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24 And when Balaam saw that it was tov in the eyes of Hashem to bless Yisroel, he went not, as at other times, to use nechashim (sorceries, divination, looking for omens) but he set his face toward hamidbar.
2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Yisroel encamped according to their Shevatim; and the Ruach Elohim came upon him.
3 And he took up his mashal, and said, Balaam ben Beor hath said, the man whose eyes are open hath said,
4 He hath said which heard the words of El, which saw the machazeh Shaddai (vision of Shaddai), which falling prostrate, but having his eyes open:
5 Mah tovu ohalecha (How goodly, beautiful, are thy tents), O Ya’akov, and mishkenotecha (thy dwellings, tabernacles), O Yisroel!
6 As the valleys are they [the tents of Yisroel] spread forth, as ganot (gardens) by the riverside, like aloes which Hashem hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the mayim.
7 He shall pour the [rainfall] mayim out of his buckets, and his zera shall have mayim rabbim, and his Melech shall be more exalted than Agag, and Malchuso (His Kingdom) shall be upraised.
8 El brought him forth out of Mitzrayim. He hath the strength of a wild bull. He shall devour the Goyim his enemies and break their atzmot, and pierce them through with his khitzim.
9 He crouched, he lay down as an ari, and as the lioness; who shall stir him up? Mevarakhecha is he that makes a barucha on thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.
10 And af Balak (anger of Balak) was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said unto Balaam, I summoned thee to curse mine enemies, and, hinei, thou hast altogether blessed them these shalosh p’amim.
11 Therefore now flee thou to thy mekom; I thought to kibed (honor, reward) thee honorably; but, hinei, Hashem hath kept thee back from kavod (honor, reward).
12 And Balaam said unto Balak, Spoke I not also to thy malachim which thou didst send unto me, saying,
13 If Balak would give me his bais full of kesef and zahav, I cannot go beyond the commandment of Hashem, to do either tovah or ra’ah of mine own lev; but what Hashem saith, that will I say!
14 And now, hinei, I go back unto my people; come therefore, and I will warn thee what HaAm HaZeh shall do to thy people in the Acharit HaYamim.
15 And he took up his mashal, and said, Balaam ben Beor hath said, the man whose eyes are open hath said,
16 He hath said, which heard the words of El, and knew the Da’as Elyon, which saw the Machazeh Shaddai, falling prostrate, but having his eyes open:
17 I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not karov (near); there shall come a Kokhav (Star, i.e. Moshiach, see Targums) out of Ya’akov, and a Shevet (Sceptre) shall rise out of Yisroel, and shall strike through the temples (i.e., sides of the head) of Moav, and destroy all the Bnei Shet.
18 And Edom shall be a possession; Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; but Yisroel shall do valiantly.
19 Out of Ya’akov shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the Ir.
20 And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his mashal, and said, Amalek was the reshit of the Goyim; but his acharit (latter end) shall be that unto destruction.
21 And he looked on the Keini (Kenites), and took up his mashal, and said, Strong is thy moshav (dwelling place), and thou puttest thy ken (nest) in a rock.
22 Nevertheless Kayin shall be for burning, while Asshur (Assyria) shall carry thee away captive.
23 And he took up his mashal, and said, Oy, who shall live when El doeth this?
24 And ships shall come from the coast of Kittim (Cyprus), and shall afflict Asshur (Assyria), and shall afflict 'Ever (i.e., Region beyond the River [Euphrates]), and he also shall be unto destruction.
25 And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his makom (place, home); and Balak also went his way.
25 And Yisroel was staying in Sheetim, and HaAm began to commit whoredom with the Banot Moav.
2 And they invited the people unto the zevakhim of their g-ds; and the people did eat and bowed down to their g-ds.
3 And Yisroel joined himself unto Baal-Peor [see Num.23:28]; and the Af Hashem was kindled against Yisroel.
4 And Hashem said unto Moshe, Take Kol Rashei HaAm, and kill them, hanging them [on a tree, stake], before Hashem against the shemesh, that the fierce Af Hashem (Anger of Hashem) may be turned away from Yisroel.
5 And Moshe said unto the shofetim of Yisroel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal-Peor.
6 And, hinei, one of the Bnei Yisroel came and brought unto his brethren a woman from Midyan before the eyes of Moshe, and before the eyes of Kol Adat Bnei Yisroel, who were weeping before the entrance of the Ohel Mo’ed.
