Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

1 “Listen, Isra’el! You are to cross the Yarden today, to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, great cities fortified up to the sky;

2 a people great and tall, the ‘Anakim, whom you know about and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the descendants of ‘Anak?’

3 Therefore understand today thatAdonaiyour God will himself cross ahead of you as a devouring fire; he will destroy them and bring them down before you. Thus will you drive them out and cause them to perish quickly, asAdonaihas said to you.

(iii)

4 “Don’t think to yourself, after your God has pushed them out ahead of you, ‘It is to reward my righteousness thatAdonaihas brought me in to take possession of this land.’ No, it is because these nations have been so wicked thatAdonaiis driving them out ahead of you.

5 It is not because of your righteousness, or because your heart is so upright, that you go in to take possession of their land; but to punish the wickedness of these nations thatAdonaiyour God is driving them out ahead of you, and also to confirm the word whichAdonaiswore to your ancestors, Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov.

6 Therefore, understand that it is not for your righteousness thatAdonaiyour God is giving you this good land to possess.

“For you are a stiffnecked people!

7 Remember, don’t forget, how you madeAdonaiyour God angry in the desert. From the day you left the land of Egypt till you arrived at this place, you have been rebelling againstAdonai.

8 Also in Horev you madeAdonaiangry —Adonaiwas angry enough with you to destroy you!

9 I had gone up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets on which was written the covenantAdonaihad made with you. I stayed on the mountain forty days and nights without eating food or drinking water.

10 ThenAdonaigave me the two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God; and on them was written every wordAdonaihad said to you from the fire on the mountain the day of the assembly.

11 Yes, after forty days and nightsAdonaigave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant.

12 ThenAdonaisaid to me, ‘Get up, and hurry down from here, because your people, whom you led out of Egypt, have become corrupt. So quickly have they turned aside from the way I ordered them to follow! They have made themselves a metal image!’

13 Moreover,Adonaisaid to me, ‘I have seen this people, and what a stiffnecked people they are!

14 Let me alone, so that I can put an end to them and blot out their name from under heaven! I will make out of you a nation bigger and stronger than they.’

15 I came down from the mountain. The mountain was blazing fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.

16 I looked, and there, you had sinned againstAdonaiyour God! You had made yourselves a metal calf, you had turned aside quickly from the wayAdonaihad ordered you to follow.

17 I seized the two tablets, threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes.

18 Then I fell down beforeAdonai, as I had the first time, for forty days and nights, during which time I neither ate food nor drank water, all because of the sin you committed by doing what was evil in the sight ofAdonaiand thus provoking him.

19 I was terrified that because of how angryAdonaiwas at you, of how heatedly displeased he was, that he would destroy you. ButAdonailistened to me that time too.

20 In addition,Adonaiwas very angry with Aharon and would have destroyed him; but I prayed for Aharon also at the same time.

21 I took your sin, the calf you had made, and burned it up in the fire, beat it to pieces, and ground it up still smaller, until it was as fine as dust; then I threw its dust into the stream coming down from the mountain.

22 “Again at Tav‘erah, Massah and Kivrot-HaTa’avah you madeAdonaiangry;

23 and whenAdonaisent you off from Kadesh-Barnea by saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land I have given you,’ you rebelled against the order ofAdonaiyour God — you neither trusted him nor heeded what he said.

24 You have been rebelling againstAdonaifrom the day I first knew you!

25 “So I fell down beforeAdonaifor those forty days and nights; and I lay there; becauseAdonaihad said he would destroy you.

26 I prayed toAdonai; I said, ‘adonaiElohim! Don’t destroy your people, your inheritance! You redeemed them through your greatness, you brought them out of Egypt with a strong hand!

27 Remember your servants Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov! Don’t focus on the stubbornness of this people, or on their wickedness or on their sin.

28 Otherwise, the land you brought us out of will say, “It is becauseAdonaiwasn’t able to bring them into the land he promised them and because he hated them that he has brought them out to kill them in the desert.”

29 But in fact they are your people, your inheritance, whom you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.’

1 (iv)“At that timeAdonaisaid to me, ‘Cut yourself two stone tablets like the first ones, come up to me on the mountain, and make yourself an ark of wood.

2 I will inscribe on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you are to put them in the ark.’

3 So I made an ark of acacia-wood and cut two stone tablets like the first, then climbed the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.

