Shabbat Shalom!
Welcome to Behar - On The Mountain / Bechukotai - this week’s Prophetic reading
Prophecy 6, 96, 153;
Leviticus 25:1–27:34;
Jeremiah 16:19–17:14;
Matthew 21:33–46;
Jeremiah 16:19–17:14
19 YAHUVEH, my strength, my fortress,my refuge in time of trouble, the
nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, saying,“Our ancestors
inherited nothing but lies,futile idols, completely useless.”
20 Can a person make himself ELOHIMs?(In fact they aren’t ELOHIMs at all.)
21 “Therefore, I will make them know,once and for all, I will make them know my
power and my might.Then they will know that my name is YAHUVEH.
Jeremiah 17:1-14
1 “Y’hudah’s sin is written with an iron pen;with a diamond point it is engraved
on the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of your altars.
2 As they remember their children,so they remember their altars and their sacred
poles by the green trees on the high hills.
3 My mountain in the field, your wealth and all your treasures will be
plundered;because of the sin of your high places throughout your territory.
4 You will relinquish your hold on your heritage which I gave you.I will make
you serve your enemies in a land you do not know.For you have kindled my fiery
anger,and it will burn forever.”
5 Here is what YAHUVEH says:“A curse on the person who trusts in humans,who
relies on merely human strength,whose heart turns away from YAHUVEH.
6 He will be like a tamarisk in the ‘Aravah —when relief comes, it is
unaffected;for it lives in the sun-baked desert,in salty, uninhabited land.
7 Blessed is the man who trusts in YAHUVEH;YAHUVEH will be his security.
8 He will be like a tree planted near water;it spreads out its roots by the
river;it does not notice when heat comes;and its foliage is luxuriant;it is not
anxious in a year of drought but keeps on yielding fruit.
9 “The heart is more deceitful than anything else and mortally sick. Who can
fathom it?
10 I, YAHUVEH, search the heart;I test inner motivations;in order to give to
everyone what his actions and conduct deserve.”
11 A partridge hatches eggs it did not lay;like this are those who get rich
unjustly:in the prime of life their wealth will desert them;in the end they will
prove to be fools.
12 Throne of Glory,exalted from the beginning!Our Holy Sanctuary,
13 Hope of Isra’el, YAHUVEH!All who abandon you will be ashamed,those who leave
you will be inscribed in the dust,because they have abandoned YAHUVEH,the source
of living water.
14 Heal me, YAHUVEH, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved,
for you are my praise.
Matthew 21:33–46
33 “Now listen to another parable. There was a farmer who planted a vineyard. He
put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower; then he
rented it to tenants and left.
34 When harvest-time came, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his
share of the crop.
35 But the tenants seized his servants — this one they beat up, that one they
killed, another they stoned.
36 So he sent some other servants, more than the first group, and they did the
same to them.
37 Finally, he sent them his son, saying, ‘My son they will respect.’
38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir.
Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance!’ 39 So they grabbed him, threw
him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
41 They answered him, “He will viciously destroy those vicious men and rent out
the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the crop when it’s
due.”
42 YAHUSHUA said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the Tanakh,‘The very rock
which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone!This has come from
YAHUVEH,and in our eyes it is amazing’?[a]
43 Therefore, I tell you that the Kingdom of ELOHIM will be taken away from you
and given to the kind of people that will produce its fruit!” 44 [b]
45 As the head cohanim and the P’rushim listened to his stories, they saw that
he was speaking about them.
46 But when they set about to arrest him, they were afraid of the crowds;
because the crowds considered him a prophet.