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Shabbat Shalom!
Welcome to Vayera / And He Appeared - this week’s Torah reading

Prophecy 51, 63, 71;
Genesis 18:1–22:24;
2 Kings 4:1–37;
Luke 1:26–38; Luke 24:36–53;

Genesis 18:1–22:24

1 And YAHUVEH visually appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre. And he was sitting at the door of the tent in the heat of the day.
2 And he lifted up his eyes and looked; and, behold, three men were standing by him. And he saw, and he ran to meet them from the entrance of the tent. And he bowed to the ground.
3 And he said, YAHUVEH, if now I have found favor in Your sight, I beg You, do not leave from near Your servant.
4 Please allow a little water to be taken and You wash Your feet, and rest under the tree.
5 And I will bring a bite of bread and will sustain Your heart. Then You may pass on, for this is why You have passed over to Your servant. And they said, Do so, as you have said.
6 And Abraham ran into the tent to Sarah and said, Hurry, prepare three measures of fine meal, knead it and make cakes.
7 And Abraham ran to the herd and brought a son of the herd, tender and good, and gave it to a youth. And he hurried to prepare it.
8 And he took curds and milk and the son of the herd which he had prepared, and he set before them. And he stood by them under the tree. And they ate.
9 And they said to him, Where is your wife Sarah? And he said, See, in the tent.
10 And He said, Certainly I will return to you at the time of life; and, Behold! A son shall be to your wife Sarah. And Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, and it was behind Him.
11 And Abraham and Sarah were aged, going on in days. The custom as to women had ceased to be to Sarah.
12 And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After my being old, shall there be pleasure to me; my master also being old?
13 And YAHUVEH said to Abraham, Why has Sarah laughed at this, saying, Indeed, truly shall I bear, even I who am old?
14 Is anything too difficult for YAHUVEH? At the appointed set apart time I will return to you, at the time of life, and there will be a son to Sarah.
15 And Sarah denied, saying, I did not laugh; for she was afraid. And He said, No, but you did laugh.
16 And the men rose up from there and looked on the face of Sodom. And Abraham was going with them, to send them away.
17 And YAHUVEH said, Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am doing?
18 And Abraham shall surely become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19 For I have known him, so that whatever he may command his sons and his house after him, even they may keep the way of YAHUVEH, to do righteousness and justice; to the intent that YAHUVEH may bring on Abraham that which He has spoken of him.
20 And YAHUVEH said, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and their sin is exceedingly heavy.
21 I will go down and see if they have at all done according to the cry coming to Me. And if not, I will know.
22 And the men faced around from there and went toward Sodom. And Abraham was still standing before YAHUVEH.
23 And Abraham drew near and said, Is it so? Will You cut off the righteous with the wicked?
24 Perhaps there are fifty righteous within the city; is it so You will cut off and will not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous ones that are within it?
25 Far be it from You to act in this way, to put to death the righteous with the wicked. Far be it from You. The Judge of all the earth, shall He not do right?
26 And YAHUVEH said, If I find fifty righteous within the city, in Sodom, then I will spare all the place because of them.
27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold, I pray, I have undertaken to speak to YAHUVEH, and I am dust and ash.
28 Perhaps there will be lacking five from the fifty righteous, will You destroy all the city for the five? And He said, If I find forty five there, I will not destroy.
29 And he continued still to speak to Him and said, Perhaps forty will be found there. And He said, I will not do it because of the forty.
30 And he said, Please YAHUVEH do not be angry, that I may speak; perhaps thirty will be found there. And He said, I will not do it if I find thirty there.
31 And he said, Behold, I pray, I have undertaken to speak to Adonai; perhaps twenty will be found there. And He said, I will not destroy because of the twenty.
32 And he said, I pray, let not YAHUVEH be angry that I may speak only this time; perhaps ten will be found there. And He said, I will not destroy because of the ten.
33 And when YAHUVEH had finished speaking to Abraham, He left. And Abraham returned to his place.

