פרשת השבוע וירא
Parashah Vayera • He appeared
Genesis 18:1-22:24

Torah

B'resheet (Genesis) 18:1-22:24

^18:1The LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. ^18:2He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth, ^18:3and said, "My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don't go away from your servant. ^18:4Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. ^18:5I will get a morsel of bread so you can refresh your heart. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant."

They said, "Very well, do as you have said."

^18:6Avraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Quickly make ready three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes." ^18:7Avraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it. ^18:8He took butter, milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree, and they ate.

^18:9They said to him, "Where is Sarah, your wife?

He said, "See, in the tent."

^18:10He said, "I will certainly return to you when the season comes round. Behold, Sarah your wife will have a son."

Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him. ^18:11Now Avraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. It had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. ^18:12Sarah laughed within herself, saying, "After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?"

^18:13The LORD said to Avraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Will I really bear a child, yet I am old?' ^18:14Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son."

^18:15Then Sarah denied, saying, "I didn't laugh," for she was afraid."

He said, "No, but you did laugh."

^18:16The men rose up from there, and looked toward Sedom. Avraham went with them to see them on their way. ^18:17The LORD said, "Will I hide from Avraham what I do, ^18:18seeing that Avraham has surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him? ^18:19For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that the LORD may bring on Avraham that which he has spoken of him." ^18:20The LORD said, "Because the cry of Sedom and `Amorah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, ^18:21I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come to me. If not, I will know."

^18:22The men turned from there, and went toward Sedom, but Avraham stood yet before the LORD. ^18:23Avraham drew near, and said, "Will you consume the righteous with the wicked? ^18:24What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are therein? ^18:25Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn't the Judge of all the earth do right?"

^18:26The LORD said, "If I find in Sedom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake." ^18:27Avraham answered, "See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, who am but dust and ashes. ^18:28What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?"

He said, "I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five there."

^18:29He spoke to him yet again, and said, "What if there are forty found there?"

He said, "I will not do it for the forty's sake."

^18:30He said, "Oh don't let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?"

He said, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there."

^18:31He said, "See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?"

He said, "I will not destroy it for the twenty's sake."

^18:32He said, "Oh don't let the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once. What if ten are found there?"

He said, "I will not destroy it for the ten's sake."

^18:33The LORD went his way, as soon as he had finished communing with Avraham, and Avraham returned to his place.

^19:1The two angels came to Sedom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sedom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth, ^19:2and he said, "See now, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you will rise up early, and go on your way."

They said, "No, but we will stay in the street all night."

^19:3He urged them greatly, and they came in with him, and entered into his house. He made them a feast, and baked matzah, and they ate. ^19:4But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sedom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. ^19:5They called to Lot, and said to him, "Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them."

^19:6Lot went out to them to the door, and shut the door after him. ^19:7He said, "Please, my brothers, don't act so wickedly. ^19:8See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and do you to them as is good in your eyes. Only don't do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof."

^19:9They said, "Stand back!" They said, "This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now will we deal worse with you, than with them!" They pressed hard on the man, even Lot, and drew near to break the door. ^19:10But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. ^19:11They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

^19:12The men said to Lot, "Do you have anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whoever you have in the city, bring them out of the place: ^19:13for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is grown great before the LORD. The LORD has sent us to destroy it."

^19:14Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, "Get up! Get out of this place, for the LORD will destroy the city."

But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking. ^19:15When the morning arose, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, "Arise, take your wife, and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city." ^19:16But he lingered; and the men laid hold on his hand, and on the hand of his wife, and on the hand of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city. ^19:17It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, "Escape for your life! Don't look behind you, neither stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed!"

^19:18Lot said to them, "Oh, not so, my lord. ^19:19See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can't escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die. ^19:20See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn't it a little one?), and my soul will live."

^19:21He said to him, "Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ^19:22Hurry, escape there, for I can't do anything until you get there." Therefore the name of the city was called Tzo`ar.

