of the disciples greatly multiplied in Jerusalem. A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

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.

1:1 And it came to pass in the first year of the exodus of the sons of Israel out of Egypt, in the third month, on the sixteenth day of the month [2450 A.M.], that Elohim spake to Moses, saying: “Come up to Me on the Mount, and I will give thee two tables of stone of the law and of the commandment, which I have written, that thou mayst teach them.” 2. And Moses went up into the mount of Elohim, and the glory of YHWH abode on Mount Sinai, and a cloud overshadowed it six days. 3. And He called to Moses on the seventh day out of the midst of the cloud, and the appearance of the glory of YHWH was like a flaming fire on the top of the Mount. 4. And Moses was on the Mount forty days and forty nights, and Elohim taught him the earlier and the later history of the division of all the days of the law and of the witness. 5. And He said: “Incline thine heart to every word which I will speak to thee on this Mount, and write them in a book in order that their generations may see how I have not forsaken them for all the evil which they have wrought in transgressing the covenant which I establish between Me and thee for their generations this day on Mount Sinai. 6. And thus it will come to pass when all these things come upon them, that they will recognize that I am more righteous than they in all their judgments and in all their actions, and they will recognize that I have been truly with them. 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. 13. 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 YHWH 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 YHWH 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 fulfil 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.” 27. And He said to the angel of the face: “Write for Moses from the beginning of creation till My sanctuary has been built among them for all eternity. 28. And the Lord will appear to the eyes of all, and all will know that I am the Elohim of Israel and the Father of all the children of Jacob, and King on Mount Zion for all eternity. And Zion and Jerusalem will be holy.” 29. And the angel of the face who went before the camp of Israel took the tables of the divisions of the years–from the time of the creation–of the law and of the witness of the weeks, of the jubilees, according to the individual years, according to all the number of the jubilees [according to the individual years], from the day of creation, till the heavens and the land will be renewed and all their creation according to the powers of the heavens, and according to all the creation of the land, until the sanctuary of the Lord will be made in Jerusalem on Mount Zion, and all the luminaries be renewed for healing and for peace and for blessing for all the elect of Israel, and that thus it may be from that day and unto all the days of the land.

Related Scriptures

2:18 When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, “How is it that you have returned so early today?” 19 They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock.” 20 He said to his daughters, “Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.” 21 Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter. 22 She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, “I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land.”

Judges 1:16 The sons of the Kenite, Moses’ brother-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the sons of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people.

1 Samuel 15:5 Shaul came to the city of Amalek, and set an ambush in the valley. 6 Shaul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the sons of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.

Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus, 6.7.3 But when Shaul had conquered all these Amalekites that reached from Pelusium of Egypt to the Sea of Reeds, he laid waste all the rest of the enemy’s country: but for the nation of the Shechemites, he did not touch them, although they dwelt in the very middle of the country of Midian; for before the battle, Shaul had sent to them, and charged them to depart thence, lest they should be partakers of the miseries of the Amalekites; for he had a just occasion for saving them, since they were of the kindred of Raguel, Moses’s father-in-law.

1:9 I spoke to you at that time, saying, “I am not able to bear you myself alone. 10 YHWH your Elohim has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as the stars of the heavens for multitude. 11 May YHWH, the Elohim of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, as he has promised you! 12 How can I myself alone bear your problems, your burdens, and your strife? 13 Take wise men of understanding who are respected among your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.” 14 You answered me, and said, “The thing which you have spoken is good to do.” 15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and respected men, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes. 16 I commanded your judges at that time, saying, “Hear cases between your brothers and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is living with him. 17 You will not show partiality in judgment; you will hear the small and the great alike. You will not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is Elohim’s. The case that is too hard for you, you will bring to me, and I will hear it.” 18 I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do.

1 Chronicles 12:30 Of the sons of Ephraim: twenty thousand eight hundred, mighty men of valor, famous men in their fathers’ houses.