*~Genesis Chapter 19 ~*

1 And the two cherubs came into Sodom at evening. And Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. And Lot saw, and he rose up to meet them and bowed his face to the earth.
2 And he said, Behold, now, my masters, please turn in to your servant’s house and lodge, and wash your feet; and rise early and go to your way. And they said, No, for we will lodge in the street.
3 And he much urged them, and they turned in to him and came into his house. And he made a feast for them. And he baked unleavened matzos, and they ate.
4 Before they had laid down, even the men of the city, the men of Sodom, circled the house; from the young to the aged, all the people from its limits.
5 And they called to Lot and said to him, Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them.
6 And Lot went out to them, to the door, and he closed the door behind him.
7 And he said, My brothers, please do not act evilly.
8 Behold, now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please let me bring them out to you and do to them as you see fit; only do not do a thing to these men, on account of this they came into the shade of my roof.
9 And they said, Stand back! And they said, This one came in to visit, and must he always judge? Now we will do evil to you rather than to them. And they pressed on the man, upon Lot violently, and drew near to break the door.
10 But the men put out their hands and brought Lot in to them, into the house, and shut the door.
11 And they struck the men at the door of the house with blindness, from the small to the great; and they struggled to find the door.
12 And the men said to Lot, Who still is here to you? Bring out of this place your sons and your sons-in-law and your daughters, and whoever belongs to you in the city.
13 For we are about to destroy this place, for the cry of them is great before YAHUVEH, and YAHUVEH has sent us to destroy it.
14 And Lot went out to speak to his sons-in-law, those taking his daughters. And he said, Rise up, go out from this place, for YAHUVEH is about to destroy the city. And he seemed as one joking to his sons-in-law.
15 And when the dawn rose, then the cherubs urged Lot, saying, Rise up, take your wife and your two daughters who are found, lest you be consumed in the perversity of the city.
16 And he lingered. And the men lay hold of his hand and his wife’s hand, and on the hand of his two daughters, YAHUVEH having mercy on him. And they caused him to go out, and they put him down outside the city.
17 And it happened as they led them outside, he said, Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay in all the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest you be swept away.
18 And Lot said to them, Please, no, my master!
19 Behold, now, Your servant has found grace in Your sight, and You have magnified Your mercy which You have done to me in saving my life. And I am not able to escape to the mountain lest some evil overtake me and I die.
20 Please, now, this city is near, to flee there, and it is a little one. Please let me escape there! Is it not a little thing, that my soul may live?
21 And He said to him, See, I have lifted up your face also as to this thing, without overthrowing the city for which you have spoken.
22 Hurry, escape there, for I am not able to do anything until you have come there. So the name of the city was called Zoar.
23 The sun had gone forth on the earth, and Lot came into Zoar .
24 And YAHUVEH on earth rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah, from YAHUVEH out of the heavens.
25 And He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all those living in the cities, and the produce of the ground.
26 And his wife looked back with pleasure from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 And Abraham started up early in the morning, going to the place where he had stood there before YAHUVEH.
28 And he looked toward the face of Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain. And he saw. And, behold, the smoke of the country went up like the smoke of a furnace.
29 And it happened when Elohim destroyed the cities of the plain, Elohim remembered Abraham; and He sent Lot out from the overthrow when overturning the cities in which Lot lived.
30 And Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the mount. And his two daughters were with him. For he feared to live in Zoar. And he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters.
31 And the first-born said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to come in to us as is the way of all the earth.
32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him, that we may keep alive seed of our father.
33 And they caused their father to drink wine that night. And the first-born went in and lay with her father. And he did not know when she lay down nor when she rose up.
34 And on the next day it happened, the first-born said to the younger, Behold, I lay with my father last night. Let us cause him to drink wine tonight also. And you go in and lie with him, so that we may keep alive seed of our father.
35 And they caused their father to drink wine that night also. And the younger rose up and lay with him. And he did not know when she lay down, nor when she rose up.
36 And both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father.
37 And the first-born bore a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of Moab to this day.
38 And the younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

*~Genesis Chapter 20 ~*

1 And Abraham pulled up stakes from there to the land of the Negev, and lived between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar.
2 And Abraham said with regards to his wife Sarah, She is my sister. And Abimelech the king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
3 But Elohim came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, Behold, you are about to die because of the woman you have taken, she being married to a husband.
4 And Abimelech had not come near to her. And he said, YAHUVEH, will You slay even a righteous nation?
5 And did he not say to me, She is my sister? And she, even herself said, He is my brother. In the honor of my heart and the purity of my hands I have done this.
6 And Elohim said to him in a dream, Yes, I know that you did this in the honor of your heart, and I also withheld you from sinning against Me. On account of this I did not allow you to touch her.
7 And now return the wife of the man, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you shall live. And if you do not restore her, know that surely, you shall die, you and all that are yours.
8 And Abimelech rose up early in the morning and called for all his servants. And he spoke all these words in their ears. And the men were greatly afraid.
9 And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, What have you done to us? And in what have I offended you that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done things to me that ought not to be done.
10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, What did you see that you have done this thing?
11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of Elohim is not in this place, and they will kill me for my wife’s sake.
12 And yet she really is my sister, daughter of my father; only not daughter of my mother. And she became my wife.
13 And it happened when Elohim made me wander from my father’s house, even I said to her, This is your kindness which you do to me: at every place where we come there, say of me, He is my brother.
14 Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male slaves, and slave-girls, and gave to Abraham. And he returned his wife Sarah to him.
15 Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before you. Live where it pleases you.
16 And he said to Sarah, I, behold, I have given a thousand of silver to your brother. Behold, it is for you a covering of the eyes to all who are with you. And with all this you are reproved.
17 And Abraham prayed to Elohim, and Elohim healed Abimelech and his wife and his concubines, and they gave birth.
18 For YAHUVEH had completely closed up every womb of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, the wife of Abraham.

