42 – Parashat Aiykev (עֵ֣קֶב) – “Because” January 11th thru January 17th

Devariym (Deuteronomy) 7:12 – 11:25

Devariym (Deuteronomy) 7:12 – 7:26

12. And it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments, and guard, and do them, that Yahuah Elohayka shall guard unto thee the covenant and the mercy which He sware unto thy fathers:
13. And He will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: He will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which He sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
14. Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.
15. And Yahuah will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Mitsrayim, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.
16. And thou shalt consume all the people which Yahuah Elohayka shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their elohiym; for that will be a snare unto thee.
17. If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?
18. Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what Yahuah Elohayka did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Mitsrayim;
19. The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby Yahuah Elohayka brought thee out: so shall Yahuah Elohayka do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid.
20. Moreover Yahuah Elohayka will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.
21. Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for Yahuah Elohayka is among you, a mighty El and terrible.
22. And Yahuah Elohayka will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.
23. But Yahuah Elohayka shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed.
24. And He shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them.
25. The graven images of their elohiym shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therin: for it is an abomination to Yahuah Elohayka.
26. Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.

Devariym (Deuteronomy) 8

All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Yahuah sware unto your fathers.
And thou shalt remember all the way which Yahuah Elohayka led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest guard His commandments, or no.
And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of Yahuah doth man live.
Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so Yahuah Elohayka chasteneth thee.
Therefore thou shalt guard the commandments of Yahuah Elohayka, to walk in His ways, and to fear Him.
For Yahuah Elohayka bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;
A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.
When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless Yahuah Elohayka for the good land which He hath given thee.
Beware that thou forget not Yahuah Elohayka, in not guarding His commandments, and His judgments, and His statutes, which I command thee this day:
Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;
Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget Yahuah Elohayka, which brought thee forth out of the land of Mitsrayim, from the house of bondage;
Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;
Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that He might humble thee, and that He might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
But thou shalt remember Yahuah Elohayka: for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
And it shall be, if thou do at all forget Yahuah Elohayka, and walk after other elohiym, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
As the nations which Yahuah destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of Yahuah Elohaykem.

Devariym (Deuteronomy) 9

Hear, O Yashar’el: Thou art to pass over Yardan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,
A people great and tall, the children of the Anaqiym, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anaq!
Understand therefore this day, that Yahuah Elohayka is He which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire He shall destroy them, and He shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as Yahuah hath said unto thee.
Speak not thou in thine heart, after that Yahuah Elohayka hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness Yahuah hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations Yahuah doth drive them out from before thee.
Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations Yahuah Elohayka doth drive them out from before thee, and that He may perform the word which Yahuah sware unto thy fathers, Avraham, Yitschaq, and Ya’aqov.
Understand therefore, that Yahuah Elohayka giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.
Remember, and forget not, את how thou provokedst Yahuah Elohayka to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Mitsrayim, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against Yahuah.
Also in Chorev ye provoked Yahuah to wrath, so that Yahuah was angry with you to have destroyed you.
When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which Yahuah made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water:
And Yahuah delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of Elohiym; and on them was written according to all the words, which Yahuah spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.
And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Yahuah gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.
And Yahuah said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Mitsrayim have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.
Furthermore Yahuah spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Let Me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.
So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.
And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against Yahuah Elohaykem, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which Yahuah had commanded you.
And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.
And I fell down before Yahuah, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of Yahuah, to provoke Him to anger.
For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith Yahuah was wroth against you to destroy you. But Yahuah hearkened unto me at that time also.
And Yahuah was very angry with Aharon to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aharon also the same time.
And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.
And at Tav’erah, and at Massah, and at Qivrot Hat-Ta’avah, ye provoked Yahuah to wrath.
Likewise when Yahuah sent you from Qadesh Barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of Yahuah Elohaykem, and ye believed Him not, nor hearkened to His voice.
Ye have been rebellious against Yahuah from the day that I knew you.
Thus I fell down before Yahuah את forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because Yahuah had said He would destroy you.
I prayed therefore unto Yahuah, and said, O Adonai Yahuah, destroy not Thy people and Thine inheritance, which Thou hast redeemed through Thy greatness, which Thou hast brought forth out of Mitsrayim with a mighty hand.
Remember thy servants, Avraham, Yitschaq, and Ya’aqov; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin:
Lest the land whence Thou broughtest us out say, Because Yahuah was not able to bring them into the land which He promised them, and because He hated them, He hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.
Yet they are Thy people and Thine inheritance, which Thou broughtest out by Thy mighty power and by Thy stretched out arm.