4 He inscribed the tablets with the same inscription as before, the Ten Words whichAdonaiproclaimed to you from the fire on the mountain the day of the assembly; andAdonaigave them to me.

5 I turned, came down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made; and there they remain; asAdonaiordered me.

6 “The people of Isra’el traveled from the wells of B’nei-Ya‘akan to Moserah, where Aharon died and was buried; and El‘azar his son took his place, serving in the office ofcohen.

7 From there they traveled to Gudgod, and from Gudgod to Yotvatah, a region with running streams.

8 At that timeAdonaiset apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark for the covenant ofAdonaiand to stand beforeAdonaito serve him and to bless in his name, as they still do today.

9 This is why Levi has no share or inheritance with his brothers;Adonaiis his inheritance, asAdonaiyour God had said to him.

10 “I stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, as previously; andAdonailistened to me that time too —Adonaiwould not destroy you.

11 ThenAdonaisaid to me, ‘Get up, and go on your way at the head of the people, so that they can enter and take possession of the land I swore to their ancestors that I would give them.’

(v)

12 “So now, Isra’el, all thatAdonaiyour God asks from you is to fearAdonaiyour God, follow all his ways, love him and serveAdonaiyour God with all your heart and all your being;

13 to obey, for your own good, themitzvotand regulations ofAdonaiwhich I am giving you today.

14 See, the sky, the heaven beyond the sky, the earth and everything on it all belong toAdonaiyour God.

15 OnlyAdonaitook enough pleasure in your ancestors to love them and choose their descendants after them — yourselves — above all peoples, as he still does today.

16 Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart; and don’t be stiffnecked any longer!

17 ForAdonaiyour God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty and awesome God, who has no favorites and accepts no bribes.

18 He secures justice for the orphan and the widow; he loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.

19 Therefore you are to love the foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

20 You are to fearAdonaiyour God, serve him, cling to him and swear by his name.

21 He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things, which you have seen with your own eyes.

22 Your ancestors went down into Egypt with only seventy people, but nowAdonaiyour God has made your numbers as many as the stars in the sky!

1 “Therefore, you are to loveAdonaiyour God and always obey his commission, regulations, rulings andmitzvot.

2 Today it is you I am addressing — not your children, who haven’t known or experienced the discipline ofAdonaiyour God, his greatness, his strong hand, his outstretched arm,

3 his signs and his actions which he did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to his entire country.

4 They didn’t experience what he did to Egypt’s army, horses and chariots — howAdonaioverwhelmed them with the water of the Sea of Suf as they were pursuing you, so that they remain destroyed to this day.

5 They didn’t experience what he kept doing for you in the desert until you arrived at this place;

6 or what he did to Datan and Aviram, the sons of Eli’av the descendant of Re’uven — how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, along with their households, tents and every living thing in their company, there in front of all Isra’el.

7 But you have seen with your own eyes all these great deeds ofAdonai.

8 Therefore, you are to keep everymitzvahI am giving you today; so that you will be strong enough to go in and take possession of the land you are crossing over to conquer;

9 and so that you will live long in the landAdonaiswore to give to your ancestors and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

(vi)

10 “For the land you are entering in order to take possession of it isn’t like the land of Egypt. There you would sow your seed and had to use your feet to operate its irrigation system, as in a vegetable garden.

11 But the land you are crossing over to take possession of is a land of hills and valleys, which soaks up water when rain falls from the sky.

12 It is a landAdonaiyour God cares for. The eyes ofAdonaiyour God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

13 “So if you listen carefully to mymitzvotwhich I am giving you today, to loveAdonaiyour God and serve him with all your heart and all your being;

14 then, [saysAdonai,] ‘I will give your land its rain at the right seasons, including the early fall rains and the late spring rains; so that you can gather in your wheat, new wine and olive oil;

15 and I will give your fields grass for your livestock; with the result that you will eat and be satisfied.’

16 But be careful not to let yourselves be seduced, so that you turn aside, serving other gods and worshipping them.

17 If you do, the anger ofAdonaiwill blaze up against you. He will shut up the sky, so that there will be no rain. The ground will not yield its produce, and you will quickly pass away from the good landAdonaiis giving you.

18 Therefore, you are to store up these words of mine in your heart and in all your being; tie them on your hand as a sign; put them at the front of a headband around your forehead;

19 teach them carefully to your children, talking about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up;

20 and write them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates —

21 so that you and your children will live long on the landAdonaiswore to your ancestors that he would give them for as long as there is sky above the earth.