*~Genesis Chapter 21 ~*

1 And YAHUVEH visited Sarah as He had said. And YAHUVEH did to Sarah as He had promised.
2 And Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time, that which Elohim had spoken with him.
3 And Abraham called the name of the son who was born to him, whom Sarah had borne to him, Isaac.
4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, a son of eight days, as Elohim had commanded him.
5 And Abraham was a son of a hundred years when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 And Sarah said, Elohim has made laughter for me; all who hear will laugh with me.
7 And she said, Who would have said to Abraham, Will Sarah suckle sons? For I have borne a son to his old age.
8 And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.
9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.
10 And she said to Abraham, Drive away this slave-girl and her son, for the son of this slave-girl shall not inherit with my son, with Isaac.
11 And the thing was very evil in the eyes of Abraham, on account of his son.
12 And Elohim said to Abraham, Let it not be evil in your eyes because of the boy, and on account of your slave-girl. All that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice, for in Isaac your Seed shall be called.
13 And also I will make a nation of the son of the slave-girl, for he is your seed.
14 And Abraham started up early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away. And she left and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-Sheva.
15 And the water from the skin was finished, and she put the boy under one of the shrubs.
16 And she went and sat down opposite him, about a bow shot away. For she said, Let me not see the death of the boy. And she sat opposite and raised her voice and wept.
17 And Elohim heard the voice of the young boy. And the Messenger of Elohim called to Hagar out of the heavens. And He said to her, What ails you, Hagar? Do not fear, for Elohim has heard the voice of the boy, there where he is.
18 Rise up, lift up the boy and make your hand strong on him, for I will make of him a great nation.
19 And Elohim opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave drink to the young boy.
20 And Elohim was with the boy. And he grew up. And he lived in the wilderness and became a great archer.
21 And he lived in the wilderness of Paran. And his mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.
22 And it happened at that time Abimelech and Phicol, the general of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, Elohim is with you in all that you do.
23 And now swear to me here by Elohim, that you will not lie to me, and to my son, and to my heir, according to the kindness which I have sworn to you. Do to me and to the land in which you have lived in.
24 And Abraham said, I will swear.
25 And Abraham reproved Abimelech on account of a well of water which the slaves of Abimelech had seized.
26 And Abimelech said, I do not know who has done this thing; and also you have not told me; even I have not heard, except today.
27 And Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave to Abimelech, and both of them cut a covenant.
28 And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, What are these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves?
30 And he said, You shall take the seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may become for me a witness that I dug this well.
31 On account of this that place is called Beer Sheva, because the two of them swore there.
32 And they cut a covenant in Beer-Sheva. And Abimelech and Phicol, the general of his army, rose up; and they returned to the land of the Philistines.
33 And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-Sheva, and there he called on the name of YAHUVEH El Olam (Everlasting).
34 And Abraham lived in the land of the Philistines many days.

*~Genesis Chapter 22 ~*

1 And it happened after these things, The Elohim, testing Abraham said to him, Abraham! And he said, Behold I am here.
2 And He said, Now take your son, Isaac, your only one whom you love, and go into the land of Moriyah. And there offer him for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will say to you.
3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and he took two of his youths with him, and his son Isaac. And he split wood for a burnt offering, and rose up and went to the place which Elohim had said to him.
4 And on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from a distance.
5 And Abraham said to his young men, You stay here with the donkey . I and the boy will go over there that we may worship and may return to you.
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son; and he took the fire and the knife in his hand. And the two went together.
7 And Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, My father. And he said, Behold I am here. And he said, see, the fire and the wood! But where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8 And Abraham said, My son, Elohim will see for Himself, the lamb for a burnt offering. And the two of them went together.
9 And they came to the place which Elohim had said to him. And Abraham built there the altar, and arranged the wood. And he bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the Messenger of YAHUVEH called to him from the heavens and said, Abraham! Abraham! And he said, I am here.
12 And He said, Do not lay your hand on the boy, nor do anything to him. For now I know that you fear Elohim and you have not withheld your son, your only one, from Me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold! A ram behind him was entangled in a thicket by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it for a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of that place YAHUVEH Yireh ; so that it is said until this day, In the mount of YAHUVEH it will be seen.
15 And the Messenger of YAHUVEH called to Abraham out of the heavens a second time.
16 And He said, I have sworn by Myself, declares YAHUVEH, that on account of this thing you have done, and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17 that blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the lip of the sea. And your Seed shall possess the gate of His enemies.
18 And in your Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have listened to My voice.
19 And Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-Sheva. And Abraham lived at Beer-Sheva.
20 And it happened after these things it was told to Abraham, saying, Behold! Milcah, she also has borne sons to your brother Nahor:
21 Uz, his first-born, Buz, and his brother Kemuel, the father of Aram,
22 and Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
23 And Bethuel fathered Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight to Nahor, the brother of Abraham.
24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she also bore Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.