7 And when Pinchas ben Eleazar ben Aharon HaKohen saw it, he rose up from among HaEdah, and took a romach (spear) in his yad;
8 And he went after the ish Yisroel into the inner tent, and thrust through both of them, the ish Yisroel, and the isha through her belly. So the maggefah (plague) was stopped from the Bnei Yisroel.
9 And those that were the mesim (dead ones) in the maggefah (plague) were twenty and four thousand.
[PINCHAS]
10 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe, saying,
11 Pinchas ben Eleazar ben Aharon HaKohen, hath turned My wrath away from the Bnei Yisroel, when he had kanous (zealousness) with My kanous among them, that I consumed not the Bnei Yisroel in My kina (jealousy, zeal, vengeance).
12 Therefore say, Hineni, I am making unto him My Brit (Covenant) of Shalom;
13 And he shall have it, and his zera after him, even the Brit Kehunat Olam; because he had kanous for Elohav, and made kapporah for the Bnei Yisroel.
14 Now the shem of the ish Yisroel that was slain, even that was slain with the woman from Midyan, was Zimri ben Salu, a leader of one of the clans from the tribe of Shimon.
15 And the shem of the isha from Midyan that was slain was Kozbi bat Tzur; he [Tzur] was rosh over the people in one of the clans of Midyan.
16 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe, saying,
17 Be hostile toward the Midyanim, and strike them;
18 For they are hostile toward you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Kozbi bat Nasi Midyan, their achot, which was slain in the yom of the maggefah that resulted from Peor.
2 And it came about at that time that a dvar malchut (decree) was sent out from Caesar Augustus to register everyone in the entire Roman Empire.
2 This mifkad (census) was before that taken while Quirinius was governor in Syria.
3 And everyone was traveling to register, each to his own shtetl.
4 Now Yosef [ben Dovid] also went up from the Galil, from the shtetl of Natzeret, to Yehudah, to the Ir Dovid (City of David), which is called Beit-Lechem, because he was of the mishpochah and Bais of Dovid.
5 And Yosef [ben Dovid] went up to register with Miryam, who had been given to him in erusin (betrothal) and who was with child.
6 And it came about, while they were there, the yamim (days) were fulfilled for Miryam to give birth.
7 And she bore her ben, her Bechor (firstborn); and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in an evus (animal feeding trough), because there was no place for them in the malon (inn).
8 And ro’im (shepherds) were in the same region, living outside in the open air, and keeping shomer over their eder (flock) balailah.
9 And, suddenly, a malach Hashem stood before them, and the kavod Hashem shone around them; and they were afraid with a yirah gedolah (great fear).
10 And the malach said to them, Do not have pachad (fear, terror); for hinei I announce Besuras HaGeulah to you of great simcha (joy) which will be for kol Am Berit (all the People of the Covenant);
11 Because hayom, in Ir Dovid, has been born to you a Moshia (Go’el, Savior, Oisleizer), who is Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach HaAdon. [YESHAYAH 9:5(6)]
12 And this will be HaOt [The Sign] to you: you will find a small child, an infant, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in an evus. [SHMUEL ALEF 2:34; MELACHIM BAIS 19:29; TEHILLIM 86:17; YESHAYAH 7:14]
13 And, suddenly, there was with the malach a multitude of the Tzivos Hashem, the Tzivos HaShomayim (Armies or Hosts of Heaven) praising Hashem, and saying,
14 Kavod to Hashem in the Highest; and on haaretz shalom among Bnei Adam kavvanah tovah (of good intention). [YESHAYAH 9:5-6; 52:7; 53:5; MICHOH 5:4-5]
15 And it came about, when the malachim withdrew from them to Shomayim, the roim (shepherds) were saying to one another, Let us go now up to Beit-Lechem and let us see this thing that has come about which Hashem has made known to us.
16 And they came in haste and found both Miryam and Yosef [ben Dovid], and the child was lying in the evus (animal feeding trough, see Isa 53:7 on Moshiach the Seh).
17 And when the roim saw this, they made known the dvar concerning this yeled which had been told them.
18 And all who heard it were amazed about the things which were told them by the roim (shepherds).
19 But Miryam was treasuring up all these things, pondering them in her lev.
20 And the roim went back, and as they returned, they cried, Baruch Hashem! They gave kavod to G-d for all that they had heard and seen, just as it had been foretold to them.
