Shabbat, 6 Kislev 5785 / December 7, 2024
Day 340 ESV Readings
Torah: Parshat Vayeitzei, 7th Portion (Bereshit (Genesis) 31:43-32:3)
Genesis 31:43-32:3
(vii) 43 Lavan answered Ya‘akov, “The daughters are mine, the children are mine, the flocks are mine, and everything you see is mine! But what can I do today about these daughters of mine or the children they have borne? 44 So now, come, let’s make a covenant, I and you; and let it stand as a testimony between me and you.” 45 Ya‘akov took a stone and set it upright as a standing-stone. 46 Then Ya‘akov said to his kinsmen, “Gather some stones”; and they took stones, made a pile of them and ate there by the pile of stones. 47 Lavan called it Y’gar-Sahaduta [“pile of witness” in Aramaic], while Ya‘akov called it Gal-‘Ed [“pile of witness” in Hebrew].
48 Lavan said, “This pile witnesses between me and you today.” This is why it is called Gal-‘Ed 49 and also HaMitzpah [the watchtower], because he said, “May Adonai watch between me and you when we are apart from each other. 50 If you cause pain to my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, then, even if no one is there with us, still God is witness between me and you.” 51 Lavan also said to Ya‘akov, “Here is this pile, and here is this standing-stone, which I have set up between me and you. 52 May this pile be a witness, and may the standing-stone be a witness, that I will not pass beyond this pile to you, and you will not pass beyond this pile and this standing-stone to me, to cause harm. 53 May the God of Avraham and also the god of Nachor, the god of their father, judge between us.” But Ya‘akov swore by the One his father Yitz’chak feared. 54 Ya‘akov offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his kinsmen to the meal. They ate the food and spent the whole night on the mountain.
Genesis 32
1 (Maftir) (31:55) Early in the morning Lavan got up, kissed his sons and daughters, and blessed them. Then Lavan left and returned to his own place. 2 (1) Ya‘akov went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 3 (2) When Ya‘akov saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp,” and called that place Machanayim [two camps].
Haftarah Vayetze: Hoshea (Hosea) 12:13(12)–14:10(9) (A); 11:7–12:12(11) (S)
B’rit Hadashah suggested reading for Parashah Vayetze: Yochanan (John) 1:43–51
Hosea 11:7-14:10
Complete Jewish Bible
7 My people are hanging in suspense about returning to me; and though they call them upwards, nobody makes a move. 8 Efrayim, how can I give you up, or surrender you, Isra’el? How could I treat you like Admahor make you like Tzvoyim? My heart recoils at the idea, as compassion warms within me. 9 I will not give vent to the fierceness of my rage, I will not return to destroy Efrayim; for I am God, not a human being, the Holy One among you; so I will not come in fury. 10 They will go after Adonai, who will roar like a lion; for he will roar, and the children will come trembling from the west. 11 They will tremble like a bird as they come from Egypt, like a dove as they come from the land of Ashur;and I will resettle them in their own houses,
says Adonai.
Hosiea 12
(11:12) “Efrayim surrounds me with lies and the house of Isra’el with deceit. Y’hudah still rules with God and is faithful with holy ones.2 (1) Efrayim is chasing the wind, pursuing the wind from the east. All day he piles up lies and desolation —they make a covenant with Ashur, while sending olive oil to Egypt.
3 (2) Adonai also has a grievance against Y’hudah; he will punish Ya‘akov according to his ways and pay him back for his misdeeds.4 (3) In the womb he took his brother by the heel; in the strength of his manhood he fought with God.5 (4) Yes, he fought with an angel and won; he wept and pleaded with him. Then at Beit-El he found him, and there he would [later] speak with us —6 (5) Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot; Adonai is his name! 7(6) So you, return to your God; hold fast to grace and justice; and always put your hope in your God.
8 (7) “A huckster keeps false scales, and he loves to cheat.9 (8) Efrayim says, ‘I have gotten so rich! I have made me a fortune! And in all my profits no one will find anything wrong or sinful.’
10 (9) “But I am Adonai your God, from the land of Egypt. Again I will make you live in tents, as in the days of the established festival.11 (10) I have spoken to the prophets; it was I who gave vision after vision; through the prophets I gave examples to show what it would all be like.12 (11) Is Gil‘ad given to iniquity? Yes, they have become worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice to bulls; therefore their altars are like piles of stones in a plowed field.”
13 (12) Ya‘akov fled to the land of Aram. There Isra’el slaved to win a wife; for a wife he tended sheep.14 (13) By a prophet Adonai brought Isra’el up from Egypt, and by a prophet he was protected.15 (14) Efrayim has given bitter provocation, so the penalty for his bloodshed will be thrown down on him, and his Lord will repay him for his insult.
