Bible in 90 Days

^12 (11) When evening arrives he is to bathe himself in water, and after sunset he may enter the camp. ^13 (12) Also you are to have an area outside the camp to use as a latrine. ^14 (13) You must include a trowel with your equipment, and when you relieve yourself, you are to dig a hole first and afterwards cover your excrement. ^15 (14) For Adonai your God moves about in your camp to rescue you and to hand over your enemies to you. Therefore your camp must be a holy place. [Adonai] should not see anything indecent among you, or he will turn away from you.

^16 (15) “If a slave has escaped from his master and taken refuge with you, you are not to hand him back to his master. ^17 (16) Allow him to stay with you, in whichever place suits him best among your settlements; do not mistreat him.

^18 (17) “No woman of Isra’el is to engage in ritual prostitution, and no man of Isra’el is to engage in ritual homosexual prostitution.

^19 (18) Nothing earned through heterosexual or homosexual prostitution is to be brought into the house of Adonai your God in fulfillment of any vow, for both of these are abhorrent to Adonai your God.

^20 (19) “You are not to lend at interest to your brother, no matter whether the loan is of money, food or anything else that can earn interest. ^21 (20) To an outsider you may lend at interest, but to your brother you are not to lend at interest, so that Adonai your God will prosper you in everything you set out to do in the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.

^22 (21) “When you make a vow to Adonai your God, you are not to delay in fulfilling it, for Adonai your God will certainly demand it of you, and your failure to do so will be your sin. ^23 (22) If you choose not to make a vow at all, that will not be a sin for you; ^24 (23) but if a vow passes your lips, you must take care to perform it according to what you voluntarily vowed to Adonai your God, what you promised in words spoken aloud.

(v) ^25 (24) “When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat enough grapes to satisfy your appetite; but you are not to put any in your basket. ^26 (25) When you enter your neighbor’s field of growing grain, you may pluck ears with your hand; but you are not to put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.

24 “Suppose a man marries a woman and consummates the marriage but later finds her displeasing, because he has found her offensive in some respect. He writes her a divorce document, gives it to her and sends her away from his house. ² She leaves his house, goes and becomes another man’s wife; ³ but the second husband dislikes her and writes her a get, gives it to her and sends her away from his house; or the second husband whom she married dies. ⁴ In such a case her first husband, who sent her away, may not take her again as his wife, because she is now defiled. It would be detestable to Adonai, and you are not to bring about sin in the land Adonai your God is giving you as your inheritance.

(vi) ⁵ “If a man has recently married his wife, he is not to be subject to military service; he is to be free of external obligations and left at home for one year to make his new wife happy.

⁶ “No one may take a mill or even an upper millstone as collateral for a loan, because that would be taking as collateral the debtor’s very means of sustenance.

⁷ “If a man kidnaps any of his brothers, fellow members of the community of Isra’el, and makes him his slave or sells him, that kidnapper must die; in this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you.

⁸ “When there is an outbreak of tzara‘at, be careful to observe and do just what the cohanim, who are L’vi’im, teach you. Take care to do as I ordered them. ⁹ Remember what Adonai your God did to Miryam on the road after you left Egypt.

¹⁰ “When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you are not to enter his house to take his collateral. ¹¹ You must stand outside, and the borrower will bring the collateral outside to you. ¹² If he is poor, you are not to go to bed with what he gave as collateral in your possession; ¹³ rather, you must restore the pledged item at sunset; then he will go to sleep wearing his garment and bless you. This will be an upright deed of yours before Adonai your God.

(vii) ¹⁴ “You are not to exploit a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether one of your brothers or a foreigner living in your land in your town. ¹⁵ You are to pay him his wages the day he earns them, before sunset; for he is poor and looks forward to being paid. Otherwise he will cry out against you to Adonai, and it will be your sin.

¹⁶ “Fathers are not to be executed for the children, nor are children to be executed for the fathers; every person will be executed for his own sin.

¹⁷ “You are not to deprive the foreigner or the orphan of the justice which is his due, and you are not to take a widow’s clothing as collateral for a loan. ¹⁸ Rather, remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and Adonai your God redeemed you from there. That is why I am ordering you to do this.

¹⁹ “When harvesting the grain in your field, if you forgot a sheaf of grain there, you are not to go back and get it; it will remain there for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow, so that Adonai your God will bless you in all the work you do. ²⁰ When you beat your olive tree, you are not to go back over the branches again; the olives that are left will be for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow. ²¹ When you gather the grapes from your vineyard, you are not to return and pick grapes a second time; what is left will be for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow. ²² Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. That is why I am ordering you to do this.