(vii & Maftir)

22 “For if you will take care to obey all thesemitzvotI am giving you, to do them, to loveAdonaiyour God, to follow all his ways and to cling to him,

23 thenAdonaiwill expel all these nations ahead of you; and you will dispossess nations bigger and stronger than you are.

24 Wherever the sole of your foot steps will be yours; your territory will extend from the desert to the L’vanon and from the River, the Euphrates River, to the Western Sea.

25 No one will be able to withstand you;Adonaiyour God will place the fear and dread of you on all the land you step on, as he told you.

Haftarah ‘Ekev: Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) 49:14–51:3

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah ‘Ekev: Mattityahu (Matthew) 4:1–11; Luke 4:1–13; Ya‘akov (James) 5:7–11

Parashah 47: Re’eh (See) 11:26 –16:17

26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse —

27 the blessing, if you listen to themitzvotofAdonaiyour God that I am giving you today;

28 and the curse, if you don’t listen to themitzvotofAdonaiyour God, but turn aside from the way I am ordering you today and follow other gods that you have not known.

29 “WhenAdonaiyour God brings you into the land you are entering in order to take possession of it, you are to put the blessing on Mount G’rizim and the curse on Mount ‘Eival.

30 Both are west of the Yarden, in the direction of the sunset, in the land of the Kena‘ani living in the ‘Aravah, across from Gilgal, near the pistachio trees of Moreh.

31 For you are to cross the Yarden to enter and take possession of the landAdonaiyour God is giving you; you are to own it and live in it.

32 And you are to take care to follow all the laws and rulings I am setting before you today.

1 Here are the laws and rulings you are to observe and obey in the landAdonai, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess as long as you live on earth.

2 You must destroy all the places where the nations you are dispossessing served their gods, whether on high mountains, on hills, or under some leafy tree.

3 Break down their altars, smash their standing-stones to pieces, burn up their sacred poles completely and cut down the carved images of their gods. Exterminate their name from that place.

4 “But you are not to treatAdonaiyour God this way.

5 Rather, you are to come to the place whereAdonaiyour God will put his name. He will choose it from all your tribes; and you will seek out that place, which is where he will live, and go there.

6 You will bring there your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tenths [that you set aside forAdonai], the offerings that you give, the offerings you have vowed, your voluntary offerings, and the firstborn of your cattle and sheep.

7 There you will eat in the presence ofAdonaiyour God; and you will rejoice over everything you set out to do, you and your households, in whichAdonaiyour God has blessed you.

8 You will not do things the way we do them here today, where everyone does whatever in his own opinion seems right;

9 because you haven’t yet arrived at the rest and inheritance whichAdonaiyour God is giving you.

10 But when you cross the Yarden and live in the landAdonaiyour God is having you inherit, and he gives you rest from all your surrounding enemies, so that you are living in safety;(ii)

11 then you will bring all that I am ordering you to the placeAdonaiyour God chooses to have his name live — your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tenths, the offering from your hand, and all your best possessions that you dedicate toAdonai;

12 and you will rejoice in the presence ofAdonaiyour God — you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves and theLevistaying with you, inasmuch as he has no share or inheritance with you.

13 “Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings just anywhere you see,

14 but do it in the placeAdonaiwill choose in one of your tribal territories; there is where you are to offer your burnt offerings and do everything I order you to do.

15 However, you may slaughter and eat meat wherever you live and whenever you want, in keeping with the degree to whichAdonaiyour God has blessed you. The unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer.

16 But don’t eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.

17 “You are not to eat on your own property the tenth of your grain, new wine or olive oil [that you set aside forAdonai], or the firstborn of your cattle or sheep, or any offering you have vowed, or your voluntary offering, or the offering from your hand.

18 No, you are to eat these in the presence ofAdonaiyour God in the placeAdonaiyour God will choose — you and your sons, daughters, male and female slaves, and theLeviwho is your guest; and you are to rejoice beforeAdonaiyour God in everything you undertake to do.

19 As long as you are living on your property, take care not to abandon theLevi.

20 “WhenAdonaiyour God expands your territory, as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I want to eat meat,’ simply because you want to eat meat, then you may eat meat, as much as you want.

21 If the place whichAdonaiyour God chooses to place his name is too far away from you; then you are to slaughter animals from your cattle or sheep, whichAdonaihas given you; and eat on your own property, as much as you want.