^19:23The sun was risen on the earth when Lot came to Tzo`ar. <sup>19:24</sup>Then the LORD rained on Sedom and on `Amorah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of the sky. ^19:25He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground. ^19:26But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

^19:27Avraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD. ^19:28He looked toward Sedom and `Amorah, and toward all the land of the plain, and looked, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.

^19:29It happened, when G-d destroyed the cities of the plain, that G-d remembered Avraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

^19:30Lot went up out of Tzo`ar, and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to live in Tzo`ar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters. ^19:31The firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. ^19:32Come, let's make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed." ^19:33They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose. ^19:34It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine again, tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed." ^19:35They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger arose, and lay with him. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose. ^19:36Thus both of Lot's daughters were with child by their father. ^19:37The firstborn bore a son, and named him Mo'av. The same is the father of the Mo`avim to this day. <sup>19:38</sup>The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben-`Ammi. The same is the father of the children of `Ammon to this day.

^20:1Avraham traveled from there toward the land of the South, and lived between Kadesh and Shur. He lived as a foreigner in Gerar. ^20:2Avraham said about Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." Avimelekh king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. ^20:3But G-d came to Avimelekh in a dream of the night, and said to him, "Behold, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken. For she is a man's wife."

^20:4Now Avimelekh had not come near her. He said, "Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation? ^20:5Didn't he tell me, 'She is my sister?' She, even she herself said, 'He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands have I done this."

^20:6God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore I didn't allow you to touch her. ^20:7Now therefore, restore the man's wife. For he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. If you don't restore her, know for sure that you will die, you, and all who are yours."

^20:8Avimelekh rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ear. The men were very scared. ^20:9Then Avimelekh called Avraham, and said to him, "What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done!" ^20:10Avimelekh said to Avraham, "What did you see, that you have done this thing?"

^20:11Avraham said, "Because I thought, 'Surely the fear of G-d is not in this place. They will kill me for my wife's sake.' ^20:12Moreover she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. ^20:13It happened, when G-d caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, 'This is your kindness which you shall show to me. Everywhere that we go, say of me, "He is my brother."'"

^20:14Avimelekh took sheep and oxen, men-servants and women-servants, and gave them to Avraham, and restored Sarah, his wife to him. ^20:15Avimelekh said, "Behold, my land is before you. Dwell where it pleases you." ^20:16To Sarah he said, "Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. Behold, it is for you a covering of the eyes to all that are with you. In front of all you are vindicated."

^20:17Avraham prayed to G-d. G-d healed Avimelekh, and his wife, and his maid-servants, and they bore children. ^20:18For the LORD had closed up tight all the wombs of the house of Avimelekh, because of Sarah, Avraham's wife.

^21:1The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had spoken. ^21:2Sarah conceived, and bore Avraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which G-d had spoken to him. ^21:3Avraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bare to him, Yitzchak. ^21:4Avraham circumcised his son, Yitzchak, when he was eight days old, as G-d had commanded him. ^21:5Avraham was one hundred years old when his son, Yitzchak, was born to him. ^21:6Sarah said, "God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me." ^21:7She said, "Who would have said to Avraham, that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age."

^21:8The child grew, and was weaned. Avraham made a great feast on the day that Yitzchak was weaned. ^21:9Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Avraham, mocking. ^21:10Therefore she said to Avraham, "Cast out this handmaid and her son! For the son of this handmaid will not be heir with my son, even with Yitzchak."

^21:11The thing was very grievous in Avraham's sight on account of his son. ^21:12God said to Avraham, "Don't let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your handmaid. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For from Yitzchak will your seed be called. ^21:13Also of the son of the handmaid will I make a nation, because he is your seed." ^21:14Avraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Be'er-Sheva. ^21:15The water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. ^21:16She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, "Don't let me see the death of the child." She sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. ^21:17God heard the voice of the boy.

The angel of G-d called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Don't be afraid. For G-d has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ^21:18Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him in your hand. For I will make him a great nation."