21 And when shemonah yamim were completed for his bris milah, YEHOSHUA was given as SHMO, which he was called by the malach, before he was conceived in the womb. [ZECHARYAH 6:11-12; 3:8]
22 And when the yamim (days) for their tohorah (purification) according to the Torah of Moshe were completed, they brought him up to Yerushalayim to present him to Hashem [VAYIKRA 12:2-8; also see NUM 3 on Pidyon haben]
23 As it has been written in the Torat Hashem, KHOL ZAKHAR opening the RECHEM KODESH to Hashem [SHEMOT 13:2,12,15; BAMIDBAR 3:13]
24 And to offer a korban according to the thing having been said in the Torat Hashem, SHTEI TORIM O SHNEI BENI YONAH (a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons). [VAYIKRA 12:8]
25 And there was an ish in Yerushalayim whose shem was Shimon, a tzaddik, a chasid, awaiting the Nechamat Yisroel (Consolation of Israel), and the Ruach Hakodesh was upon him. [YESHAYAH 52:9]
26 And it had been revealed to him by the Ruach Hakodesh that he was not to see mavet until he had seen Hashem’s Moshiach.
27 And Shimon came in the Ruach Hakodesh into the courts of the Beis HaMikdash; and when the horim (parents) brought in the yeled, Yehoshua, to do concerning him the required mitzvah of the Torah [Lv 12:6-8],
28 Then Shimon took him into his arms, saying, Baruch Hashem, and the following:
29 And now, Adonoi, dismiss Your eved in shalom, according to Your dvar (word);
30 Because my eynayim have beheld the Yeshu’at Eloheinu, [YESHAYAH 40:5; 52:10]
31 Which You prepared in the presence of kol haammim (all the peoples),
32 An Ohr (Light) to give hisgalus (revelation) to the Nations and the kavod (glory) of Your Am (people), Yisroel. [YESHAYAH 42:6; 49:6]
33 And the Abba and Em of the yeled were amazed at the things being spoken about him.
34 And Shimon said a bracha over them and said to Miryam his Em, Hinei this one is destined for the michshol (stumbling) and tekumah (revival) of RABBIM [YESHAYAH 53:11-12] in Yisroel and for an Ot (Sign) that will be opposed (against which there will be mitnaggedim, opponents). [YESHAYAH 8:14; 53:3]
35 And a cherev (sword) will pierce the neshamah of you yourself also so that the machshavot of many levavot (hearts) will be revealed.
59 (For the one directing. Set to Do Not Destroy. Mikhtam Dovid. When Sha’ul sent and they watched [Dovid’s] bais to kill him) Save me from mine enemies, O Elohai; protect me from them that rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from the po’alei aven (workers of iniquity), and save me from anshei damim (bloody men).
3 For, hinei, they lie in wait for my nefesh; the fierce stir up strife against me; not for my peysha, nor for my chattat, Hashem.
4 They run and prepare themselves without my avon (wrong, fault); awake to help me, and see.
5 Thou therefore, Hashem Elohim Tzva’os, Elohei Yisroel, rouse Thyself to visit [in punishment] kol HaGoyim; be not merciful to any bogedei aven (wicked boged [traitor]). Selah.
6 They return at erev; they growl like a kelev (dog), and prowl around the Ir.
7 Hinei, they belch out with their mouth; charavot (swords) are in their sfatot (lips); for who, say they, doth hear?
8 But Thou, Hashem, shalt laugh at them; Thou shalt have all the Goyim in derision.
9 O my Strength, I will be shomer to watch for Thee; for Elohim is my stronghold.
10 The G-d of my chesed shall come to meet me; Elohim shall let me see [the end] of my shorer (watchers, [i.e., slandering foes insidiously fixated on me and lying in wait]).
11 Slay them not, lest my people forget; scatter them by Thy power; and bring them down, Adonoi mogineinu (our Shield).
12 For the chattat of their mouth and the davar of their sfatayim let them even be caught in their ga’on (pride); and for the cursing and lying which they speak.
13 Consume them in chemah (wrath), consume them, till they are no more; and let them know that Elohim ruleth in Ya’akov unto the ends of ha’aretz. Selah.
14 And at erev let them return; and let them growl like a kelev, and prowl around the Ir.
15 Let them wander up and down for okhel (food), and howl if they be not satisfied.
16 But I will sing of Thy oz; yes, I will sing aloud of Thy chesed in the boker; for Thou hast been my stronghold and refuge in the day of my tzoros.
17 Unto Thee, O my Strength, will I sing; for Elohim is my strongold, and the Elohim of my chesed.
14 Where no strategic policy is, the nation falls, but in the multitude of yoetz (counsellors, advisors) there is teshu’ah (victory, safety).
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