August 19, 2023 | 4 Shiyshiy (Elul)
Parshat: Devariym (Deuteronomy) 16:18 - 21:9
Judges and officers shall you make you in all your gates, which Yahuah Elohayka gives you, throughout your tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment. 19 You shall not wrest judgment; you shall not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift blinds the eyes of the wise, and perverts the words of the righteous. 20 That which is altogether just shall you follow, that you may live, and inherit the land which Yahuah Elohayka gives you.
21 You shall not plant an Asherah pole of any trees near unto the altar of Yahuah Elohayka, which you shall make. 22 Neither shall you set up any image which Yahuah Elohayka hates.
CHAPTER 17
You shall not sacrifice unto Yahuah Elohayka any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evil-favoredness: for that is an abomination unto Yahuah Elohayka.
2 If there be found among you, within any of your gates which Yahuah Elohayka gives you, man or woman, that has wrought wickedness in the sight of Yahuah Elohayka, in transgressing his covenant, 3 And has gone and served other elohiym, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; 4 And it be told you, and you have heard of it, and inquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Yashar’el: 5 Then shall you bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto your gates, even that man or that woman, and shall stone them with stones, till they die. 6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. 7 The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put the evil away from among you.
8 If there arise a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates: then shall you arise, and get you up into the place which Yahuah Elohayka shall choose; 9 And you shall come unto the priests the Leviyiym, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; את and they shall show you the sentence of judgment: 10 And you shall do according to the sentence, which they of that place which Yahuah shall choose shall show you; and you shall guard to do according to all that they inform you: 11 According to the sentence of the Torah which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do: you shall not decline from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left. 12 And the man that will do presumptuously and will not hearken unto the priest that stands to minister there before Yahuah Elohayka, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and you shall put away the evil from Yashar’el. 13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
14 When you are come unto the land which Yahuah Elohayka gives you, and shall possess it, and shall dwell therein, and shall say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; 15 You shall in any wise set him king over you, whom Yahuah Elohayka shall choose: one from among your brethren shall you set king over you: you may not set a stranger over you, which is not your brother. 16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Mitsrayim, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as Yahuah has said unto you: Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. 17 Neither shall he multiply women to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
18 And it shall be, when he sits upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this Torah in a cepher out of that which is before the priests the Leviyiym: 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear Yahuah Elohayu, to guard all the words of this Torah and these statutes, to do them: 20 That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Yashar’el.
CHAPTER 18
The priests the Leviyiym, and all the tribe of Leviy, shall have no part nor inheritance with Yashar’el: they shall eat the offerings of Yahuah made by fire, and his inheritance. 2 Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: Yahuah is their inheritance, as he has said unto them.
3 And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw. 4 The first fruit also of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, shall you give him. 5 For Yahuah Elohayka has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in the name of Yahuah, him and his sons forever.
6 And if a Leviyiy come from any of your gates out of all Yashar’el, where he sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind unto the place which Yahuah shall choose; 7 Then he shall minister in the name of Yahuah Elohayu, as all his brethren the Leviyiym do, which stand there before Yahuah. 8 They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which comes of the sale of his patrimony.
9 When you are come into the land which Yahuah Elohayka gives you, you shall not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or one that practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto Yahuah: and because of these abominations Yahuah Elohayka drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be perfect with Yahuah Elohayka. 14 For these nations, which you shall possess, hearkened unto sorcerers, and unto diviners: but as for you, Yahuah Elohayka has not suffered you so to do.
15 Yahuah Elohayka will raise up unto you a Prophet from the midst of you, of your brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; 16 According to all that you desired of Yahuah Elohayka in Chorev in the day of the assembly, saying: Let me not hear again the voice of Yahuah Elohai, neither let me see this great fire anymore, that I die not. 17 And Yahuah said unto me: They have spoken well that which they have spoken. 18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto you, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them את all that I shall command him. 19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. 20 But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, את which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other elohiym, even that prophet shall die. 21 And if you say in your heart: How shall we know the word which Yahuah has not spoken? 22 When a prophet speaks in the name of Yahuah, if the thing follows not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which Yahuah has not spoken, but the prophet has spoken it presumptuously: you shall not be afraid of him.