^21:19God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the bottle with water, and gave the boy drink. ^21:20God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer. ^21:21He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.

^21:22It happened at that time, that Avimelekh and Pikhol the captain of his host spoke to Avraham, saying, "God is with you in all that you do. ^21:23Now therefore swear to me here by G-d that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son. But according to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall do to me, and to the land in which you have lived as a foreigner."

^21:24Avraham said, "I will swear." ^21:25Avraham complained to Avimelekh because of a water well, which Avimelekh's servants had violently taken away. ^21:26Avimelekh said, "I don't know who has done this thing. Neither did you tell me, neither did I hear of it, until today."

^21:27Avraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Avimelekh. Those two made a covenant. ^21:28Avraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. ^21:29Avimelekh said to Avraham, "What do these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves mean?"

^21:30He said, "You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that it may be a witness to me, that I have dug this well." ^21:31Therefore he called that place Be'er-Sheva, because they both swore there. ^21:32So they made a covenant at Be'er-Sheva. Avimelekh rose up with Pikhol, the captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Pelishtim. ^21:33Avraham planted a tamarisk tree in Be'er-Sheva, and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting G-d. ^21:34Avraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Pelishtim many days.

^22:1It happened after these things, that G-d tested Avraham, and said to him, "Avraham!"

He said, "Here I am."

^22:2He said, "Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, even Yitzchak, and go into the land of Moriyah. Offer him there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of."

^22:3Avraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Yitzchak his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which G-d had told him. ^22:4On the third day Avraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place far off. ^22:5Avraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go yonder. We will worship, and come back to you. ^22:6Avraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Yitzchak his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. They both went together. ^22:7Yitzchak spoke to Avraham his father, and said, "My father?"

He said, "Here I am, my son."

He said, "Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

^22:8Avraham said, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they both went together. ^22:9They came to the place which G-d had told him of. Avraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, bound Yitzchak his son, and laid him on the altar, on the wood. ^22:10Avraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to kill his son.

^22:11The angel of the LORD called to him out of the sky, and said, "Avraham, Avraham!"

He said, "Here I am."

^22:12He said, "Don't lay your hand on the boy, neither do anything to him. For now I know that you fear G-d, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."

^22:13Avraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw that behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Avraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son. ^22:14Avraham called the name of that place Yahweh-Jireh. As it is said to this day, "In the LORD's mountain it will be provided.

^22:15The angel of the LORD called to Avraham a second time out of the sky, ^22:16and said, "I have sworn by myself, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, ^22:17that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore. Your seed will possess the gate of his enemies. ^22:18In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice."

^22:19So Avraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Be'er-Sheva. Avraham lived at Be'er-Sheva.

^22:20It happened after these things, that it was told Avraham, saying, "Behold, Milkah, she also has borne children to your brother Nachor: ^22:21`Utz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemu'el the father of Aram, <sup>22:22</sup>Kesed, Chazo, Pildash, Yidlaf, and Betu'el." <sup>22:23</sup>Betu'el became the father of Rivka. These eight Milkah bore to Nachor, Avraham's brother. <sup>22:24</sup>His concubine, whose name was Re'umah, also bare Tebah, Gacham, Tachash, and Ma`akhah.

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Haftarah

Melakhim Beit (2 Kings) 4:1-37 (A); 4:1-23 (S)

^4:1Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take to him my two children to be bondservants."

^4:2Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? tell me; what have you in the house?"

She said, "Your handmaid has nothing in the house, except a pot of oil.

^4:3Then he said, "Go, borrow you vessels abroad of all your neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. ^4:4You shall go in, and shut the door on you and on your sons, and pour out into all those vessels; and you shall set aside that which is full."

^4:5So she went from him, and shut the door on her and on her sons; they brought the vessels to her, and she poured out. ^4:6It happened, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, "Bring me yet a vessel." He said to her, "There isn't another vessel." The oil stayed. ^4:7Then she came and told the man of G-d.

He said, "Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt, and live you and your sons of the rest."