Hosea 13
1 “When Efrayim spoke, there was trembling; he was a power in Isra’el. But when he incurred guilt through Ba‘al, he died. 2 So now they keep adding sin to sin, casting images from their silver; idols they invent for themselves, all of them the work of craftsmen. ‘Sacrifice to them,’ they say. Men give kisses to calves! 3 Therefore they will be like a morning cloud, like the dew that disappears early, like chaff blown by wind from the threshing-floor, or like smoke that goes out the window. 4 Still, I am Adonai your God, from the land of Egypt; and you don’t know any God but me or, other than me, any Savior. 5 I knew you in the desert, in a land of terrible drought. 6 When they were fed, they were satisfied; when satisfied, they became proud. Therefore they forgot me. 7 So now I have become like a lion to them; like a leopard I will lurk by the road; 8 I will meet them like a bear whose cubs have been taken away. I will tear their hearts from their bodies. I will devour them there like a lion, like a wild animal ripping them up. 9 It is your destruction, Isra’el, although your help is in me. 10 So now, where is your king, to save you in all your cities? Where are your judges, of whom you said, ‘Give me a king and leaders’? 11 I gave you a king in my anger; and in my fury I took him away.
12 “Efrayim’s guilt has been wrapped up, his sin is stored away. 13 The pain of being born will come to him; but he is an unwise son. The time has come; and he shouldn’t delay, there at the mouth of the womb.14 Should I ransom them from the power of Sh’ol? Should I redeem them from death? Where are your plagues, death; where is your destruction, Sh’ol? My eyes are closed to compassion.15 For though he flourishes among the reeds, an east wind will come, a wind from Adonai, blowing up from the desert. Then his water source will dry up, then his spring will fail —it will plunder his treasury, removing every precious thing.”
Hosea 14
1 (13:16) Shomron will bear her guilt, for she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword, their little ones will be dashed to pieces and their pregnant women ripped open. 2 (1) Return, Isra’el, to Adonai your God, for your guilt has made you stumble.3 (2) Take words with you, and return to Adonai ;say to him, “Forgive all guilt, and accept what is good; we will pay instead of bulls[the offerings of] our lips.4 (3) Ashur will not save us, we will not ride on horses, and we will no longer call what we made with our hands our gods. For it is only in you that the fatherless can find mercy.”
5 (4) “I will heal their disloyalty, I will love them freely; for my anger has turned from him. 6 (5) I will be like dew to Isra’el; he will blossom like a lily and strike roots like the L’vanon.7 (6) His branches will spread out, his beauty be like an olive tree and his fragrance like the L’vanon.8 (7) Again they will live in his shade and raise grain; they will blossom like a vine, and its aroma will be like the wine of the L’vanon. 9 (8) Efrayim [will say], ‘What have I to do any more with idols? ’And I, I answer and affirm him; I am like a fresh, green cypress tree; your fruitfulness comes from me.”10 (9) Let the wise understand these things, and let the discerning know them. For the ways of Adonai are straight, And the righteous walk in them, but in them sinners stumble.
John 1:43-51
English Standard Version
Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you,[a] you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Bible Study Together
Psalm 46
English Standard Version
God Is Our Fortress
To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth.[a] A Song.
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present[b] help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Psalm 115
English Standard Version
To Your Name Give Glory
1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.
6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.
7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.
8 Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.
9 O Israel,[a] trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.
12 The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron;
13 he will bless those who fear the Lord, both the small and the great.
14 May the Lord give you increase, you and your children!
15 May you be blessed by the Lord, who made heaven and earth!
16 The heavens are the Lord's heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man.
17 The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any who go down into silence.
18 But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord!
Revelation 11
English Standard Version
The Two Witnesses
1 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. 3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. 6 They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. 7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit[a] will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically[b] is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, 10 and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. 11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. 13 And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.
The Seventh Trumpet
15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying,
“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was,for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.18 The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged,and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great,and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”
19 Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings,[c] peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.
ESV Readings
Scripture
Psalms 126
English Standard Version
Restore Our Fortunes, O Lord
A Song of Ascents.
1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. 2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.
4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negeb!
5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!
6 He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.
Job 12
Isaiah 33
Isaiah 34
English Standard Version
Judgment on the Nations
1 Draw near, O nations, to hear, and give attention, O peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that fills it; the world, and all that comes from it. 2 For the Lord is enraged against all the nations, and furious against all their host; he has devoted them to destruction,[a] has given them over for slaughter. 3 Their slain shall be cast out, and the stench of their corpses shall rise; the mountains shall flow with their blood. 4 All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree.
5 For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction. 6 The Lord has a sword; it is sated with blood; it is gorged with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7 Wild oxen shall fall with them, and young steers with the mighty bulls. Their land shall drink its fill of blood, and their soil shall be gorged with fat.
8 For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.9 And the streams of Edom[b] shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur; her land shall become burning pitch.10 Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up forever.From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.11 But the hawk and the porcupine[c] shall possess it, the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.He shall stretch the line of confusion[d] over it, and the plumb line of emptiness.12 Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom, and all its princes shall be nothing.
13 Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches.[e]14 And wild animals shall meet with hyenas; the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; indeed, there the night bird[f] settles and finds for herself a resting place.
15 There the owl nests and lays and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;indeed, there the hawks are gathered, each one with her mate. 16 Seek and read from the book of the Lord: Not one of these shall be missing; none shall be without her mate.For the mouth of the Lord has commanded, and his Spirit has gathered them.17 He has cast the lot for them; his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;they shall possess it forever; from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.
1 John 4
English Standard Version
Test the Spirits
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
God Is Love
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot[a] love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.