25 “If people have a dispute, seek its resolution in court, and the judges render a decision in favor of the righteous one and condemning the wicked one; ² then, if the wicked one deserves to be flogged, the judge is to have him lie down and be flogged in his presence. The number of strokes is to be proportionate to his offense; ³ but the maximum number is forty. He is not to exceed this; if he goes over this limit and beats him more than this, your brother will be humiliated before your eyes.

⁴ “You are not to muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.

⁵ “If brothers live together, and one of them dies childless, his widow is not to marry someone unrelated to him; her husband’s brother is to go to her and perform the duty of a brother-in-law by marrying her. ⁶ The first child she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be eliminated from Isra’el. ⁷ If the man does not wish to marry his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow is to go up to the gate, to the leaders, and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to raise up for his brother a name in Isra’el; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother for me.’ ⁸ The leaders of his town are to summon him and speak to him. If, on appearing before them, he continues to say, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’ ⁹ then his brother’s widow is to approach him in the presence of the leaders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face and say, ‘This is what is done to the man who refuses to build up his brother’s family.’ ¹⁰ From that time on, his family is to be known in Isra’el as ‘the family of the man who had his sandal pulled off.’

¹¹ “If men are fighting with each other, and the wife of one comes up to help her husband get away from the man attacking him by grabbing the attacker’s private parts with her hand, ¹² you are to cut off her hand; show no pity.

¹³ “You are not to have in your pack two sets of weights, one heavy, the other light. ¹⁴ You are not to have in your house two sets of measures, one big, the other small. ¹⁵ You are to have a correct and fair weight, and you are to have a correct and fair measure, so that you will prolong your days in the land Adonai your God is giving you. ¹⁶ For all who do such things, all who deal dishonestly, are destestable to Adonai your God.

(Maftir) ¹⁷ “Remember what ‘Amalek did to you on the road as you were coming out of Egypt, ¹⁸ how he met you by the road, attacked those in the rear, those who were exhausted and straggling behind when you were tired and weary. He did not fear God. ¹⁹ Therefore, when Adonai your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land Adonai your God is giving you as your inheritance to possess, you are to blot out all memory of ‘Amalek from under heaven. Don’t forget!

Haftarah Ki Tetze: Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) 54:1–10 [Messianic adaptation: commence the reading at 52:13]

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Ki Tetze: Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:31–32; 19:3–12; 22:23–32; Mark 10:2–12; 12:18–27; Luke 20:27–38; 1 Corinthians 9:4–18; Galatians 3:9–14; 1 Timothy 5:17–18

Parashah 50: Ki Tavo (When you come) 26:1–29:8(9)

26 “When you have come to the land Adonai your God is giving you as your inheritance, taken possession of it and settled there; ² you are to take the firstfruits of all the crops the ground yields, which you will harvest from your land that Adonai your God is giving you, put them in a basket and go to the place where Adonai your God will choose to have his name live. ³ You will approach the cohen holding office at the time and say to him, ‘Today I declare to Adonai your God that I have come to the land Adonai swore to our ancestors that he would give us.’ ⁴ The cohen will take the basket from your hand and put it down in front of the altar of Adonai your God.

⁵ “Then, in the presence of Adonai your God, you are to say, ‘My ancestor was a nomad from Aram. He went down into Egypt few in number and stayed. There he became a great, strong, populous nation. ⁶ But the Egyptians treated us badly; they oppressed us and imposed harsh slavery on us. ⁷ So we cried out to Adonai, the God of our ancestors. Adonai heard us and saw our misery, toil and oppression; ⁸ and Adonai brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and a stretched-out arm, with great terror, and with signs and wonders. ⁹ Now he has brought us to this place and given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ Therefore, as you see, I have now brought the firstfruits of the land which you, Adonai, have given me.’ You are then to put the basket down before Adonai your God, prostrate yourself before Adonai your God, ¹¹ and take joy in all the good that Adonai your God has given you, your household, the Levi and the foreigner living with you.

(ii) ¹² “After you have separated a tenth of the crops yielded in the third year, the year of separating a tenth, and have given it to the Levi, the foreigner, the orphan and the widow, so that they can have enough food to satisfy them while staying with you; ¹³ you are to say, in the presence of Adonai your God, ‘I have rid my house of the things set aside for God and given them to the Levi, the foreigner, the orphan and the widow, in keeping with every one of the mitzvot you gave me. I haven’t disobeyed any of your mitzvot or forgotten them. ¹⁴ I haven’t eaten any of this food when mourning, I haven’t put any of it aside when unclean, nor have I given any of it for the dead. I have listened to what Adonai my God has said, and I have done everything you ordered me to do. ¹⁵ Look out from your holy dwelling-place, from heaven; and bless your people Isra’el and the land you gave us, as you swore to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.’