2 Chronicles 17:12 Jehoshaphat grew great exceedingly; and he built fortresses and store cities in Judah. 13 He had many works in the cities of Judah; and men of war, mighty men of valor, in Jerusalem. 14 This was the numbering of them according to their fathers’ houses: From Judah, the captains of thousands: Adnah the captain, and with him three hundred thousand mighty men of valor

6:1 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, a complaint arose from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily service. 2 The twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not appropriate for us to forsake the word of Elohim and serve tables. 3 Therefore, select from among you, brothers, seven men of good report, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. 4 But we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the service of the word.” 5 These words pleased the whole multitude. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch, 6 whom they set before the emissaries. When they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. 7 The word of Elohim increased and the number of the disciples greatly multiplied in Jerusalem. A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

Acts 7:35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—Elohim has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Sea of Suf, and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is that Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord our Elohim will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.’ 38 This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us…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 guard it!”

Galatians 3:19 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.

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. 9 Know therefore that YHWH your Elohim himself is Elohim, the faithful Elohim, who guards covenant and loving kindness to a thousand generations with those who love him and guard his commandments, 10 and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him who hates him. He will repay him to his face. 11 You will therefore guard the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances which I command you today, to do them. 12 It will happen, because you listen to these ordinances and guard and do them, that YHWH your Elohim will guard with you the covenant and the loving kindness which he swore to your fathers.

Deuteronomy 10:12 Now, Israel, what does YHWH your Elohim require 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 and 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.

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. 3 You will not eat any abominable thing.

Deuteronomy 26:16 Today YHWH your Elohim commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You will therefore guard and do them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 You have declared today that YHWH is your Elohim, and that you would walk in his ways, guard his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice. 18 YHWH has declared today that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should guard all his commandments. 19 He will make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to YHWH your Elohim, as he has spoken.

Psalms 135:1 Halleluyah! Praise Yah’s name! Praise him, you servants of YHWH, 2 you who stand in the house of YHWH, in the courts of our Elohim’s house. 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.

Malachi 3:13 “Your words have been harsh against me,” says YHWH. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against you?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve Elohim,’ and ‘What profit is it that we have followed his instructions and that we have walked mournfully before YHWH of Armies? 15 Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they try Elohim, and escape.’ 16 Then those who feared YHWH spoke one with another; and YHWH listened and heard, and a book of memory was written before him for those who feared YHWH and who honored his name. 17 They will be mine,” says YHWH of Armies, “my own possession in the day that I make. I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him. 18 Then you will return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves Elohim and him who doesn’t serve him.

Titus 2:11 For the grace of Elohim has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly coveting, we would live soberly, righteously, and pious in this present age; 13 looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great Elohim and Savior, Yeshua the Messiah, 14 who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works. 15 Say these things and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one despise you.

Ephesians 1:1 Paul, an emissary of Messiah Yeshua through the will of Elohim, to the holy ones who are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Messiah Yeshua: 2 Grace to you and peace from Elohim our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. 3 Blessed be the Elohim and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Messiah, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love, 5 having predestined us for adoption as children through Yeshua the Messiah to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire, 6 to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved. 7 In him we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him 10 to an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Messiah, the things in the heavens and the things on the land, in him. 11 We were also assigned an inheritance in him, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel of his will, 12 to the end that we should be to the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Messiah. 13 In him you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation—in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a pledge of our inheritance, to the release by ransom of the procurement, to the praise of his glory.

1 Thessalonians 5:1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need that anything be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night. 3 For when they are saying, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman. Then they will in no way escape. 4 But you, brothers, aren’t in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief. 5 You are all children of light and children of the day. We don’t belong to the night, nor to darkness, 6 so then let’s not sleep, as the rest do, but let’s watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep in the night; and those who are drunk are drunk in the night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let’s be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For Elohim didn’t appoint us to wrath, but to the procurement of salvation through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, 10 who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. 11 Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as you also do.