22 Eat it as you would gazelle or deer; the unclean and clean alike may eat it.

23 Just take care not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you are not to eat the life with the meat.

24 Don’t eat it, but pour it out on the ground like water.

25 Do not eat it, so that things will go well with you and with your children after you, as you do whatAdonaisees as right.

26 Only the things set aside for God which you have, and the vows you have vowed to make, you must take and go to the place whichAdonaiwill choose.

27 There you will offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar ofAdonaiyour God. The blood of your sacrifices is to be poured out on the altar ofAdonaiyour God, and you will eat the meat.

28 Obey and pay attention to everything I am ordering you to do, so that things will go well with you and with your descendants after you forever, as you do whatAdonaisees as good and right.

(iii)

29 “WhenAdonaiyour God has cut off ahead of you the nations you are entering in order to dispossess, and when you have dispossessed them and are living in their land;

30 be careful, after they have been destroyed ahead of you, not to be trapped into following them; so that you inquire after their gods and ask, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I want to do the same.’

31 You must not do this toAdonaiyour God! For they have done to their gods all the abominations thatAdonaihates! They even burn up their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods!

1 “Everything I am commanding you, you are to take care to do. Do not add to it or subtract from it.

2 “If a prophet or someone who gets messages while dreaming arises among you and he gives you a sign or wonder,

3 and the sign or wonder comes about as he predicted when he said, ‘Let’s follow other gods, which you have not known; and let us serve them,’

4 you are not to listen to what that prophet or dreamer says. ForAdonaiyour God is testing you, in order to find out whether you really do loveAdonaiyour God with all your heart and being.

5 You are to followAdonaiyour God, fear him, obey hismitzvot, listen to what he says, serve him and cling to him;

6 and that prophet or dreamer is to be put to death; because he urged rebellion againstAdonaiyour God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from a life of slavery; in order to seduce you away from the pathAdonaiyour God ordered you to follow. This is how you are to rid your community of this wickedness.

7 “If your brother the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or your wife whom you love, or your friend who means as much to you as yourself, secretly tries to entice you to go and serve other gods, which you haven’t known, neither you nor your ancestors —

8 gods of the peoples surrounding you, whether near or far away from you, anywhere in the world —

9 you are not to consent, and you are not to listen to him; and you must not pity him or spare him; and you may not conceal him.

10 Rather, you must kill him! Your own hand must be the first one on him in putting him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people.

11 You are to stone him to death; because he has tried to draw you away fromAdonaiyour God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of a life of slavery.

12 Then all Isra’el will hear about it and be afraid, so that they will stop doing such wickedness as this among themselves.

13 “If you hear it told that in one of your cities whichAdonaiyour God is giving you to live in,

14 certain scoundrels have sprung up among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city by saying, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods, which you haven’t known,’

15 then you are to investigate the matter, inquiring and searching diligently. If the rumor is true, if it is confirmed that such detestable things are being done among you,

16 you must put the inhabitants of that city to death with the sword, destroying it completely with the sword, everything in it, including its livestock.

17 Heap all its spoils in an open space, and burn the city with its spoils to the ground forAdonaiyour God; it will remain atelforever and not be built again —

18 none of what has been set apart for destruction is to stay in your hands. ThenAdonaiwill turn from his fierce anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and increase your numbers, as he swore to your ancestors —

19 provided you listen to whatAdonaisays and obey all hismitzvotthat I am giving you today, thus doing whatAdonaiyour God sees as right.

1 (iv)“You are the people ofAdonaiyour God. You are not to gash yourselves or shave the hair above your foreheads in mourning for the dead,

2 because you are a people set apart as holy forAdonaiyour God.Adonaiyour God has chosen you to be his own unique treasure out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

3 “You are not to eat anything disgusting.

4 The animals which you may eat are: ox, sheep, goat,

5 deer, gazelle, roebuck, ibex, antelope, oryx and mountain sheep.

6 Any animal that has a separate hoof that is completely divided and also chews the cud, these animals you may eat.

7 But you are not to eat those that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof. For example, the camel, the hare and the coney are unclean for you because they chew the cud but don’t have a separate hoof;

8 while the pig is unclean for you because, although it has a separate hoof, it doesn’t chew the cud. You are not to eat meat from these or touch their carcasses.

9 “Of all that lives in the water, you may eat these: anything in the water that has fins and scales, these you may eat.