(iii) ¹⁶ “Today Adonai your God orders you to obey these laws and rulings. Therefore, you are to observe and obey them with all your heart and all your being. ¹⁷ You are agreeing today that Adonai is your God and that you will follow his ways; observe his laws, mitzvot and rulings; and do what he says. ¹⁸ In turn Adonai is agreeing today that you are his own unique treasure, as he promised you; that you are to observe all his mitzvot; ¹⁹ and that he will raise you high above all the nations he has made, in praise, reputation and glory; and that, as he said, you will be a holy people for Adonai your God.”

27 (iv) Then Moshe and all the leaders of Isra’el gave orders to the people. They said, “Observe all the mitzvot I am giving you today. ² When you cross the Yarden to the land Adonai your God is giving you, you are to set up large stones, put plaster on them, ³ and, after crossing over, write this Torah on them, every word — so that you can enter the land Adonai your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Adonai, the God of your ancestors, promised you. ⁴ When you have crossed the Yarden, you are to set up these stones, as I am ordering you today, on Mount ‘Eival; and put plaster on them. ⁵ There you are to erect an altar to Adonai your God, an altar made of stones. You are not to use any iron tool on them, ⁶ but are to build the altar of Adonai your God of uncut stones; and you are to offer burnt offerings on it to Adonai your God. ⁷ Also you are to sacrifice peace offerings, eat there and be joyful in the presence of Adonai your God. ⁸ You are to write on the stones all the words of this Torah very clearly.”

⁹ Next Moshe and the cohanim, who are L’vi’im, spoke to all Isra’el. They said, “Be quiet; and listen, Isra’el! Today you have become the people of Adonai your God. ¹⁰ Therefore you are to listen to what Adonai your God says and obey his mitzvot and laws, which I am giving you today.”

(v) ¹¹ That same day Moshe commissioned the people as follows: ¹² “These are the ones who are to stand on Mount G’rizim and bless the people after you have crossed the Yarden: Shim‘on, Levi, Y’hudah, Yissakhar, Yosef and Binyamin; ¹³ while these are to stand on Mount ‘Eival for the curse: Re’uven, Gad, Asher, Z’vulun, Dan and Naftali. ¹⁴ The L’vi’im, speaking loudly, will proclaim to every man of Isra’el:

¹⁵ “‘A curse on anyone who makes a carved or metal image, something Adonai detests, the handiwork of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret!’ All the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’

¹⁶ “‘A curse on anyone who dishonors his father or mother.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

¹⁷ “‘A curse on anyone who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

¹⁸ “‘A curse on anyone who causes a blind person to lose his way on the road.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

¹⁹ “‘A curse on anyone who interferes with justice for the foreigner, orphan or widow.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

²⁰ “‘A curse on anyone who has sexual relations with his father’s wife, because he has violated his father’s rights.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

²¹ “‘A curse on anyone who has sexual relations with any kind of animal.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

²² “‘A curse on anyone who has sexual relations with his sister, no matter whether she is the daughter of his father or of his mother.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

²³ “‘A curse on anyone who has sexual relations with his mother-in-law.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

²⁴ “‘A curse on anyone who secretly attacks a fellow member of the community.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

²⁵ “‘A curse on anyone who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

²⁶ “‘A curse on anyone who does not confirm the words of this Torah by putting them into practice.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

28 “If you listen closely to what Adonai your God says, observing and obeying all his mitzvot which I am giving you today, Adonai your God will raise you high above all the nations on earth; ² and all the following blessings will be yours in abundance — if you will do what Adonai your God says:

³ “A blessing on you in the city, and a blessing on you in the countryside.

⁴ “A blessing on the fruit of your body, the fruit of your land and the fruit of your livestock — the young of your cattle and flocks.

⁵ “A blessing on your grain-basket and kneading-bowl.

⁶ “A blessing on you when you go out, and a blessing on you when you come in.

(vi) ⁷ “Adonai will cause your enemies attacking you to be defeated before you; they will advance on you one way and flee before you seven ways.

⁸ “Adonai will order a blessing to be with you in your barns and in everything you undertake; he will bless you in the land Adonai your God is giving you.