2 Thessalonians 2:1 Now, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and our gathering together to him, we ask you 2 not to be quickly shaken in your mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter as if from us, saying that the day of Messiah has already come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction. 4 He opposes and exalts himself against all that is called Elohim or that is worshiped, so that he sits as Elohim in the temple of Elohim, setting himself up as Elohim. 5 Don’t you remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? 6 Now you know what is restraining him, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness already works. Only there is one who restrains now, until he is taken out of the way. 8 Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the manifestation of his coming; 9 even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 Because of this, Elohim sends them a powerful delusion, that they should believe a lie, 12 that they all might be judged who didn’t believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 13 But we are bound to always give thanks to Elohim for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because Elohim chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth, 14 to which he called you through our Good News, for the procurement of the glory of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. 15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold the traditions which you were taught by us, whether by word or by letter. 16 Now our Lord Yeshua the Messiah himself, and Elohim our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work and word.

Hebrews 10:32 But remember the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: 33 partly, being exposed to both reproaches and oppressions, and partly, becoming partakers with those who were treated so. 34 For you both had compassion on me in my chains and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens. 35 Therefore don’t throw away your boldness, which has a great reward. 36 For you need endurance so that, having done the will of Elohim, you may receive the promise. 37 “In a very little while, he who comes will come and will not wait. 38 But the righteous one will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” 39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the procurement of the soul.

1 Peter 2:1 Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babies, long for the pure spiritual milk, that with it you may grow, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 4 Come to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by Elohim, precious. 5 You also as living stones are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual slaughters, acceptable to Elohim through Yeshua the Messiah. 6 Because it is contained in Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen and precious. He who believes in him will not be disappointed.” 7 For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” 8 and, “a stumbling stone and a rock of offense.” For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a procurement that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 In the past, you were not a people, but now are Elohim’s people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 11 Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly coveting which war against the soul, 12 having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good works and glorify Elohim in the day of inspection.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for Elohim’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Revelation 1:1 This is the Revelation of Yeshua the Messiah, which Elohim gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John, 2 who witnessed to Elohim’s word and of the witness of Yeshua the Messiah, about everything that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and guard the things that are written in it, for the time is near. 4 John, to the seven assemblies that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Elohim, who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne; 5 and from Yeshua the Messiah, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the land. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood— 6 and he made us to be a Reign, priests to his Elohim and Father—to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Revelations 5:9 They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals, for you were killed, and bought us for Elohim with your blood out of every tribe, language, people, and nation, 10 and made us kings and priests to our Elohim; and we will reign on the land.”

Revelations 20:1 I saw an angel coming down out of the heavens, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 He seized the dragon, the old nachash, who is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited land, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and cast him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years were finished. After this, he must be freed for a short time. 4 I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the witness of Yeshua and for the word of Elohim, and such as didn’t worship the beast nor his image, and didn’t receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand. They lived and reigned with Messiah for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead didn’t live until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of Elohim and of Messiah, and will reign with him one thousand years.

68:8 The land trembled. The heavens also poured down rain at the face of the Elohim of Sinai— at the face of Elohim, the Elohim of Israel.

21:1 Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no man with you?” 2 David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commanded me to do something, and has said to me, ‘Let no one know anything about the business about which I send you, and what I have commanded you. I have sent the young men to a certain place.’ 3 Now therefore what is under your hand? Please give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever is available.” 4 The priest answered David, and said, “I have no common bread, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.” 5 David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us as usual these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was only a common journey. How much more then today will their vessels be holy?” 6 So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the bread of the presence that was taken from before YHWH, to be replaced with hot bread in the day when it was taken away.

12:18 For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm, 19 the sound of a shofar, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them, 20 for they could not stand that which was commanded, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it will be stoned”. 21 So fearful was the appearance that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living Elohim, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels, 23 to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in the heavens, to Elohim the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Yeshua, the mediator of a renewed covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel. 25 See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the land, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from the heavens, 26 whose voice shook the land then, but now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the land, but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more” signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, receiving a Reign that can’t be shaken, let’s have grace, through which we serve Elohim acceptably, with reverence and awe, 29 for our Elohim is a consuming fire.