CHAPTER 19
When Yahuah Elohayka has cut off the nations, whose land Yahuah Elohayka gives you, and you succeed them, and dwell in their cities, and in their houses; 2 You shall separate three cities for you in the midst of your land, which Yahuah Elohayka gives you to possess it. 3 You shall prepare a way, and divide the coasts of your land, which Yahuah Elohayka gives you to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither.
4 And this is the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither, that he may live: Whoso kills his neighbor ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past; 5 As when a man goes into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetches a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the helve, and lights upon his neighbor, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live: 6 Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past. 7 Wherefore I command you, saying: You shall separate three cities for you. 8 And if Yahuah Elohayka enlarge your coast, as he has sworn seven oaths unto your fathers, and give you all the land which he promised to give unto your fathers; 9 If you shall guard all these commandments to do them, which I command you this day, to love Yahuah Elohayka, and to walk ever in his ways; then shall you add three cities more for you, beside these three: 10 That innocent blood be not shed in your land, which Yahuah Elohayka gives you for an inheritance, and so blood be upon you.
11 But if any man hates his neighbor, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he dies, and flees into one of these cities: 12 Then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. 13 Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Yashar’el, that it may go well with you.
14 You shall not remove your neighbor's landmark, which they of old time have set in your inheritance, which you shall inherit in the land that Yahuah Elohayka gives you to possess it.
15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sins: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
16 If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong; 17 Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before Yahuah, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days; 18 And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother; 19 Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shall you put the evil away from among you. 20 And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. 21 And your eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
CHAPTER 20
When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses, and chariots, and a people more than you, be not afraid of them: for Yahuah Elohayka is with you, which brought you up out of the land of Mitsrayim. 2 And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, 3 And shall say unto them: Hear, O Yashar’el, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; 4 For Yahuah Elohaykem is he that goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.
5 And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying: What man is there that has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. 6 And what man is he that has planted a vineyard, and has not yet eaten of it? Let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it. 7 And what man is there that has betrothed a woman, and has not taken her? Let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her. 8 And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say: What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart. 9 And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.
10 When you come nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. 11 And it shall be, if it makes you answer of peace, and open unto you, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto you, and they shall serve you. 12 And if it will make no peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it: 13 And when Yahuah Elohayka has delivered it into your hands, you shall smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shall you take unto yourself; and you shall eat the spoil of your enemies, which Yahuah Elohayka has given you. 15 Thus shall you do unto all the cities which are very far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations. 16 But of the cities of these people, which Yahuah Elohayka gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes: 17 But you shall utterly destroy them; namely, the Chittiym, and the Emoriym, the Kena`aniym, and the Perizziym, the Chivviym, and the Yevuciym; as Yahuah Elohayka has commanded you: 18 That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their elohiym; so should ye sin against Yahuah Elohaykem.
19 When you shall besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for you may eat of them, and you shall not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege: 20 Only the trees which you know that they be not trees for meat, you shall destroy and cut them down; and you shall build bulwarks against the city that makes war with you, until it be subdued.
CHAPTER 21
If one be found slain in the land which Yahuah Elohayka gives you to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who has slain him: 2 Then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain: 3 And it shall be, that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer, which has not been wrought with, and which has not drawn in the yoke; 4 And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley: 5 And the priests the sons of Leviy shall come near; for them Yahuah Elohayka has chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of Yahuah; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried: 6 And all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley: 7 And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
8 Be merciful, O Yahuah, unto your people Yashar’el, whom you have redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto your people of Yashar’el's charge.
And the blood shall be forgiven them. 9 So shall you put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when you shall do that which is right in the sight of Yahuah.
Haftorah: Yesha`yahu (Isaiah) 51:12 - 52:12
I, even I, am he that comforts you: who are you, that you should be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of A’dam which shall be made as grass; 13 And forget Yahuah Oseka, that has stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and have feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor? 14 The captive exile hastens that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. 15 But I am Yahuah Elohayka, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: Yahuah Tseva’oth is his name. 16 And I have put my words in your mouth, and I have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Tsiyon: You are my people.