⁹ “Adonai will establish you as a people separated out for himself, as he has sworn to you — if you will observe the mitzvot of Adonai your God and follow his ways. ¹⁰ Then all the peoples on earth will see that Adonai’s name, his presence, is with you; so that they will be afraid of you.

¹¹ “Adonai will give you great abundance of good things — of the fruit of your body, the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your land in the land Adonai swore to your ancestors to give you. ¹² Adonai will open for you his good treasure, the sky, to give your land its rain at the right seasons and to bless everything you undertake. You will lend to many nations and not borrow; ¹³ Adonai will make you the head and not the tail; and you will be only above, never below — if you will listen to, observe and obey the mitzvot of Adonai your God ¹⁴ and not turn away from any of the words I am ordering you today, neither to the right nor to the left, to follow after other gods and serve them.

¹⁵ “But if you refuse to pay attention to what Adonai your God says, and do not observe and obey all his mitzvot and regulations which I am giving you today, then all the following curses will be yours in abundance:

¹⁶ “A curse on you in the city, and a curse on you in the countryside.

¹⁷ “A curse on your grain-basket and kneading-bowl.

¹⁸ “A curse on the fruit of your body, the fruit of your land and the young of your cattle and flocks.

¹⁹ “A curse on you when you come in, and a curse on you when you go out.

²⁰ “Adonai will send on you curses, disasters and frustration in everything you set out to do, until you are destroyed and quickly perish, because of your evil actions in abandoning me.

²¹ “Adonai will bring on you a plague that will stay with you until he has exterminated you from the land you are entering in order to take possession of it. ²² Adonai will strike you down with wasting diseases, fever, inflammation, fiery heat, drought, blasting winds and mildew; and they will pursue you until you perish.

²³ “The sky over your head will be brass and the earth under you iron. ²⁴ Adonai will turn the rain your land needs into powder and dust that will fall on you from the sky until you are destroyed.

²⁵ “Adonai your God will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you will advance on them one way and flee before them seven. You will become an object of horror to every kingdom on earth. ²⁶ Your carcasses will become food for all the birds in the air and the wild animals, and there will be no one to scare them away.

²⁷ Adonai will strike you down with the boils that broke out on the Egyptians, tumors, skin lesions and itching, all incurable. ²⁸ Adonai will strike you with insanity, blindness and utter confusion. ²⁹ You will grope about at noon like a blind person groping in the dark, unable to find your way.

“You will be continually oppressed and robbed, and there will be no one to save you. ³⁰ You will get engaged to a woman, but another man will marry her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not use its fruit. ³¹ Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you won’t eat any of its meat. Your donkey will be taken away from you by force as you watch, and you won’t get it back. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and there will be no one to help you. ³² Your sons and daughters will be handed over to another people; you will watch for them longingly all day but not see them; and there will be nothing you can do about it. ³³ A nation unknown to you will eat the fruit of your land and labor. Yes, you will be continually oppressed and crushed, ³⁴ till you go crazy from what your eyes have to see. ³⁵ Adonai will strike you down in the knees and legs with painful and incurable boils; they will spread from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. ³⁶ Adonai will bring you and your king whom you have put over yourselves to a nation you have not known, neither you nor your ancestors; and there you will serve other gods made of wood and stone. ³⁷ You will be so devastated as to become a proverb and a laughingstock among all the peoples to which Adonai will drive you.

³⁸ “You will carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, because locusts will devour it. ³⁹ You will plant vineyards and dress them but neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. ⁴⁰ You will have olive trees throughout your territory but not anoint yourself with the oil, because your olives will fall off unripe. ⁴¹ You will father sons and daughters, but they won’t belong to you, because they will go into captivity. ⁴² The bugs will inherit all your trees and the produce of your land.

⁴³ “The foreigner living with you will rise higher and higher while you sink lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he will be the head and you the tail.