9:13 “You also came down on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from the heavens, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments, 14 and made known to them your holy Sabbath, and commanded them commandments, statutes, and a law, by Moses your servant

81:7 “You called in trouble, and I delivered you. I answered you in the secret place of thunder. I tested you at the waters of Meribah.” Selah. 8 “Hear, my people, and I will testify to you, Israel, if you would listen to me! 9 There will be no strange elohim in you, neither will you worship any foreign god. 10 I am YHWH, your Elohim, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. 11 But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me. 12 So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels. 13 Oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! 14 I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their adversaries. 15 The haters of YHWH would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever. 16 But he would have also fed them with the finest of the wheat. I will satisfy you with honey out of the rock.”

Deuteronomy 27:1 Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Guard all the commandment which I command you today. 2 It will be on the day when you will pass over the Jordan to the land which YHWH your Elohim gives you, that you will set yourself up great stones, and coat them with plaster. 3 You will write on them all the words of this law, when you have passed over, that you may go in to the land which YHWH your Elohim gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as YHWH, the Elohim of your fathers, has promised you. 4 It will be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that you will set up these stones, which I command you today, on Mount Ebal, and you will coat them with plaster. 5 There you will build an altar to YHWH your Elohim, an altar of stones. You will not use any iron tool on them. 6 You will build YHWH your Elohim’s altar of uncut stones. You will offer burnt offerings on it to YHWH your Elohim. 7 You will slaughter peace offerings, and will eat there. You will rejoice before YHWH your Elohim. 8 You will write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”

Joshua 8:30 Then Joshua built an altar to YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, on Mount Ebal, 31 as Moses the servant of YHWH commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the Torah of Moses: an altar of uncut stones, on which no one had lifted up any iron. They offered burnt offerings on it to YHWH and slaughtered peace offerings. 32 He wrote there on the stones a copy of Moses’ law, which he wrote in the face of the sons of Israel. 33 All Israel, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark before the priests, the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of YHWH, the foreigner as well as the native; half of them in front of Mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of YHWH had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel. 34 Afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua didn’t read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who were among them.

Exodus 28:42 You will make them linen undergarments  to cover over the flesh of nakedness. They will reach from the waist even to the thighs. 43 They will be on Aaron and on his sons, when they go in to the Appointed Tent, or when they come near to the altar to minister in the holy place, that they don’t bear iniquity, and die. This will be a statute forever to him and to his seed after him.

Deuteronomy 23:10 If there is among you any man who is not clean by reason of that which happens to him by night, then will he go outside of the camp. He will not come within the camp; 11 but it will be, when evening comes, he will bathe himself in water. When the sun is down, he will come within the camp. 12 You will have a place also outside of the camp where you go relieve yourself. 13 You will have a trowel among your weapons. It will be, when you relieve yourself, you will dig with it, and will turn back and cover your excrement; 14 for YHWH your Elohim walks in the middle of your camp, to deliver you, and to give up your enemies before you. Therefore your camp will be holy, that he may not see an unclean thing in you, and turn away from you.

Isaiah 20:4 so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 4:10 the day that you stood before YHWH your Elohim in Horeb, when YHWH said to me, “Assemble the people to me, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the land, and that they may teach their sons.” 11 You came near and stood under the mountain. The mountain burned with fire to the heart of the heavens, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. 12 YHWH spoke to you out of the middle of the fire: you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form; you only heard a voice. 13 He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments. He wrote them on two stone tablets. 14 YHWH commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it. 15 Be very careful, for you saw no kind of form on the day that YHWH spoke to you in Horeb out of the middle of the fire, 16 lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourself a carved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the land, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the heavens, 18 the likeness of anything that treads on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the land; 19 and lest you lift up your eyes to the heavens, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the army of the heavens, you are drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which YHWH your Elohim has allotted to all the peoples under all the heavens. 20 But YHWH has taken you, and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as it is today.