17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Yerushalayim, which have drunk at the hand of Yahuah the cup of his fury; you have drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out. 18 There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she has brought forth; neither is there any that takes her by the hand of all the sons that she has brought up. 19 These two things are come unto you; who shall be sorry for you? Desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort you? 20 Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of Yahuah, the rebuke of your Elohiym.
21 Therefore hear now this, you afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine: 22 Thus says your Adonai Yahuah, and your Elohiym that pleads the cause of his people: Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; you shall no more drink it again: 23 But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict you; which have said to your soul: Bow down, that we may go over: and you have laid your body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.
CHAPTER 52
Awake, awake; put on your strength, O Tsiyon; put on your beautiful garments, O Yerushalayim, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no longer come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. 2 Shake yourself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Yerushalayim: loosen yourself from the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Tsiyon. 3 For thus says Yahuah, Ye have sold yourselves for naught; and ye shall be redeemed without money. 4 For thus says Adonai Yahuah: My people went down aforetime into Mitsrayim to sojourn there; and Ashshur oppressed them without cause. 5 Now therefore, what have I here, says Yahuah, that my people are taken away for naught? They that rule over them make them to howl, says Yahuah; and my name continually every day is blasphemed. 6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he who speaks: behold, it is I.
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings the Besorah, that publishes peace; that brings good news of good, that publishes yeshu`ah; that says unto Tsiyon: Your Elohiym reigns! 8 Your watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when Yahuah shall bring again Tsiyon.
9 Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Yerushalayim: for Yahuah has comforted his people, he has redeemed Yerushalayim. 10 Yahuah has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see את the yeshu`ah of our Elohiym.
11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of Yahuah. 12 For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for Yahuah will go before you; and the Elohai of Yashar’el will be your rearward.
Besorah: Mattithyahu (Matthew) 26:47 - 27:10
47 And while he yet spoke, lo, Yahudah, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. 48 Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying: Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. 49 And forthwith he came to Yahusha, and said: Hail, Adonai; and kissed him. 50 And Yahusha said unto him: Friend, wherefore are you come? Then came they, and laid hands on Yahusha, and took him. 51 And, behold, one of them which were with Yahusha stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear. 52 Then said Yahusha unto him: Put up again your sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. 53 Think you that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? 55 In that same hour said Yahusha to the multitudes: Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the Temple, and ye laid no hold on me. 56 But all this was done, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the Talmidiym forsook him and fled.
57 And they that had laid hold on Yahusha led him away to Qayapha the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. 58 But Kepha followed him afar off unto the high priest's palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, to see the end. 59 Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Yahusha, to put him to death; 60 But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses, 61 And said: This fellow said, I am able to destroy the Temple of Elohiym, and to build it in three days. 62 And the high priest arose, and said unto him: Answer you nothing? What is it which these witness against you? 63 But Yahusha held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him: I adjure you by the living El, that you tell us whether you be Ha’Mashiach, the Son of Elohiym. 64 Yahusha said unto him: You have said it. Nevertheless I say unto you: Hereafter shall ye see the Son of A’dam sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. 65 Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying: He has spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. 66 What think ye? They answered and said: He is guilty of death. 67 Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands, 68 Saying, Prophesy unto us, Mashiach: Who is he who smote you?
69 Now Kepha sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying: You also were with Yahusha of Galiyl. 70 But he denied before them all, saying: I know not what you say. 71 And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there: This fellow was also with Yahusha the Netseriy. 72 And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. 73 And after a while they came unto him those who stood by and said to Kepha: Surely you also are one of them; for your speech bewrays you. 74 Then he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. 75 And Kepha remembered the word of Yahusha, which said unto him: Before the cock crow, you shall deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly.
CHAPTER 27
When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Yahusha to put him to death: 2 And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. 3 Then Yahudah, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said: What is that to us? See you to that. 5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the Temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. 6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces and said: It is not Lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. 7 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. 8 Wherefore that field was called: The Field of Blood, unto this day. 9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Zakaryahu the prophet, saying:
And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Yashar’el did value; 10 And gave them for the potter's field, as Yahuah commanded me.