⁴⁵ “All these curses will come on you, pursuing you and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you didn’t pay attention to what Adonai your God said, observing his mitzvot and regulations that he gave you. ⁴⁶ These curses will be on you and your descendants as a sign and a wonder forever. ⁴⁷ Because you didn’t serve Adonai your God with joy and gladness in your heart when you had such an abundance of everything; ⁴⁸ Adonai will send your enemy against you; and you will serve him when you are hungry, thirsty, poorly clothed and lacking everything; he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he destroys you. ⁴⁹ Yes, Adonai will bring against you a nation from far away that will swoop down on you from the end of the earth like a vulture, a nation whose language you don’t understand, ⁵⁰ a nation grim in appearance, whose people neither respect the old nor pity the young. ⁵¹ They will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil, until you have been destroyed. They will leave you without grain, wine, olive oil, or your young cattle and sheep — until they have caused you to perish. ⁵² They will besiege all your towns until your high, fortified walls, in which you trusted, collapse everywhere in your land, which Adonai your God gave you. ⁵³ Then, because of the severity of the siege and distress that your enemies are inflicting on you, you will eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your own sons and daughters, whom Adonai your God has given you. ⁵⁴ Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will be without pity for his brother, his beloved wife or his surviving children, ⁵⁵ to the degree that he will refuse to share with any of them the flesh of his children whom he is eating; because if he did, he would have nothing left for himself — in the severity of the siege and distress your enemies are inflicting on you in all your towns. ⁵⁶ The most delicate and sensitive woman among you, so sensitive and delicate that she wouldn’t think of touching the sole of her foot to the ground, will so begrudge her own beloved husband, son and daughter ⁵⁷ that she will secretly eat the afterbirth that comes out of her and even her own children as she bears them — so desperately hungry will she be in the severity of the siege and distress your enemies are inflicting on you in your towns.

⁵⁸ “If you will not observe and obey all the words of this Torah that are written in this book, so that you will fear this glorious and awesome name, Adonai your God; ⁵⁹ then Adonai will strike down you and your descendants with extraordinary plagues and severe sicknesses that go on and on. ⁶⁰ He will bring back upon you all the diseases the Egyptians had, which you were in dread of; and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ Not only that, but Adonai will bring upon you all the sicknesses and plagues that are not written in this book of the Torah — until you are destroyed. ⁶² You will be left few in number, whereas you were once as numerous as the stars in the sky — because you did not pay attention to the voice of Adonai your God.

⁶³ “Thus it will come about that just as once Adonai took joy in seeking to do you good and increase your numbers, so now Adonai will take joy in causing you to perish and be destroyed, and you will be plucked off the land you are entering in order to take possession of it. ⁶⁴ Adonai will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will serve other gods, made of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known. ⁶⁵ Among these nations you will not find repose, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; rather Adonai will give you there anguish of heart, dimness of eyes and apathy of spirit. ⁶⁶ Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will be afraid night and day and have no assurance that you will stay alive. ⁶⁷ In the morning you will say, ‘Oh, how I wish it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘Oh, how I wish it were morning!’ — because of the fear overwhelming your heart and the sights your eyes will see. ⁶⁸ Finally, Adonai will bring you back in ships to Egypt, the place of which I said to you, ‘You will never ever see it again’; and there you will try to sell yourselves as slaves to your enemies, but no one will buy you.”

^69 (29:1) These are the words of the covenant which Adonai ordered Moshe to make with the people of Isra’el in the land of Mo’av, in addition to the covenant which he made with them in Horev.

29 (vii) ⁽²⁾ Then Moshe summoned all Isra’el and said to them, “You saw everything Adonai did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his servants and to all his land; ^2 (3) the great testings which you saw with your own eyes, and the signs and those great wonders. ^3 (4) Nevertheless, to this day Adonai has not given you a heart to understand, eyes to see or ears to hear! ^4 (5) I led you forty years in the desert. Neither the clothes on your body nor the shoes on your feet wore out. ^5 (6) You didn’t eat bread, and you didn’t drink wine or other intoxicating liquor; this was so that you would know that ‘I am Adonai your God.’ (Maftir) ^6 (7) When you arrived at this place, Sichon the king of Heshbon and ‘Og the king of Bashan advanced against us in battle, and we defeated them, ^7 (8) took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Re’uveni, the Gadi and the M’nashi. ^8 (9) Therefore, observe the words of this covenant and obey them; so that you can make everything you do prosper.

Haftarah Ki Tavo: Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) 60:1–22

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Ki Tavo: Mattityahu (Matthew) 13:1–23; Luke 21:1–4; Acts 28:17–31; Romans 11:1–15

Parashah 51: Nitzavim (Standing) 29:9(10)–30:20

[In regular years read with Parashah 52, in leap years read separately]

^9 (10) “Today you are standing, all of you, before Adonai your God — your heads, your tribes, your leaders and your officers — all the men of Isra’el, ^10 (11) along with your little ones, your wives and your foreigners here with you in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water. ^11 (12) The purpose is that you should enter into the covenant of Adonai your God and into his oath which Adonai your God is making with you today, (LY: ii) ^12 (13) so that he can establish you today for himself as a people, and so that for you he will be God — as he said to you and as he swore to your ancestors, to Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov.