Devariym (Deuteronomy) 10

At that time Yahuah said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto Me into the mount, and make thee an Ark of wood.
And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the Ark.
And I made an Ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.
And He wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, את the Ten Devariym, which Yahuah spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and Yahuah gave them unto me.
And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the Ark which I had made; and there they be, as Yahuah commanded me.
And the children of Yashar’el took their journey from Be’eroth Beney-Ya’aqan to Moserah: there Aharon died, and there he was buried; and El’azar his son ministered in the priest’s office in his stead.
From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Yotvathah, a land of rivers of waters.
At that time Yahuah separated the tribe of Leviy, to bear the Ark of the Covenant of Yahuah, to stand before Yahuah to minister unto Him, and to bless in His name, unto this day.
Wherefore Leviy hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; Yahuah is his inheritance, according as Yahuah Elohayka promised him.
And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and Yahuah hearkened unto me at that time also, and Yahuah would not destroy thee.
And Yahuah said unto me, Arise, take thy journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.
And now, Yashar’el, what doth Yahuah Elohayka require of thee, but to fear Yahuah Elohayka, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Yahuah Elohayka with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
To guard the commandments of Yahuah, and His statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?
Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is Yahuah Elohayka, the earth also, with all that therein is.
Only Yahuah had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and He chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.
Circumcise therefore את the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
For Yahuah Elohaykem is Elohai of ha’elohiym, and Adonai ha’adoniym, a great El, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:
He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.
Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Mitsrayim.
Thou shalt fear Yahuah Elohayka; Him shalt thou serve, and to Him shalt thou cleave, and swear by His name.
He is thy praise, and he is thy Elohiym, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.
Thy fathers went down into Mitsrayim with threescore and ten persons; and now Yahuah Elohayka hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.

Devariym (Deuteronomy) 11

Therefore thou shalt love את Yahuah Elohayka, and guard His charge, and His statutes, and His judgments, and His commandments, alway.
And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of Yahuah Elohaykem, His greatness, His mighty hand, and His stretched out arm,
And His miracles, and His acts, which He did in the midst of Mitsrayim unto Pharaoh the king of Mitsrayim, and unto all his land;
And what He did unto the army of Mitsrayim, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how He made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how Yahuah hath destroyed them unto this day;
And what He did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place;
And what he did unto Dathan and Aviyram, the sons of Eliyaa, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and את all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Yashar’el:
But your eyes have seen את all the great acts of Yahuah which He did.
Therefore shall ye guard all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it;
And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which Yahuah sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey.
For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Mitsrayim, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:
But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:
A land which Yahuah Elohayka careth for: the eyes of Yahuah Elohayka are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto My commandments which I command you this day, to love Yahuah Elohaykem, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,
That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.
Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other elohiym, and worship them;
And then Yahuah’s wrath be kindled against you, and He shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which Yahuah giveth you.
Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:
That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Yahuah sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
For if ye shall diligently guard all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love Yahuah Elohaykem, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave unto Him;
Then will Yahuah drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.
Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Perath, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.
There shall no man be able to stand before you: for Yahuah Elohaykem shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as He hath said unto you.

Haftarah Aiykev (עֵ֣קֶב) – “Because”

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7:1-11 & Yechezq’el (Ezekiel) 36:24-32

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 7:1-11

The Word that came to El-Yirmeyahu from Yahuah, saying,
Stand in the gate of Yahuah’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the Word of Yahuah, all ye of Yahudah, that enter in at these gates to worship Yahuah.
Thus saith Yahuah Tseva’oth, the Elohai of Yashar’el, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of Yahuah, The temple of Yahuah, The temple of Yahuah, are these.
For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;
If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other elohiym to your hurt:
Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Ba’al, and walk after other elohiym whom ye know not;
And come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
Is this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith Yahuah.

Yechezq’el (Ezekiel) 36:24-32

24. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
25. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26. A new heart also will I give you, and a new ruach will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27. And I will put My Ruach within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall guard My judgments, and do them.
28. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your Elohiym.
29. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the grain, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.
30. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.
31. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
32. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Adonai Yahuah, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Yashar’el.

Brit Ha’dasha Aiykev (עֵ֣קֶב) – “Because”

Mattithyahu (Matthew) 6:19-34 & Luqas (Luke) 12:13-21

Mattithyahu (Matthew) 6:19-34

19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
24. No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve Elohiym and mammon.
25. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26. Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27. Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29. And yet I say unto you, That even Shalomah in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30. Wherefore, if Elohiym so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32. (For after all these things do the other nations seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33. But seek ye first the kingdom of Elohiym, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Luqas (Luke) 12:13-21

13. And one of the company said unto Him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.
14. And He said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?
15. And He said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
16. And He spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
17. And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
18. And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
19. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
20. But Elohiym said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
21. So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward Elohiym.