Shabbat Shalom!
Welcome to Shoftim / Judges - this week’s Torah reading
Prophecy 44, 101, 131;
Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9;
Isaiah 51:12-52:12;
Mark 14:53-64;<
Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9
18 You shall appoint judges and officers for yourself in all your gates which
YAHUVEH your ELOHIM gives you, tribe by tribe. And they shall judge the people
with righteous judgment. 19 You shall not pervert judgment. You shall not regard faces, nor shall you
take a bribe; for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise, and perverts the words of
the righteous. 20 You shall follow perfect justice, that you may live and possess the land
which YAHUVEH your ELOHIM is giving you. 21 You shall not set up for yourself pillars of any trees, which you make for
yourself near the altar of YAHUVEH your ELOHIM. 22 And you shall not raise up for yourself any standing image, which YAHUVEH
your ELOHIM detests.
*~Deuteronomy Chapter 17 ~*
1 You shall not sacrifice to YAHUVEH your ELOHIM an ox or sheep in which there
is a blemish, any evil thing, for it is a hateful thing to YAHUVEH your ELOHIM. 2 When there is found among you, in one of your gates which YAHUVEH your ELOHIM
is giving to you, a man or woman who does that which is evil in the sight of
YAHUVEH your ELOHIM, in transgressing His covenant, 3 and has gone and served other gods, and worshiped them; or the sun, or the
moon, or of the host of the heavens, which I have not commanded; 4 and it has been revealed to you, and you have heard, and searching have
searched; and, behold, it is true; and the thing is confirmed, that this hateful
thing has been done in Israel, 5 then you shall bring out to your gates that man or that woman who has done
this evil thing, the man or the woman; and you shall stone them with stones, and
they shall die. 6 At the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses shall he that is to die be
put to death. He shall not be put to death at the mouth of one witness. 7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first on him, to put him to death; and the
hand of all the people last. And you shall cut off the evil from among you. 8 If a matter is too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between
cause and cause, or between stroke and stroke, matters of strife within your
gates, then you shall rise and go up to the place which YAHUVEH your ELOHIM
shall choose (Jerusalem). 9 And you shall come in to the priest, of the Levites, and to the judge who is
in those days, and shall inquire. And they shall declare the word of judgment to
you. 10 And you shall do according to the word which they declare to you from that
place which YAHUVEH shall choose (Jerusalem). And you shall be careful to do
according to all that they direct you. 11 You shall do according to the mouth of the Torah which they direct you, and
according to the judgment which they deliver to you. You shall not turn aside
from the word which they declare to you, right or left. 12 And the man who acts with pride so as not to listen to the priest who is
standing to serve YAHUVEH your ELOHIM there, or to the judge, even that man
shall die; and you shall cut off the evil from Israel. 13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and shall not presume any more. 14 When you come into the land which YAHUVEH your ELOHIM is giving to you, and
have possessed it, and settled in it; and you shall say, Let me set a king over
me like all the nations around me, 15 then you shall certainly set a king over you. You may not give an alien the
rule over you, one who is not your brother. 16 Only, he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to turn
back to Egypt so as to multiply horses, since YAHUVEH has said to you, You shall
not again return in this way any more. 17 And he shall not multiply wives to himself, and his heart shall not turn
aside. And he shall not greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. 18 And it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write
for himself a copy of this Torah in a book, from before the priests, the
Levites. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life,
that he may learn to fear YAHUVEH your ELOHIM, to keep all the Words of this
Torah and these statutes, to do them; 20 so that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may
not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or to the left; so that he may
prolong his days over his kingdom, he and his sons in the midst of Israel.