^13 (14) “But I am not making this covenant and this oath only with you. ^14 (15) Rather, I am making it both with him who is standing here with us today before Adonai our God and also with him who is not here with us today. (LY: iii) ^15 (16) For you know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we came directly through the nations you passed through; ^16 (17) and you saw their detestable things and their idols of wood, stone, silver and gold that they had with them. ^17 (18) So let there not be among you a man, woman, family or tribe whose heart turns away today from Adonai our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Let there not be among you a root bearing such bitter poison and wormwood. ^18 (19) If there is such a person, when he hears the words of this curse, he will bless himself secretly, saying to himself, ‘I will be all right, even though I will stubbornly keep doing whatever I feel like doing; so that I, although “dry,” [sinful,] will be added to the “watered” [righteous].’ ^19 (20) But Adonai will not forgive him. Rather, the anger and jealousy of Adonai will blaze up against that person. Every curse written in this book will be upon him. Adonai will blot out his name from under heaven. ^20 (21) Adonai will single him out from all the tribes of Isra’el to experience what is bad in all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the Torah.

^21 (22) “When the next generation, your children who will grow up after you, and the foreigner who arrives from a distant land, see the plagues of that land and the diseases with which Adonai has made it sick, ^22 (23) and that the whole land has become burning sulfur and salt, that it isn’t being sown or bearing crops or even producing grass — like the overthrow of S’dom, ‘Amora, Admah and Tzvoyim, which Adonai overthrew in his furious anger — ^23 (24) then all the nations will ask, ‘Why did Adonai do this to this land? What is the meaning of such frenzied, furious anger?’ ^24 (25) People will answer, ‘It’s because they abandoned the covenant of Adonai, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. ^25 (26) They went and served other gods, prostrating themselves before them, gods they had not known and which he had not assigned them. ^26 (27) For this reason, the anger of Adonai blazed up against this land and brought upon it every curse written in this book; ^27 (28) and Adonai, in anger, fury and incensed with indignation, uprooted them from their land and threw them out into another land — as it is today.’

^28 (29) “Things which are hidden belong to Adonai our God. But the things that have been revealed belong to us and our children forever, so that we can observe all the words of this Torah.

30 (RY: ii, LY: iv) “When the time arrives that all these things have come upon you, both the blessing and the curse which I have presented to you; and you are there among the nations to which Adonai your God has driven you; then, at last, you will start thinking about what has happened to you; ² and you will return to Adonai your God and pay attention to what he has said, which will be exactly what I am ordering you to do today — you and your children, with all your heart and all your being. ³ At that point, Adonai your God will reverse your exile and show you mercy; he will return and gather you from all the peoples to which Adonai your God scattered you. ⁴ If one of yours was scattered to the far end of the sky, Adonai your God will gather you even from there; he will go there and get you. ⁵ Adonai your God will bring you back into the land your ancestors possessed, and you will possess it; he will make you prosper there, and you will become even more numerous than your ancestors. ⁶ Then Adonai your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your children, so that you will love Adonai your God with all your heart and all your being, and thus you will live. (RY: iii, LY: v) ⁷ Adonai your God will put all these curses on your enemies, on those who hated and persecuted you; ⁸ but you will return and pay attention to what Adonai says and obey all his mitzvot which I am giving you today. ⁹ Then Adonai your God will give you more than enough in everything you set out to do — the fruit of your body, the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your land will all do well; for Adonai will once again rejoice to see you do well, just as he rejoiced in your ancestors.

¹⁰ “However, all this will happen only if you pay attention to what Adonai your God says, so that you obey his mitzvot and regulations which are written in this book of the Torah, if you turn to Adonai your God with all your heart and all your being. (LY: vi) ¹¹ For this mitzvah which I am giving you today is not too hard for you, it is not beyond your reach. ¹² It isn’t in the sky, so that you need to ask, ‘Who will go up into the sky for us, bring it to us and make us hear it, so that we can obey it?’ ¹³ Likewise, it isn’t beyond the sea, so that you need to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea for us, bring it to us and make us hear it, so that we can obey it?’ ¹⁴ On the contrary, the word is very close to you — in your mouth, even in your heart; therefore, you can do it!

(RY: iv, LY: vii) ¹⁵ “Look! I am presenting you today with, on the one hand, life and good; and on the other, death and evil — ¹⁶ in that I am ordering you today to love Adonai your God, to follow his ways, and to obey his mitzvot, regulations and rulings ; for if you do, you will live and increase your numbers; and Adonai your God will bless you in the land you are entering in order to take possession of it. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away, if you refuse to listen, if you are drawn away to prostrate yourselves before other gods and serve them; (LY: Maftir) ¹⁸ I am announcing to you today that you will certainly perish; you will not live long in the land you are crossing the Yarden to enter and possess.