10 But whatever lacks fins and scales you are not to eat; it is unclean for you.

11 “You may eat any clean bird;

12 but these you are not to eat: eagles, vultures, ospreys,

13 kites, any kind of buzzard,

14 any kind of raven,

15 ostriches, screech-owls, seagulls, any kind of hawk,

16 little owls, great owls, horned owls,

17 pelicans, barn owls, cormorants,

18 storks, any kind of heron, hoopoes and bats.

19 “All winged swarming creatures are unclean for you; they are not to be eaten;

20 but all clean flying creatures you may eat.

21 “You are not to eat any animal that dies naturally; although you may let a stranger staying with you eat it, or sell it to a foreigner; because you are a holy people forAdonaiyour God.

“You are not to boil a young animal in its mother’s milk.

(v)

22 “Every year you must take one tenth of everything your seed produces in the field,

23 and eat it in the presence ofAdonaiyour God. In the place where he chooses to have his name live you will eat the tenth of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your cattle and sheep, so that you will learn to fearAdonaiyour God always.

24 But if the distance is too great for you, so that you are unable to transport it, because the place whereAdonaichooses to put his name is too far away from you; then, whenAdonaiyour God prospers you,

25 you are to convert it into money, take the money with you, go to the place whichAdonaiyour God will choose,

26 and exchange the money for anything you want — cattle, sheep, wine, other intoxicating liquor, or anything you please — and you are to eat there in the presence ofAdonaiyour God, and enjoy yourselves, you and your household.

27 “But don’t neglect theLevistaying with you, because he has no share or inheritance like yours.

28 At the end of every three years you are to take all the tenths of your produce from that year and store it in your towns.

29 Then theLevi, because he has no share or inheritance like yours, along with the foreigner, the orphan and the widow living in your towns, will come, eat and be satisfied — so thatAdonaiyour God will bless you in everything your hands produce.

1 (vi)“At the end of every seven years you are to have ash’mittah.

2 Here is how thesh’mittahis to be done: every creditor is to give up what he has loaned to his fellow member of the community — he is not to force his neighbor or relative to repay it, becauseAdonai’s time of remission has been proclaimed.

3 You may demand that a foreigner repay his debt, but you are to release your claim on whatever your brother owes you.

4 In spite of this, there will be no one needy among you; becauseAdonaiwill certainly bless you in the land whichAdonaiyour God is giving you as an inheritance to possess —

5 if only you will listen carefully to whatAdonaiyour God says and take care to obey all thesemitzvotI am giving you today.

6 Yes,Adonaiyour God will bless you, as he promised you — you will lend money to many nations without having to borrow, and you will rule over many nations without their ruling over you.

7 “If someone among you is needy, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land whichAdonaiyour God is giving you, you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from giving to your needy brother.

8 No, you must open your hand to him and lend him enough to meet his need and enable him to obtain what he wants.

9 Guard yourself against allowing your heart to entertain the mean-spirited thought that because the seventh year, the year ofsh’mittahis at hand, you would be stingy toward your needy brother and not give him anything; for then he may cry out toAdonaiagainst you, and it will be your sin.

10 Rather, you must give to him; and you are not to be grudging when you give to him. If you do this,Adonaiyour God will bless you in all your work, in everything you undertake —

11 for there will always be poor people in the land. That is why I am giving you this order, ‘You must open your hand to your poor and needy brother in your land.’

12 “If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, he is to serve you for six years; but in the seventh year, you are to set him free.

13 Moreover, when you set him free, don’t let him leave empty-handed;

14 but supply him generously from your flock, threshing-floor and winepress; from whatAdonaiyour God has blessed you with, you are to give to him.

15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, andAdonaiyour God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this order today.

16 But if he says to you, ‘I don’t want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your household, and because his life with you is a good one;

17 then take an awl, and pierce his ear through, right into the door; and he will be your slave forever. Do the same with your female slave.

18 Don’t resent it when you set him free, since during his six years of service he has been worth twice as much as a hired employee. ThenAdonaiyour God will bless you in everything you do.

(vii)

19 “All the firstborn males in your herd of cattle and in your flock you are to set aside forAdonaiyour God; you are not to do any work with a firstborn from your herd or shear a firstborn sheep.

20 Each year you and your household are to eat it in the presence ofAdonaiyour God in the place whichAdonaiwill choose.

21 But if it has a defect, is lame or blind, or has some other kind of fault, you are not to sacrifice it toAdonaiyour God;

22 rather, eat it on your own property; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, like the gazelle or the deer.

