28 Av, 5784

Deuteronomy 16:18-22

You shall appoint magistrates and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that the LORD your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice. You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just. Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the LORD your God is giving you. You shall not set up a sacred post—any kind of pole beside the altar of the LORD your God that you may make— or erect a stone pillar; for such the LORD your God detests.

Deuteronomy 17:1-13

You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect of a serious kind, for that is abhorrent to the LORD your God. If there is found among you, in one of the settlements that the LORD your God is giving you, a man or woman who has affronted the LORD your God and transgressed His covenant— turning to the worship of other gods and bowing down to them, to the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, something I never commanded— and you have been informed or have learned of it, then you shall make a thorough inquiry. If it is true, the fact is established, that abhorrent thing was perpetrated in Israel, you shall take the man or the woman who did that wicked thing out to the public place, and you shall stone them, man or woman, to death.— A person shall be put to death only on the testimony of two or more witnesses; he must not be put to death on the testimony of a single witness.— Let the hands of the witnesses be the first against him to put him to death, and the hands of the rest of the people thereafter. Thus you will sweep out evil from your midst. If a case is too baffling for you to decide, be it a controversy over homicide, civil law, or assault—matters of dispute in your courts—you shall promptly repair to the place that the LORD your God will have chosen, and appear before the levitical priests, or the magistrate in charge at the time, and present your problem. When they have announced to you the verdict in the case, you shall carry out the verdict that is announced to you from that place that the LORD chose, observing scrupulously all their instructions to you. You shall act in accordance with the instructions given you and the ruling handed down to you; you must not deviate from the verdict that they announce to you either to the right or to the left. Should a man act presumptuously and disregard the priest charged with serving there the LORD your God, or the magistrate, that man shall die. Thus you will sweep out evil from Israel: all the people will hear and be afraid and will not act presumptuously again.

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

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on Shabbat. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Yeshua saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Yeshua had healed on Shabbat, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on Shabbat day.” Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on Shabbat untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on Shabbat day?” As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

(ESV)