28 Kislev, 5784
Hanukkah day 4

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, but no one can interpret it. Now I have heard it said of you that for you to hear a dream is to tell its meaning.”

Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “Not I! God will see to Pharaoh’s welfare.”

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream, I was standing on the bank of the Nile,

when out of the Nile came up seven sturdy and well-formed cows and grazed in the reed grass.

Presently there followed them seven other cows, scrawny, ill-formed, and emaciated—never had I seen their likes for ugliness in all the land of Egypt!

And the seven lean and ugly cows ate up the first seven cows, the sturdy ones;

but when they had consumed them, one could not tell that they had consumed them, for they looked just as bad as before. And I awoke.

In my other dream, I saw seven ears of grain, full and healthy, growing on a single stalk;

but right behind them sprouted seven ears, shriveled, thin, and scorched by the east wind.

And the thin ears swallowed the seven healthy ears. I have told my magicians, but none has an explanation for me.”

And Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams are one and the same: God has told Pharaoh what He is about to do.

The seven healthy cows are seven years, and the seven healthy ears are seven years; it is the same dream.

The seven lean and ugly cows that followed are seven years, as are also the seven empty ears scorched by the east wind; they are seven years of famine.

It is just as I have told Pharaoh: God has revealed to Pharaoh what He is about to do.

Immediately ahead are seven years of great abundance in all the land of Egypt.

After them will come seven years of famine, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. As the land is ravaged by famine,

no trace of the abundance will be left in the land because of the famine thereafter, for it will be very severe.

As for Pharaoh having had the same dream twice, it means that the matter has been determined by God, and that God will soon carry it out.

“Accordingly, let Pharaoh find a man of discernment and wisdom, and set him over the land of Egypt.

And let Pharaoh take steps to appoint overseers over the land, and organize the land of Egypt in the seven years of plenty.

Let all the food of these good years that are coming be gathered, and let the grain be collected under Pharaoh’s authority as food to be stored in the cities.

Let that food be a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will come upon the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish in the famine.”

The plan pleased Pharaoh and all his courtiers.

And Pharaoh said to his courtiers, “Could we find another like him, a man in whom is the spirit of God?”

Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, published by JPS
Copyright: JPS, 1985

Psalms 135

Hallelujah. Praise the name of the LORD; give praise, you servants of the LORD who stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God. Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; sing hymns to His name, for it is pleasant. For the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel, as His treasured possession. For I know that the LORD is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods. Whatever the LORD desires He does in heaven and earth, in the seas and all the depths. He makes clouds rise from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain; He releases the wind from His vaults. He struck down the first-born of Egypt, man and beast alike; He sent signs and portents against Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants; He struck down many nations and slew numerous kings— Sihon, king of the Amorites, Og, king of Bashan, and all the royalty of Canaan— and gave their lands as a heritage, as a heritage to His people Israel. O LORD, Your name endures forever, Your fame, O LORD, through all generations; for the LORD will champion His people, and obtain satisfaction for His servants. The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who fashion them, all who trust in them, shall become like them. O house of Israel, bless the LORD; O house of Aaron, bless the LORD; O house of Levi, bless the LORD; you who fear the LORD, bless the LORD. Blessed is the LORD from Zion, He who dwells in Jerusalem. Hallelujah.

Psalms 136

Praise the LORD; for He is good, His steadfast love is eternal. Praise the God of gods, His steadfast love is eternal. Praise the Lord of lords, His steadfast love is eternal; Who alone works great marvels, His steadfast love is eternal; Who made the heavens with wisdom, His steadfast love is eternal; Who spread the earth over the water, His steadfast love is eternal; Who made the great lights, His steadfast love is eternal; the sun to dominate the day, His steadfast love is eternal; the moon and the stars to dominate the night, His steadfast love is eternal; Who struck Egypt through their first-born, His steadfast love is eternal; and brought Israel out of their midst, His steadfast love is eternal; with a strong hand and outstretched arm, His steadfast love is eternal; Who split apart the Sea of Reeds, His steadfast love is eternal; and made Israel pass through it, His steadfast love is eternal; Who hurled Pharaoh and his army into the Sea of Reeds, His steadfast love is eternal; Who led His people through the wilderness, His steadfast love is eternal; Who struck down great kings, His steadfast love is eternal; and slew mighty kings— His steadfast love is eternal; Sihon, king of the Amorites, His steadfast love is eternal; Og, king of Bashan— His steadfast love is eternal; and gave their land as a heritage, His steadfast love is eternal; a heritage to His servant Israel, His steadfast love is eternal; Who took note of us in our degradation, His steadfast love is eternal; and rescued us from our enemies, His steadfast love is eternal; Who gives food to all flesh, His steadfast love is eternal. Praise the God of heaven, His steadfast love is eternal.