¹⁹ “I call on heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have presented you with life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore, choose life, so that you will live, you and your descendants, ²⁰ loving Adonai your God, paying attention to what he says and clinging to him — for that is the purpose of your life! On this depends the length of time you will live in the land Adonai swore he would give to your ancestors Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov.”

Haftarah Nitzavim: Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) 61:10–63:9

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Nitzavim: Romans 9:30–10:13; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 12:14 –15

Parashah 52: Vayelekh (He went) 31:1–30

[In regular years read with Parashah 51, in leap years read separately]

31 Moshe went and spoke the following words to all Isra’el: ² “I am 120 years old today. I can’t get around any longer; moreover, Adonai has said to me, ‘You will not cross this Yarden.’ ³ Adonai your God — he will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations ahead of you, and you will dispossess them. Y’hoshua — he will cross over ahead of you, as Adonai has said. (LY: ii) ⁴ Adonai will do to them what he did to Sichon and ‘Og, the kings of the Emori, and to their land — he destroyed them. ⁵ Adonai will defeat them ahead of you, and you are to do to them just as I have ordered you to do. ⁶ Be strong, be bold, don’t be afraid or frightened of them, for Adonai your God is going with you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

(RY: v, LY: iii) ⁷ Next Moshe summoned Y’hoshua and, in the sight of all Isra’el, said to him, “Be strong, be bold, for you are going with this people into the land Adonai swore to their ancestors he would give them. You will be the one causing them to inherit it. ⁸ But Adonai — it is he who will go ahead of you. He will be with you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you, so don’t be afraid or downhearted.”

⁹ Then Moshe wrote down this Torah and gave it to the cohanim, the descendants of Levi who carried the ark with the covenant of Adonai, and to all the leaders of Isra’el. (LY: iv) ¹⁰ Moshe gave them these orders: “At the end of every seven years, during the festival of Sukkot in the year of sh’mittah, ¹¹ when all Isra’el have come to appear in the presence of Adonai at the place he will choose, you are to read this Torah before all Isra’el, so that they can hear it. ¹² Assemble the people — the men, the women, the little ones and the foreigners you have in your towns — so that they can hear, learn, fear Adonai your God and take care to obey all the words of this Torah; ¹³ and so that their children, who have not known, can hear and learn to fear Adonai your God, for as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Yarden to possess.”

(RY: vi, LY: v) ¹⁴ Adonai said to Moshe, “The time is coming for you to die. Summon Y’hoshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, so that I can commission him.” Moshe and Y’hoshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. ¹⁵ Adonai appeared in the tent in a column of cloud; the column of cloud stood above the entrance to the tent. ¹⁶ Adonai said to Moshe, “You are about to sleep with your ancestors. But this people will get up and offer themselves as prostitutes to the foreign gods of the land where they are going. When they are with those gods, they will abandon me and break my covenant which I have made with them. ¹⁷ Then my anger will flare up, and I will abandon them and hide my face from them. They will be devoured, and many calamities and troubles will come upon them. Then they will ask, ‘Haven’t these calamities come upon us because our God isn’t here with us?’ ¹⁸ But I will be hiding my face from them because of all the evil they will have done in turning to other gods.

¹⁹ “Therefore, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the people of Isra’el. Have them learn it by heart, so that this song can be a witness for me against the people of Isra’el. (RY: vii, LY: vi) ²⁰ For when I have brought them into the land I swore to their ancestors, flowing with milk and honey; and they have eaten their fill, grown fat and turned to other gods, serving them and despising me, and broken my covenant; ²¹ then, after many calamities and troubles have come upon them, this song will testify before them as a witness, because their descendants will still be reciting it and will not have forgotten it. For I know how they think even now, even before I have brought them into the land about which I swore.” ²² So Moshe wrote this song that same day and taught it to the people of Isra’el.

²³ Adonai also commissioned Y’hoshua the son of Nun with these words: “Be strong and full of courage; for you are to bring the people of Isra’el into the land about which I swore to them; and I will be with you.”

²⁴ Moshe kept writing the words of this Torah in a book until he was done. When he had finished, (LY: vii) ²⁵ Moshe gave these orders to the L’vi’im who carried the ark with the covenant of Adonai: ²⁶ “Take this book of the Torah and put it next to the ark with the covenant of Adonai your God, so that it can be there to witness against you. ²⁷ For I know how rebellious and stiffnecked you are! Here, even while I am still alive with you today, you have rebelled against Adonai; so how much more will you do so after my death? (Maftir) ²⁸ Assemble for me all the leaders of your tribes and your officials, so that I can say these things in their hearing, calling heaven and earth to witness against them — ²⁹ because I know that after my death you will become very corrupt and turn aside from the way that I have ordered you, and that disaster will come upon you in the acharit-hayamim, because you will do what Adonai sees as evil and provoke him by your deeds.”