Deuteronomy 5:1 Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, “Hear, Israel, the statutes and the judgments which I speak in your ears today, that you may learn them, and observe to do them.” 2 YHWH our Elohim cut a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 YHWH didn’t make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive today. 4 YHWH spoke with you face to face on the mountain out of the middle of the fire, 5 I stood between YHWH and you at that time, to show you the word of YHWH; for you were afraid because of the fire, and didn’t go up onto the mountain, saying, 6 “I am YHWH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 7 Other elohim will not exist for you before my face. 8 “You will not make a carved image for yourself—any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or what is in the land beneath, or that is in the water under the land. 9 You will not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, YHWH your Elohim, am El Qanna, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me 10 and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and guard my commandments. 11 “You will not misuse the name of YHWH your Elohim; for YHWH will not hold him guiltless who misuses his name. 12 “Guard the Sabbath day, to set it apart, as YHWH your Elohim commanded you. 13 You will labor six days, and do all your work; 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to YHWH your Elohim, in which you will not do any work— neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your maid, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; that your male servant and your maid may rest as well as you. 15 You will remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and YHWH your Elohim brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore YHWH your Elohim commanded you to guard the Sabbath day. 16 “Honor your father and your mother, as YHWH your Elohim commanded you, that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land which YHWH your Elohim gives you. 17 “You will not murder. 18 “You will not commit adultery. 19 “You will not steal. 20 “You will not give false witness against your neighbor. 21 “You will not covet your neighbor’s wife. Neither will you desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his maid, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” 22 YHWH spoke these words to all your assembly on the mountain out of the middle of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice. He added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets, and gave them to me. 23 When you heard the voice out of the middle of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; 24 and you said, “Behold, YHWH our Elohim has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the middle of the fire. We have seen today that Elohim does speak with man, and he lives. 25 Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear YHWH our Elohim’s voice any more, then we will die. 26 For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living Elohim speaking out of the middle of the fire, as we have, and lived? 27 Go near, and hear all that YHWH our Elohim will say, and tell us all that YHWH our Elohim tells you; and we will hear it, and do it.” 28 YHWH heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me; and YHWH said to me, “I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have well said all that they have spoken. 29 Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me and guard all my commandments always, that it might be well with them and with their sons forever!

Matthew 19:16 Behold, one came to him and said, “Good Rabbi, what good thing will I do, that I may have eternal life?” 17 He said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is, Elohim. But if you want to enter into life, guard the commandments.” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” Yeshua said, You will not murder.’ ‘You will not commit adultery.’ ‘You will not steal.’ ‘You will not offer false witness.’ 19 ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ And, ‘You will love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

Matthew 22:37 Yeshua said to him, You will love the Lord your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38  This is the first and great commandment. 39  A second likewise is this, ‘You will love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40  The whole Torah and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Romans 13:9 For the commandments, “You will not commit adultery,” “You will not murder,” “You will not steal,” “You will not covet,” and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You will love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.

Ya’aqov (James) 2:8 However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You will love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well. 9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so do as men who are to be judged by the law of freedom. 13 For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

1 John 5:1 Whoever believes that Yeshua is the Messiah has been born of Elohim. Whoever loves the Father also loves the child who is born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of Elohim, when we love Elohim and guard his commandments. 3 For this is loving Elohim, that we guard his commandments. His commandments are not grievous.

Revelation 14:12 Here is the perseverance of the holy ones, those who guard the commandments of Elohim and the faith of Yeshua.”

Jude 1:5 Now I desire to remind you, though you already know this, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who didn’t believe.

Acts 17:28 ‘For in him we live, move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his seed.’ 29 Being then the seed of Elohim, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man. 30 The times of ignorance therefore Elohim overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”

Matthew 5:33  “Again you have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You will not make false vows, but will perform to the Lord your vows,’ 34  but I tell you, don’t swear at all: neither by the heavens, for it is the throne of Elohim; 35  nor by the land, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36  Neither will you swear by your head, for you can’t make one hair white or black. 37  But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’ Whatever is more than these is of the evil one.

Mark 2:27 He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28  Therefore the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Matthew 15:1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Yeshua from Jerusalem, saying, 2 “Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat bread.” 3 He answered them, “Why do you also disobey the commandment of Elohim because of your tradition? 4 For Elohim commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever may tell his father or his mother, “Whatever help you might otherwise have gotten from me is a gift devoted to Elohim,” 6 he will not honor his father or mother.’ You have made the commandment of Elohim void because of your tradition.

Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with a promise: 3 “that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the land.”

Matthew 5:21 “You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘Do not murder’ (cf. Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17) and ‘whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment. Whoever says to his brother, ‘Reka!’ will be in danger of the council. Whoever says, ‘Naval!’ will be in danger of the fire of Gehinnom.

Matthew 19:8 He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so. 9  I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for whoring, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery.”

Ephesians 4:28 Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, producing with his hands something that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need.

1 Corinthians 15:14 If Messiah has not been raised, then our proclaiming is in vain and your faith also is in vain. 15 Yes, we are also found false witnesses of Elohim, because we witnessed about Elohim that he raised up Messiah, whom he didn’t raise up if it is true that the dead are not raised.

Luke 12:15 He said to them, “Beware! Guard yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”

Romans 7:7 What will we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn’t have known sin except through the law. For I wouldn’t have known coveting unless the law had said, “You will not covet.”

Additional Readings​

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.

3:17 It came to pass that when you led his descendants out of Egypt, you brought them up to Mount Sinai. 18 You bowed the heavens also, shook the land, moved the whole world, made the depths tremble, and troubled the age. 19 Your glory went through four gates, of fire, of earthquake, of wind, and of cold, that you might give the law to the descendants of Jacob, and the commandment to the descendants of Israel. 20 Yet you didn’t take away from them their wicked heart, that your law might produce fruit in them. 21 For the first Adam, bearing a wicked heart transgressed and was overcome, as were all who are descended from him. 22 Thus disease was made permanent. The law was in the heart of the people along with the wickedness of the root. So the good departed away, and that which was wicked remained.

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

48:1 Then Elijah arose, the prophet like fire. His word burnt like a torch: 2 He brought a famine upon them, and by his zeal made them few in number. 3 By the word of the Lord he shut up the heavens. He brought down fire three times. 4 How you were glorified, O Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! Whose glory is like yours? 5 You raised up a dead man from death, from Hades, by the word of the Most High. 6 You brought down kings to destruction, and honourable men from their sickbeds. 7 You heard rebuke in Sinai, and judgements of vengeance in Horeb. 8 You anointed kings for retribution, and prophets to succeed after you. 9 You were taken up in a tempest of fire, in a chariot of fiery horses. 10 You were recorded for reproofs in their seasons, to pacify anger, before it broke out into wrath, to turn the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob. 11 Blessed are those who saw you, and those who have been beautified with love; for we also will surely live.

Frag. 2 Col. 2 And Eliba (?) responded, “Hea[r], O congregation of the LORD, and lend an ear, all who are here gathered: bear witness […] to a[ll] His wor[ds] and judgem[ents]. Cursed be the man who fails to preserve and car[ry out] all the commandments of the L]ORD as spoken by Moses His anointed, and who fails to follow the LORD, the Elohim of our fathers, He who has command[ed] is from the mountains of Sinai.

For He has spoken wi[th] the congregation of Israel face to face, as a man might speak with his friend. Since li[g]ht draws a man’s attention, He has appeared to us as a consuming flame in the heavens above, while on the land He has stood upon the mountain to teach. Surely there is no Elohim but Him, and no Rock like Him.” All the congregation answered, but they were seized with trembling in the face of Elohim’s glory and the wondrous thundering. So they stood at a distance.

Meanwhile, Moses, the man of Elohim, was with Elohim in the cloud. The cloud would cover him, for […] as he was sanctified. Elohim would speak through his mouth as though he were an angel; indeed, what herald of glad tidings was ever like him? […] He was a man of piety and […] such as were never created before or since […]

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

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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.).

3.3.1. Now when Raguel, Moses’s father-in-law, understood in what a prosperous condition his affairs were, he willingly came to meet him. And Moses took Zipporah, his wife, and his children, and pleased himself with his coming. And when he had offered slaughter, he made a feast for the multitude, near the Bush he had formerly seen; which multitude, every one according to their families, partook of the feast. But Aaron and his family took Raguel, and sung hymns to Elohim, as to Him who had been the author procurer of their deliverance and their freedom. They also praised their conductor, as him by whose virtue it was that all things had succeeded with them. Raguel also, in his eucharistical oration to Moses, made great encomiums upon the whole multitude; and he could not but admire Moses for his fortitude, and that humanity he had shewn in the delivery of his friends.