Psalms 137

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat, sat and wept, as we thought of Zion. There on the poplars we hung up our lyres, for our captors asked us there for songs, our tormentors, for amusement, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.” How can we sing a song of the LORD on alien soil? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither; let my tongue stick to my palate if I cease to think of you, if I do not keep Jerusalem in memory even at my happiest hour. Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem’s fall; how they cried, “Strip her, strip her to her very foundations!” Fair Babylon, you predator, a blessing on him who repays you in kind what you have inflicted on us; a blessing on him who seizes your babies and dashes them against the rocks!

Psalms 138

Of David. I praise You with all my heart, sing a hymn to You before the divine beings; I bow toward Your holy temple and praise Your name for Your steadfast love and faithfulness, because You have exalted Your name, Your word, above all. When I called, You answered me, -You inspired me with courage. All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O LORD, for they have heard the words You spoke. They shall sing of the ways of the LORD, “Great is the majesty of the LORD!” High though the LORD is, He sees the lowly; lofty, He perceives from afar. Though I walk among enemies, You preserve me in the face of my foes; You extend Your hand; with Your right hand You deliver me. The LORD will settle accounts for me. O LORD, Your steadfast love is eternal; do not forsake the work of Your hands.

Psalms 139

For the leader. Of David. A psalm. O LORD, You have examined me and know me. When I sit down or stand up You know it; You discern my thoughts from afar. You observe my walking and reclining, and are familiar with all my ways. There is not a word on my tongue but that You, O LORD, know it well. You hedge me before and behind; You lay Your hand upon me. It is beyond my knowledge; it is a mystery; I cannot fathom it. Where can I escape from Your spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I descend to Sheol, You are there too. If I take wing with the dawn to come to rest on the western horizon, even there Your hand will be guiding me, Your right hand will be holding me fast. If I say, “Surely darkness will conceal me, night will provide me with cover,” darkness is not dark for You; night is as light as day; darkness and light are the same. It was You who created my conscience; You fashioned me in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am awesomely, wondrously made; Your work is wonderful; I know it very well. My frame was not concealed from You when I was shaped in a hidden place, knit together in the recesses of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed limbs; they were all recorded in Your book; in due time they were formed, to the very last one of them. How weighty Your thoughts seem to me, O God, how great their number! I count them—they exceed the grains of sand; I end—but am still with You. O God, if You would only slay the wicked— you murderers, away from me!— who invoke You for intrigue, Your enemies who swear by You falsely. O LORD, You know I hate those who hate You, and loathe Your adversaries. I feel a perfect hatred toward them; I count them my enemies. Examine me, O God, and know my mind; probe me and know my thoughts. See if I have vexatious ways, and guide me in ways everlasting.

Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, published by JPS
Copyright: JPS, 1985

Then Pilate took Yeshua and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” So Yeshua came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Yeshua, “Where are you from?” But Yeshua gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Yeshua answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Yeshua out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.

So they took Yeshua, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Yeshua between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Yeshua of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Yeshua was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

When the soldiers had crucified Yeshua, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,

  “They divided my garments among them,
    and for my clothing they cast lots.”

So the soldiers did these things, but standing by the cross of Yeshua were his mother and his mother’s sister, Miriam the wife of Clopas, and Miriam Magdalene. When Yeshua saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

After this, Yeshua, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Yeshua had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on Shabbat (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Yeshua and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”

After these things Yosef of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Yeshua, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Yeshua, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Yeshua by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Yeshua and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Yeshua there.

(ESV)