³⁰ Then Moshe spoke in the hearing of the whole assembly of Isra’el the words of this song, from beginning to end:

Haftarah Vayelekh: Hoshea (Hosea) 14:2(1)–10(9); Mikhah (Micah) 7:18–20; Yo’el (Joel) 2:15–27

B’rit Hadashah suggested reading for Parashah Vayelekh: Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 13:5–8

Parashah 53: Ha’azinu (Hear) 32:1–52

(vii) ⁴⁴ Moshe came and proclaimed all the words of this song in the hearing of the people and of Hoshea the son of Nun.

⁴⁵ When he had finished speaking all these words to all Isra’el, ⁴⁶ he said to them, “Take to heart all the words of my testimony against you today, so that you can use them in charging your children to be careful to obey all the words of this Torah. ⁴⁷ For this is not a trivial matter for you; on the contrary, it is your life! Through it you will live long in the land you are crossing the Yarden to possess.”

(Maftir) ⁴⁸ That same day Adonai said to Moshe, ⁴⁹ “Go up into the ‘Avarim Range, to Mount N’vo, in the land of Mo’av across from Yericho; and look out over the land of Kena‘an, which I am giving the people of Isra’el as a possession. ⁵⁰ On the mountain you are ascending you will die and be gathered to your people, just as Aharon your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people. ⁵¹ The reason for this is that both of you broke faith with me there among the people of Isra’el at the M’rivat-Kadesh Spring, in the Tzin Desert; you failed to demonstrate my holiness there among the people of Isra’el. ⁵² So you will see the land from a distance, but you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Isra’el.”

Haftarah Ha’azinu: Sh’mu’el Bet (2 Samuel) 22:1–51

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Ha’azinu: Romans 10:14 –21; 12:14–21; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 12:28–39

Parashah 54: V’Zot HaBrachah (This is the blessing) 33:1–34:12

33 This is the blessing that Moshe, the man of God, spoke over the people of Isra’el before his death:

⁷ Of Y’hudah he said:

(ii) ⁸ Of Levi he said:

¹² Of Binyamin he said:

(iii) ¹³ Of Yosef he said:

(iv) ¹⁸ Of Z’vulun he said:

²⁰ Of Gad he said:

(v) ²² Of Dan he said:

²³ Of Naftali he said:

²⁴ Of Asher he said:

34 (vii) Moshe ascended from the plains of Mo’av to Mount N’vo, to the summit of Pisgah, across from Yericho. There Adonai showed him all the land — Gil‘ad as far as Dan, ² all Naftali, the land of Efrayim and M’nasheh, the land of Y’hudah all the way to the sea beyond, ³ the Negev, and the ‘Aravah, including the valley where Yericho, the City of Date-Palms, as far away as Tzo‘ar. ⁴ Adonai said to him, “This is the land concerning which I swore to Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over there.”

⁵ So Moshe, the servant of Adonai, died there in the land of Mo’av, as Adonai had said. ⁶ He was buried in the valley across from Beit-P‘or in the land of Mo’av, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.

⁷ Moshe was 120 years old when he died, with eyes undimmed and vigor undiminished. ⁸ The people of Isra’el mourned Moshe on the plains of Mo’av for thirty days; after this, the days of crying and mourning for Moshe ended.

⁹ Y’hoshua the son of Nun was full of the Spirit of wisdom, for Moshe had laid his hands on him, and the people of Isra’el heeded him and did what Adonai had ordered Moshe.

¹⁰ Since that time there has not arisen in Isra’el a prophet like Moshe, whom Adonai knew face to face. ¹¹ What signs and wonders Adonai sent him to perform in the land of Egypt upon Pharaoh, all his servants and all his land! ¹² What might was in his hand! What great terror he evoked before the eyes of all Isra’el!

Haftarah V’zot HaBrachah: Y’hoshua (Joshua) 1:1–18 (A); 1:1–9 (S)

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah V’zot HaBrachah: Mattityahu (Matthew) 17:1–9; Mark 9:2–10; Luke 9:28–36; Y’hudah (Jude) 3–4, 8–10

Hazak, hazak, v’nit’chazek!

Be strong, be strong, and let us be strengthened!