3.4.1. The next day, as Raguel saw Moses in the midst of a crowd of business (for he determined the differences of those that referred them to him, every one still going to him, and supposing that they should then only obtain justice, if he were the arbitrator; and those that lost their causes thought it no harm, while they thought they lost them justly, and not by partiality); Raguel however said nothing to him at that time, as not desirous to be any hinderance to such as had a mind to make use of the virtue of their conductor. But afterward he took him to himself, and when he had him alone, he instructed him in what he ought to do; and advised him to leave the trouble of lesser causes to others, but himself to take care of the greater, and of the people’s safety, for that certain others of the Hebrews might be found that were fit to determine causes, but that nobody but a Moses could take of the safety of so many ten thousands. “Be therefore,” says he, “insensible of thine own virtue, and what thou hast done by ministering under Elohim to the people’s preservation. Permit, therefore, the determination of common causes to be done by others, but do thou reserve thyself to the attendance on Elohim only, and look out for methods of preserving the multitude from their present distress. Make use of the method I suggest to you, as to human affairs; and take a review of the army, and appoint chosen rulers over tens of thousands, and then over thousands; then divide them into five hundreds, and again into hundreds, and into fifties; and set rulers over each of them, who may distinguish them into thirties, and keep them in order; and at last number them by twenties and by tens: and let there be one commander over each number, to be denominated from the number of those over whom they are rulers, but such as the whole multitude have tried, and do approve of, as being good and righteous men; 8 and let those rulers decide the controversies they have one with another. But if any great cause arise, let them bring the cognizance of it before the rulers of a higher dignity; but if any great difficulty arise that is too hard for even their determination, let them send it to thee. By these means two advantages will be gained; the Hebrews will have justice done them, and thou wilt be able to attend constantly on Elohim, and procure him to be more favorable to the people.”

3.4.2. This was the admonition of Raguel; and Moses received his advice very kindly, and acted according to his suggestion. Nor did he conceal the invention of this method, nor pretend to it himself, but informed the multitude who it was that invented it: nay, he has named Raguel in the books he wrote, as the person who invented this ordering of the people, as thinking it right to give a true witness to worthy persons, although he might have gotten reputation by ascribing to himself the inventions of other men; whence we may learn the virtuous disposition of Moses: but of such his disposition, we will have proper occasion to speak in other places of these books.

3.5.1. Now Moses called the multitude together, and told them that he was going from them unto mount Sinai to converse with Elohim; to receive from him, and to bring back with him, a certain oracle; but he enjoined them to pitch their tents near the mountain, and prefer the habitation that was nearest to Elohim, before one more remote. When he had said this, he ascended up to Mount Sinai, which is the highest of all the mountains that are in that country 9 and is not only very difficult to be ascended by men, on account of its vast altitude, but because of the sharpness of its precipices also; nay, indeed, it cannot be looked at without pain of the eyes: and besides this, it was terrible and inaccessible, on account of the rumor that passed about, that Elohim dwelt there. But the Hebrews removed their tents as Moses had bidden them, and took possession of the lowest parts of the mountain; and were elevated in their minds, in expectation that Moses would return from Elohim with promises of the good things he had proposed to them. So they feasted and waited for their conductor, and kept themselves pure as in other respects, and not accompanying with their wives for three days, as he had before ordered them to do. And they prayed to Elohim that he would favorably receive Moses in his conversing with him, and bestow some such gift upon them by which they might live well. They also lived more plentifully as to their diet; and put on their wives and children more ornamental and decent clothing than they usually wore.