*~Deuteronomy Chapter 18 ~*
1 The priests, the Levites, all the tribe of Levi shall have no portion or
inheritance with Israel. They shall eat fire offerings of YAHUVEH, even His
inheritance. 2 And he shall have no inheritance among his brothers. YAHUVEH Himself is his
inheritance, as He has spoken to him. 3 And this shall be the priest’s due from the people, from those that offer a
sacrifice, whether an ox or sheep, that they shall give to the priest the leg,
and the two cheeks, and the stomach, 4 the first of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of
the fleece of your flock, you shall give to him. 5 For YAHUVEH your ELOHIM has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to
serve in the name of YAHUVEH, he and his sons continually. 6 And if a Levite comes from one of your gates of all Israel, where he has been
living, and comes with all the desire of his soul to the place which YAHUVEH
shall choose, 7 then he shall serve in the name of YAHUVEH his ELOHIM, as all his brothers the
Levites who stand before YAHUVEH do. 8 They shall eat portion like portion, except of the sales of what belonged to
his father. 9 When you come to the land which YAHUVEH your ELOHIM is giving to you, you
shall not learn to do according to the hateful acts of those nations. 10 There shall not be found in you one who passes his son or his daughter
through the fire, one that uses divination, an observer of clouds, or one
fortune-telling, or a spell caster, 11 or a magic charmer, or one consulting spirits, or a wizard, or one
communicating with the dead. 12 For all doing these things are an abomination to YAHUVEH. And because of
these filthy acts YAHUVEH your ELOHIM is expelling these nations before you. 13 You shall be perfect with YAHUVEH your ELOHIM. 14 For these nations whom you shall expel listen to observers of clouds, and to
those divining. But as to you, YAHUVEH your ELOHIM has not given to you to do
so. 15 YAHUVEH your ELOHIM shall raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your
brothers, one like me; you shall listen to him, 16 according to all that you desired of YAHUVEH your ELOHIM in Horeb in the day
of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of YAHUVEH my ELOHIM,
nor let me see this great fire any more, lest I die. 17 And YAHUVEH said to me, They have spoken well, what they have said. 18 I shall raise up a prophet to them from among their brothers, one like you;
and I will put My Words in his mouth; and he shall speak to them all that I
shall command him. 19 And it shall be, whoever will not listen to My Words which he shall speak in
My name, I will require it at his hand. 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, that which I have
not commanded him to speak, and who speaks in the name of other gods, even that
prophet shall die. 21 And if you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which YAHUVEH has
not spoken? 22 When a prophet speaks in the name of YAHUVEH, if the thing does not happen or
come about, that is the thing which YAHUVEH has not spoken; that prophet has
spoken it proudly; you shall not be afraid of him. *~Deuteronomy Chapter 19 ~*
1 When YAHUVEH your ELOHIM shall cut off the nations whose land YAHUVEH your
ELOHIM is giving to you, and when you dispossess them, and live in their cities,
and in their houses, 2 you shall separate three cities for you in the midst of your land, which
YAHUVEH your ELOHIM is giving you to possess it. 3 You shall prepare the way for yourself, and shall divide into three parts the
border of your land which YAHUVEH your ELOHIM shall cause you to inherit, so
that every manslayer may flee there. 4 And this is the case of the man-slayer who shall flee there, that he may live:
whoever strikes his neighbor without knowing, and has not hated him yesterday
and the day before; 5 even he who goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand
brings a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips from
the wood and finds his neighbor so that he dies; he shall flee to one of these
cities, and shall live; 6 that the avenger of blood not pursue the manslayer when his heart is hot, and
shall overtake him because the way is long, and shall strike him so as to die,
and he had no sentence of death, for he did not hate him yesterday or the day
before. 7 On account of this I am commanding you, saying, You shall separate to yourself
three cities. 8 And if YAHUVEH your ELOHIM shall enlarge your border, as He has sworn to your
fathers, and shall give to you all the land which He has spoken to give to your
fathers, 9 if you will keep these commandments which I am commanding you today, to love
YAHUVEH your ELOHIM, and to walk in His ways forever, then you shall add to
yourself another three cities to these three. 10 And innocent blood shall not be shed in the midst of your land, which YAHUVEH
your ELOHIM is giving to you as an inheritance, and there be blood on you. 11 And if a man hates his neighbor, and lies in wait for him, and rises up
against him, and strikes his life from him, so that he dies, and flees to one of
these cities, 12 then the elders of his city shall send and bring from him there, and give him
into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. 13 Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the innocent blood from
Israel, and it shall be well with you. 14 You may not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which those formerly have set in
your inheritance, which you shall inherit in the land which YAHUVEH your ELOHIM
is giving you, to possess it. 15 One witness shall not rise against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in
any sin which he sins. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three
witnesses a thing shall be established. 16 If a vicious witness rises up against any man to charge apostasy against him, 17 then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before YAHUVEH, before the
priests and the judges who shall be in those days. 18 And the judges shall carefully investigate and, behold, if the witness is a
false witness, and he has testified falsely against his brother, 19 then you shall do to him as he plotted to do to his brother. And you shall
put away the evil from among you. 20 And those who remain shall hear and fear, and thereafter shall not add to
commit any such evil among you. 21 And your eye shall not pity; life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for
tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. *~Deuteronomy Chapter 20 ~*
1 When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots, a
people more than you, you shall not be afraid of them. For YAHUVEH your ELOHIM
is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 2 And it shall be, when you draw near to battle, the priest shall come and speak
to the people, 3 and say to them. Hear, Israel, you are drawing near today to battle against
your enemies. Do not let your heart be faint; do not fear nor tremble, nor be
terrified before their faces. 4 For YAHUVEH your ELOHIM is He who is going before you, to fight for you
against your enemies, to save you. 5 And the officers shall speak to the people, saying, Who is the man that has
built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house,
that he not die in battle and another man dedicate it. 6 And who is the man that has planted a vineyard, and has not used its fruit?