23 Just don’t eat its blood, but pour it out on the ground like water.

1 “Observe the month of Aviv, and keepPesachtoAdonaiyour God; for in the month of Aviv,Adonaiyour God brought you out of Egypt at night.

2 You are to sacrifice thePesachoffering from flock and herd toAdonaiyour God in the place whereAdonaiwill choose to have his name live.

3 You are not to eat anyhametzwith it; for seven days you are to eat with itmatzah, the bread of affliction; for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste. Thus you will remember the day you left the land of Egypt as long as you live.

4 No leaven is to be seen with you anywhere in your territory for seven days. None of the meat from your sacrifice on the first day in the evening is to remain all night until morning.

5 You may not sacrifice thePesachoffering in just any of the towns thatAdonaiyour God is giving you;

6 but at the place whereAdonaiyour God will choose to have his name live — there is where you are to sacrifice thePesachoffering, in the evening, when the sun sets, at the time of year that you came out of Egypt.

7 You are to roast it and eat it in the placeAdonaiyour God will choose; in the morning you will return and go to your tents.

8 For six days you are to eatmatzah; on the seventh day there is to be a festive assembly forAdonaiyour God; do not do any kind of work.

9 “You are to count seven weeks; you are to begin counting seven weeks from the time you first put your sickle to the standing grain.

10 You are to observe the festival ofShavu‘ot[weeks] forAdonaiyour God with a voluntary offering, which you are to give in accordance with the degree to whichAdonaiyour God has prospered you.

11 You are to rejoice in the presence ofAdonaiyour God — you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, theL’vi’imliving in your towns, and the foreigners, orphans and widows living among you — in the place whereAdonaiyour God will choose to have his name live.

12 Remember that you were a slave in Egypt; then you will keep and obey these laws.

(Maftir)

13 “You are to keep the festival ofSukkotfor seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing-floor and winepress.

14 Rejoice at your festival — you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, theL’vi’im, and the foreigners, orphans and widows living among you.

15 Seven days you are to keep the festival forAdonaiyour God in the placeAdonaiyour God will choose, becauseAdonaiyour God will bless you in all your crops and in all your work, so you are to be full of joy!

16 “Three times a year all your men are to appear in the presence ofAdonaiyour God in the place which he will choose — at the festival ofmatzah, at the festival ofShavu‘otand at the festival ofSukkot.They are not to show up beforeAdonaiempty-handed,

17 but every man is to give what he can, in accordance with the blessingAdonaiyour God has given you.

Haftarah Re’eh: Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) 54:11–55:5

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Re’eh: 1 Corinthians 5:9–13; 1 Yochanan (1 John) 4:1–6

Parashah 48: Shof’tim (Judges) 16:18–21:9

18 “You are to appoint judges and officers for all your gates [in the cities]Adonaiyour God is giving you, tribe by tribe; and they are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

19 You are not to distort justice or show favoritism, and you are not to accept a bribe, for a gift blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of even the upright.

20 Justice, only justice, you must pursue; so that you will live and inherit the landAdonaiyour God is giving you.

21 “You are not to plant any sort of tree as a sacred pole beside the altar ofAdonaiyour God that you will make for yourselves.

22 Likewise, do not set up a standing-stone;Adonaiyour God hates such things.

1 “You are not to sacrifice toAdonaiyour God a cow or sheep that has a defect or anything wrong with it; that would be an abomination toAdonaiyour God.

2 “If there is found among you, within any of your gates [in any city] thatAdonaiyour God gives you, a man or woman who does whatAdonaiyour God sees as wicked, transgressing his covenant

3 by going and serving other gods and worshipping them, the sun, the moon, or anything in the sky — something I have forbidden —

4 and it is told to you, or you hear about it; then you are to investigate the matter diligently. If it is true, if it is confirmed that such detestable things are being done in Isra’el;

5 then you are to bring the man or woman who has done this wicked thing to your city gates, and stone that man or woman to death.

6 The death sentence is to be carried out only if there was testimony from two or three witnesses; he may not be sentenced to death on the testimony of only one witness.

7 The witnesses are to be the first to stone him to death; afterwards, all the people are to stone him. Thus you will put an end to this wickedness among you.