^4:8It fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. So it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread. ^4:9She said to her husband, "See now, I perceive that this is a holy man of G-d, that passes by us continually. ^4:10Let us make, Please, a little chamber on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a seat, and a lamp stand: and it shall be, when he comes to us, that he shall turn in there."

^4:11It fell on a day, that he came there, and he turned into the chamber and lay there. ^4:12He said to Gechazi his servant, "Call this Shunammite." When he had called her, she stood before him. ^4:13He said to him, "Say now to her, 'Behold, you have been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for you? would you be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host?'"

She answered, "I dwell among my own people."

^4:14He said, "What then is to be done for her?"

Gechazi answered, "Most assuredly she has no son, and her husband is old."

^4:15He said, "Call her." When he had called her, she stood in the door. ^4:16He said, "At this season, when the time comes round, you shall embrace a son."

She said, "No, my lord, you man of G-d, do not lie to your handmaid." ^4:17The woman conceived, and bore a son at that season, when the time came round, as Elisha had said to her.

^4:18When the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. ^4:19He said to his father, "My head, my head."

He said to his servant, "Carry him to his mother."

^4:20When he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and then died. ^4:21She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of G-d, and shut the door on him, and went out. ^4:22She called to her husband, and said, "Please send me one of the servants, and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of G-d, and come again."

^4:23He said, "Why will you go to him today? it is neither new moon nor Shabbat."

She said, "It shall be well." ^4:24Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, "Drive, and go forward; don't slacken me the riding, except I bid you." ^4:25So she went, and came to the man of G-d to Mount Karmel.

It happened, when the man of G-d saw her afar off, that he said to Gechazi his servant, "Behold, yonder is the Shunammite: ^4:26please run now to meet her, and ask her, Is it well with you? is it well with your husband? is it well with the child?"

She answered, "It is well."

^4:27When she came to the man of G-d to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. Gechazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of G-d said, "Let her alone: for her soul is vexed within her; and the LORD has hid it from me, and has not told me".

 ^4:28Then she said, "Did I desire a son of my lord? Didn't I say, Do not deceive me?"

^4:29Then he said to Gechazi, "Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go your way: if you meet any man, Don't greet him; and if anyone greets you, don't answer him again: and lay my staff on the face of the child."

^4:30The mother of the child said, "As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you."

He arose, and followed her. ^4:31Gechazi passed on before them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Therefore he returned to meet him, and told him, saying, "The child has not awakened." ^4:32When Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid on his bed. ^4:33He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and prayed to the LORD. ^4:34He went up, and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands: and he stretched himself on him; and the flesh of the child grew warm. ^4:35Then he returned, and walked in the house once back and forth; and went up, and stretched himself on him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. ^4:36He called Gechazi, and said, "Call this Shunammite." So he called her. When she was come in to him, he said, "Take up your son." ^4:37Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; and she took up her son, and went out.

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B'rit Hadashah

The Blessing of the B'rit Chadasha
Ba-rooch ah-ta Adonai, Eh-lo-hay-noo meh-lech ha-oh­lahm, ah-shehr na-tahn la-noo ma-she-ahch Yeshua, v’ha-deeb­rote shell Ha-breet Ha-cha-da-sha, ba-rooch ah-ta Adonai, no­tain Ha-breet Ha-cha-da-shah. Blessed are You, O Lord our G-d, King of the Universe, Who has given us Messiah Yeshua and the commandments of the New Covenant. Blessed are You, O Lord, Giver of the New Covenant.

Luke 17:26-37

^17:26As it happened in the days of Noach, even so will it be also in the days of the Son of Man. ^17:27They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noach entered into the teivah, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. ^17:28Likewise, even as it happened in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; ^17:29but in the day that Lot went out from Sedom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky, and destroyed them all. ^17:30It will be the same way in the day that the Son of Man is revealed. ^17:31In that day, he who will be on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away. Let him who is in the field likewise not turn back. ^17:32Remember Lot's wife! ^17:33Whoever seeks to save his life loses it, but whoever loses his life preserves it. ^17:34I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed. The one will be taken, and the other will be left. ^17:35There will be two grinding grain together. One will be taken, and the other will be left." ^17:36

^17:37They answering, asked him, "Where, Lord?"