3.5.2. So they passed two days in this way of feasting; but on the third day, before the sun was up, a cloud spread itself over the whole camp of the Hebrews, such a one as none had before seen, and encompassed the place where they had pitched their tents; and while all the rest of the air was clear, there came strong winds, that raised up large showers of rain, which became a mighty tempest. There was also such lightning, as was terrible to those that saw it; and thunder, with its thunderbolts, were sent down, and declared Elohim to be there present in a gracious way to such as Moses desired he should be gracious. Now, as to these matters, every one of my readers may think as he pleases; but I am under a necessity of relating this history as it is described in the sacred books. This sight, and the amazing sound that came to their ears, disturbed the Hebrews to a prodigious degree, for they were not such as they were accustomed to; and then the rumor that was spread abroad, how Elohim frequented that mountain, greatly astonished their minds, so they sorrowfully contained themselves within their tents, as both supposing Moses to be destroyed by the Divine wrath, and expecting the like destruction for themselves.

3.5.3. When they were under these apprehensions, Moses appeared as joyful and greatly exalted. When they saw him, they were freed from their fear, and admitted of more comfortable hopes as to what was to come. The air also was become clear and pure of its former disorders, upon the appearance of Moses; whereupon he called together the people to a congregation, in order to their hearing what Elohim would say to them: and when they were gathered together, he stood on an eminence whence they might all hear him, and said, “Elohim has received me graciously, O Hebrews, as he has formerly done; and has suggested a happy method of living for you, and an order of political government, and is now present in the camp: I therefore charge you, for his sake and the sake of his works, and what we have done by his means, that you do not put a low value on what I am going to say, because the commands have been given by me that now deliver them to you, nor because it is the tongue of a man that delivers them to you; but if you have a due regard to the great importance of the things themselves, you will understand the greatness of Him whose institutions they are, and who has not disdained to communicate them to me for our common advantage; for it is not to be supposed that the author of these institutions is barely Moses, the son of Amram and Jochebed, but He who obliged the Nile to run bloody for your sakes, and tamed the haughtiness of the Egyptians by various sorts of judgments; he who provided a way through the sea for us; he who contrived a method of sending us food from the heavens, when we were distressed for want of it; he who made the water to issue out of a rock, when we had very little of it before; he by whose means Adam was made to partake of the fruits both of the land and of the sea; he by whose means Noaḥ escaped the deluge; he by whose means our forefather Abraham, of a wandering pilgrim, was made the heir of the land of Canaan; he by whose means Isaac was born of parents that were very old; he by whose means Jacob was adorned with twelve virtuous sons; he by whose means Joseph became a potent lord over the Egyptians; he it is who conveys these instructions to you by me as his interpreter. And let them be to you venerable, and contended for more earnestly by you than your own children and your own wives; for if you will follow them, you will lead a happy life you will enjoy the land fruitful, the sea calm, and the fruit of the womb born complete, as nature requires; you will be also terrible to your enemies for I have been admitted into the face of Elohim and been made a hearer of his incorruptible voice so great is his concern for your nation, and its duration.”

3.5.4. When he had said this, he brought the people, with their wives and children, so near the mountain, that they might hear Elohim himself speaking to them about the precepts which they were to practice; that the energy of what should be spoken might not be hurt by its utterance by that tongue of a man, which could but imperfectly deliver it to their understanding. And they all heard a voice that came to all of them from above, insomuch that no one of these words escaped them, which Moses wrote on two tables; which it is not lawful for us to set down directly, but their import we will declare.

3.5.5. The first commandment teaches us that there is but one Elohim, and that we ought to worship him only. The second commands us not to make the image of any living creature to worship it. The third, that we must not swear by Elohim in a false matter. The fourth, that we must keep the seventh day, by resting from all sorts of work. The fifth, that we must honor our parents. The sixth that we must abstain from murder. The seventh that we must not commit adultery. The eighth, that we must not be guilty of theft. The ninth, that we must not bear false witness. The tenth, that we must not admit of the desire of any thing that is another’s.

3.5.6. Now when the multitude had heard Elohim himself giving those precepts which Moses had discoursed of, they rejoiced at what was said; and the congregation was dissolved: but on the following days they came to his tent, and desired him to bring them, besides, other laws from Elohim. Accordingly he appointed such laws, and afterwards informed them in what manner they should act in all cases; which laws I will make mention of in their proper time; but I will reserve most of those laws for another work, and make there a distinct explication of them.