Let him go and return to his house, that he not die in battle, and another man
use its fruit. 7 And who is the man who has betrothed a woman, and has not taken her? Let him
go and return to his house, that he not die in the battle, and another man take
her. 8 And the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, Who is the man
who is afraid, and faint of heart? Let him go and return to his house; then the
heart of his brothers will not melt like his heart. 9 And it shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people,
commanders of the armies shall be appointed at the head of the people. 10 When you come near a city to fight against it, then call to it for peace. 11 And it shall be, if it answers peace to you, and shall open to you, then it
shall be that all the people found in it shall be forced laborers for you, and
shall serve you. 12 And if it shall not make peace with you, and shall make war with you, then
you shall lay siege against it. 13 And YAHUVEH your ELOHIM shall give it into your hand; and you shall strike
every male of it by the mouth of the sword. 14 Only, the women, and the little ones, and the livestock, and all in the city,
all its plunder, you shall seize for yourself. And you shall eat the plunder of
your enemies which YAHUVEH your ELOHIM has given to you. 15 So you shall do to all the cities very far away from you, which are not of
the cities of these nations. 16 But of the cities of these peoples which YAHUVEH your ELOHIM is giving to you
as an inheritance, you shall not keep alive any that breathes. 17 But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the
Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as YAHUVEH your
ELOHIM has commanded you; 18 so that they may not teach you to do according to all their filthy deeds
which they have done for their ELOHIM; and you would sin against YAHUVEH your
ELOHIM. 19 When you shall lay siege to a city many days, to fight against it, to capture
it, you shall not destroy its trees in order to force an axe against them. For
you shall eat of them, and you shall not cut them down; for is the tree of the
field a man, that it should be used by you to lay siege? 20 Only the tree which you know not to be a fruit tree, you may destroy it, and
may cut it down, and may build a bulwark against the city making war with you,
until you have subdued it. *~Deuteronomy Chapter 21 ~*
1 If one is found slain in the land which YAHUVEH your ELOHIM is giving to you,
to possess it, lying in the field, and it is not known who has struck him; 2 then your elders and your judges shall come out. And they shall measure to the
cities which are around the one slain. 3 And it shall be, that the city nearest to the one slain, even the elders of
that city shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked with, and
which has not drawn in the yoke. 4 And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to an ever-flowing
stream, which is not plowed nor sown. And they shall break the heifer’s neck
there by the stream. 5 And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near (for YAHUVEH your ELOHIM
has chosen them to minister to Him, and to bless in the name of YAHUVEH) and by
their mouth shall every controversy and every stroke be tried. 6 And all the elders of that city nearest to the one slain shall wash their
hands by the stream, over the heifer whose neck was broken. 7 And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have
our eyes seen it. 8 O YAHUVEH, be merciful to Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed, and do
not allow innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel. And the blood shall
be forgiven them. 9 And you shall put away the innocent blood from among you, for you shall do
that which is right in the eyes of YAHUVEH.