He said to them, "Where the body is, there will the vultures also be gathered together."

Romans 9:6-9

^9:6But it is not as though the word of G-d has come to nothing. For they are not all Yisra'el, that are of Yisra'el. ^9:7Neither, because they are Avraham's seed, are they all children. But, "In Yitzchak will your seed be called." ^9:8That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of G-d, but the children of the promise are counted as a seed. ^9:9For this is a word of promise, "At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son."

Galatians 4:21-31

^4:21Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, don't you listen to the law? ^4:22For it is written that Avraham had two sons, one by the handmaid, and one by the free woman. ^4:23However, the son by the handmaid was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through promise. ^4:24These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar. ^4:25For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in `Arav, and answers to the Yerushalayim that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children. ^4:26But the Yerushalayim that is above is free, which is the mother of us all. ^4:27For it is written,

 "Rejoice, you barren who don't bear.
      Break forth and shout, you that don't travail.
      For more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband."

^4:28Now we, brothers, as Yitzchak was, are children of promise. ^4:29But as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. ^4:30However what does the Scripture say? "Throw out the handmaid and her son, for the son of the handmaid will not inherit with the son of the free woman." ^4:31So then, brothers, we are not children of a handmaid, but of the free woman.

Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 6:13-20; 11:13-19

^6:13For when G-d made a promise to Avraham, since he could swear by none greater, he swore by himself, ^6:14saying, "Most surely I will bless you, and I will surely multiply you." ^6:15Thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise. ^6:16For men indeed swear by a greater one, and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation. ^6:17In this way G-d, being determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath; ^6:18that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for G-d to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us. ^6:19This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil; ^6:20where as a forerunner Yeshua entered for us, having become a kohen gadol forever after the order of Malki-Tzedek.

^11:13These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. ^11:14For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking after a country of their own. ^11:15If indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had enough time to return. ^11:16But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore G-d is not ashamed of them, to be called their G-d, for he has prepared a city for them.

^11:17By faith, Avraham, being tested, offered up Yitzchak. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his one and only son; ^11:18even he to whom it was said, "In Yitzchak will your seed be called;" ^11:19accounting that G-d is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.

Ya'acov (James) 2:14-24

^2:14What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? ^2:15And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, ^2:16and one of you tells them, "Go in shalom, be warmed and filled;" and yet you didn't give them the things the body needs, what good is it? ^2:17Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself. ^2:18Yes, a man will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith.

^2:19You believe that G-d is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder. ^2:20But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead? ^2:21Wasn't Avraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Yitzchak his son on the altar? ^2:22You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected; ^2:23and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Avraham believed G-d, and it was accounted to him as righteousness;" and he was called the friend of G-d. ^2:24You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith.

2 Kefa (Peter) 2:4-10 

^2:4For if G-d didn't spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved to judgment; ^2:5and didn't spare the ancient world, but preserved Noach with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly; ^2:6and turning the cities of Sedom and `Amorah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly; ^2:7and delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked ^2:8(for that righteous man dwelling among them, was tormented in his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds): ^2:9the Lord knows how to deliver the G-dly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment; ^2:10but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries;

The Blessing of the Messiah
Ba-rooch ah-ta Adonai Eh-lo-hay-noo, meh-lekh ha-oh-lahm, ah-sher keed-sha-noo beed-va-reh-kha v'na-tahn la-noo et Yeshua M'shee-khay-noo, v'tzee-va-noo l'he-oat oar la-oh-lahm. O-mein. Blessed are You, O Lord our G-d, King of the Universe, Who has sanctified us in Your Word, and given us us Yeshua, our Messiah, and commanded us to be a light to the world. Amen.

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