Study Desk

also of the birds in the air take seven couples — in order to preserve their species throughout the earth.

"Stand back!" they replied. "This guy came to live here, and now he's decided to play judge. For that we'll deal worse with you than with them!" Then they crowded in on Lot, in order to get close enough to break down the door.

Avraham replied, "It was because I thought, ‘There could not possibly be any fear of God in this place, so they will kill me in order to get my wife.'

The men of the place asked him about his wife, and out of fear he said, "She is my sister." He thought, "If I tell them she's my wife, they might kill me in order to take Rivkah. After all, she is a beautiful woman."

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 Ya‘akov sent messengers ahead of him to ‘Esav his brother toward the land of Se‘ir, the country of Edom, with these instructions: "Here is what you are to say to my lord ‘Esav: ‘Your servant Ya‘akov says, "I have been living with Lavan and have stayed until now. I have cattle, donkeys and flocks, and male and female servants. I am sending to tell this news to my lord, in order to win your favor." '" The messengers returned to Ya‘akov saying, "We went to your brother ‘Esav, and he is coming to meet you; with him are four hundred men." Ya‘akov became greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people, flocks, cattle and camels with him into two camps, saying, "If ‘Esav comes to the one camp and attacks it, at least the camp that is left will escape." Then Ya‘akov said, "God of my father Avraham and God of my father Yitz'chak, Adonai , who told me, ‘Return to your country and your kinsmen, and I will do you good': I'm not worthy of all the love and faithfulness you have shown your servant, since I crossed the Yarden with only my staff. But now I have become two camps. Please! Rescue me from my brother ‘Esav! I'm afraid of him, afraid he'll come and attack me, without regard for mothers or children. You said, ‘I will certainly do you good and make your descendants as numerous as the grains of sand by the sea, which are so many they can't be counted.'" (ii) He stayed there that night; then he chose from among his possessions the following as a present for ‘Esav his brother: two hundred female goats and twenty males, two hundred female sheep and twenty males, thirty milk-camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten colts. He turned them over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, "Cross over in front of me, and keep a space between each drove and the next one." He instructed the servant in front, "When ‘Esav my brother meets you and asks you, ‘Whose servant are you? Where are you going? And whose animals are these?' then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Ya‘akov, and they are a present he has sent to my lord ‘Esav; and Ya‘akov himself is just behind us.'" He also instructed the second servant, and the third, and all that followed the droves, "When you encounter ‘Esav, you are to speak to him in the same way, and you are to add, ‘And there, just behind us, is your servant Ya‘akov.'" For he said, "I will appease him first with the present that goes ahead of me; then, after that, I will see him myself — and maybe he will be friendly toward me." So the present crossed over ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp. He got up that night, took his two wives, his two slave-girls, and his eleven children, and forded the Yabok. He took them and sent them across the stream, then sent his possessions across; and Ya‘akov was left alone. Then some man wrestled with him until daybreak. When he saw that he did not defeat Ya‘akov, he struck Ya‘akov's hip socket, so that his hip was dislocated while wrestling with him. The man said, "Let me go, because it's daybreak." But Ya‘akov replied, "I won't let you go unless you bless me." The man asked, "What is your name?" and he answered, "Ya‘akov." Then the man said, "From now on, you will no longer be called Ya‘akov, but Isra'el; because you have shown your strength to both God and men and have prevailed." Ya‘akov asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he answered, "Why are you asking about my name?" and blessed him there. (iii) Ya‘akov called the place P'ni-El [face of God], "Because I have seen God face to face, yet my life is spared." As the sun rose upon him he went on past P'ni-El, limping at the hip. This is why, to this day, the people of Isra'el do not eat the thigh muscle that passes along the hip socket — because the man struck Ya‘akov's hip at its socket.

I have cattle, donkeys and flocks, and male and female servants. I am sending to tell this news to my lord, in order to win your favor." '"

I have told you to let my son go in order to worship me, but you have refused to let him go. Well, then, I will kill your firstborn son!"'"

they will know that I am Adonai their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt in order to live with them. I am Adonai their God.

Moshe said, "You have consecrated yourselves today to Adonai , because every one of you has been against his own son and against his own kinsman, in order to bring a blessing on yourselves today."

They hammered the gold into thin plates and cut them into threads in order to work it into the blue, purple and scarlet yarn and the fine linen crafted by the skilled artisan.

He ordered done what has been done today, in order to make atonement for you.

(LY: vi) "‘None of you is to approach anyone who is a close relative in order to have sexual relations; I am Adonai .

You are not to approach a woman in order to have sexual relations with her when she is unclean from her time of niddah.

Whoever brings a sacrifice of peace offerings to Adonai in fulfillment of a vow or as a voluntary offering, whether it come from the herd or from the flock, it must be unblemished and without defect in order to be accepted.

I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt in order to give you the land of Kena‘an and be your God.

"‘You are not to make yourselves any idols, erect a carved statue or a standing-stone, or place any carved stone anywhere in your land in order to bow down to it. I am Adonai your God.

Since there were 273 more firstborn males from Isra'el than male L'vi'im, in order to redeem them,

When Moshe went into the tent of meeting in order to speak with Adonai , he heard the voice speaking to him from above the ark-cover on the ark for the testimony, from between the two k'ruvim; and he spoke to him. Haftarah Naso: Shof'tim (Judges) 13:2–25 B'rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Naso: Yochanan (John) 7:53–8:11; Acts 21:17–32

The L'vi'im purified themselves and washed their clothes. Then Aharon offered them as a holy gift before Adonai and made atonement for them in order to cleanse them.

and they spread a negative report about the land they had reconnoitered for the people of Isra'el by saying, "The land we passed through in order to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants. All the people we saw there were giant!