8 “If a case comes before you at your city gate which is too difficult for you to judge, concerning bloodshed, civil suit, personal injury or any other controversial issue; you are to get up, go to the place whichAdonaiyour God will choose,

9 and appear before thecohanim, who areL’vi’im, and the judge in office at the time. Seek their opinion, and they will render a verdict for you.

10 You will then act according to what they have told you there in that place whichAdonaiwill choose; you are to take care to act according to all their instructions.

11 In accordance with theTorahthey teach you, you are to carry out the judgment they render, not turning aside to the right or the left from the verdict they declare to you.

12 Anyone presumptuous enough not to pay attention to thecohenappointed there to serveAdonaiyour God or to the judge — that person must die. Thus you will exterminate such wickedness from Isra’el —

13 all the people will hear about it and be afraid to continue acting presumptuously.

(ii)

14 “When you have entered the landAdonaiyour God is giving you, have taken possession of it and are living there, you may say, ‘I want to have a king over me, like all the other nations around me.’

15 In that event, you must appoint as king the one whomAdonaiyour God will choose. He must be one of your kinsmen, this king you appoint over you — you are forbidden to appoint a foreigner over you who is not your kinsman.

16 However, he is not to acquire many horses for himself or have the people return to Egypt to obtain more horses, inasmuch asAdonaitold you never to go back that way again.

17 Likewise, he is not to acquire many wives for himself, so that his heart will not turn away; and he is not to acquire excessive quantities of silver and gold.

18 “When he has come to occupy the throne of his kingdom, he is to write a copy of thisTorahfor himself in a scroll, from the one thecohanimandL’vi’imuse.

19 It is to remain with him, and he is to read in it every day, as long as he lives; so that he will learn to fearAdonaihis God and keep all the words of thisTorahand these laws and obey them;

20 so that he will not think he is better than his kinsmen; and so that he will not turn aside either to the right or to the left from themitzvah. In this way he will prolong his own reign and that of his children in Isra’el.

1 (iii)Thecohanim, who areL’vi’im, and indeed the whole tribe of Levi, is not to have a share or an inheritance with Isra’el. Instead, their support will come from the food offered by fire toAdonaiand from whatever else becomes his.

2 They will have no inheritance with their brothers, becauseAdonaiis their inheritance — as he has said to them.

3 “Thecohanimwill have the right to receive from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether ox or sheep, the shoulder, the jowls and the stomach.

4 You will also give him the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep.

5 ForAdonaiyour God has chosen him from all your tribes to stand and serve in the name ofAdonai, him and his sons forever.

(iv)

6 “If aLevifrom one of your towns anywhere in Isra’el where he is living comes, highly motivated, to the place whichAdonaiwill choose,

7 then he will serve there in the name ofAdonaihis God, just like his kinsmen theL’vi’imwho stand and serve in the presence ofAdonai.

8 Such aLeviwill receive the same share as they do, in addition to what he may receive from selling his inherited ancestral property.

9 “When you enter the landAdonaiyour God is giving you, you are not to learn how to follow the abominable practices of those nations.

10 There must not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through fire, a diviner, a soothsayer, an enchanter, a sorcerer,

11 a spell-caster, a consulter of ghosts or spirits, or a necromancer.

12 For whoever does these things is detestable toAdonai, and because of these abominationsAdonaiyour God is driving them out ahead of you.

13 You must be wholehearted withAdonaiyour God.(v)

14 For these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to soothsayers and diviners; but you,Adonaiyour God does not allow you to do this.

15 “Adonaiwill raise up for you a prophet like me from among yourselves, from your own kinsmen. You are to pay attention to him,

16 just as when you were assembled at Horev and requestedAdonaiyour God, ‘Don’t let me hear the voice ofAdonaimy God any more, or let me see this great fire ever again; if I do, I will die!’

17 On that occasionAdonaisaid to me, ‘They are right in what they are saying.

18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kinsmen. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I order him.

19 Whoever doesn’t listen to my words, which he will speak in my name, will have to account for himself to me.

20 “‘But if a prophet presumptuously speaks a word in my name which I didn’t order him to say, or if he speaks in the name of other gods, then that prophet must die.’

21 You may be wondering, ‘How are we to know if a word has not been spoken byAdonai?’

22 When a prophet speaks in the name ofAdonai, and the prediction does not come true — that is, the word is not fulfilled — thenAdonaidid not speak that word. The prophet who said it spoke presumptuously; you have nothing to fear from him.