20 Avraham traveled from there toward the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. While living as an alien in G’rar, ² Avraham was saying of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister”; so Avimelekh king of G’rar sent and took Sarah. ³ But God came to Avimelekh in a dream one night and said to him, “You are about to die because of the woman you have taken, since she is someone’s wife.” ⁴ Now Avimelekh had not come near her; so he said, “Lord, will you kill even an upright nation? ⁵ Didn’t he himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In doing this, my heart has been pure and my hands innocent.” ⁶ God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in doing this, your heart has been pure; and I too have kept you from sinning against me. This is why I didn’t let you touch her. ⁷ Therefore, return the man’s wife to him now. He is a prophet, and he will pray for you, so that you will live. But if you don’t return her, know that you will certainly die — you and all who belong to you.”

⁸ Avimelekh got up early in the morning, called all his servants and told them these things; and the men became very afraid. ⁹ Then Avimelekh called Avraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you to cause you to bring on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done things to me that are just not done.” ¹⁰ Avimelekh went on, asking Avraham, “Whatever could have caused you to do such a thing?” ¹¹ Avraham replied, “It was because I thought, ‘There could not possibly be any fear of God in this place, so they will kill me in order to get my wife.’ ¹² But she actually is also my sister, the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother, and so she became my wife. ¹³ When God had me leave my father’s house, I told her, ‘Do me this favor: wherever we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’”

¹⁴ Avimelekh took sheep, cattle, and male and female slaves, and gave them to Avraham; and he returned to him Sarah his wife. ¹⁵ Then Avimelekh said, “Look, my country lies before you; live where you like.” ¹⁶ To Sarah he said, “Here, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. That will allay the suspicions of everyone who is with you. Before everyone you are cleared.” ¹⁷ Avraham prayed to God, and God healed Avimelekh and his wife and slave-girls, so that they could have children. ¹⁸ For Adonai had made every woman in Avimelekh’s household infertile on account of Sarah Avraham’s wife.

21 Adonai remembered Sarah as he had said, and Adonai did for Sarah what he had promised. ² Sarah conceived and bore Avraham a son in his old age, at the very time God had said to him. ³ Avraham called his son, born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Yitz’chak. ⁴ Avraham circumcised his son Yitz’chak when he was eight days old, as God had ordered him to do.

(v) ⁵ Avraham was one hundred years old when his son Yitz’chak [laughter] was born to him. ⁶ Sarah said, “God has given me good reason to laugh; now everyone who hears about it will laugh with me.” ⁷ And she said, “Who would have said to Avraham that Sarah would nurse children? Nevertheless, I have borne him a son in his old age!”

⁸ The child grew and was weaned, and Avraham gave a great banquet on the day that Yitz’chak was weaned. ⁹ But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom Hagar had borne to Avraham, making fun of Yitz’chak; ¹⁰ so Sarah said to Avraham, “Throw this slave-girl out! And her son! I will not have this slave-girl’s son as your heir along with my son Yitz’chak!”

¹¹ Avraham became very distressed over this matter of his son. ¹² But God said to Avraham, “Don’t be distressed because of the boy and your slave-girl. Listen to everything Sarah says to you, because it is your descendants through Yitz’chak who will be counted. ¹³ But I will also make a nation from the son of the slave-girl, since he is descended from you.”

¹⁴ Avraham got up early in the morning, took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child; then he sent her away. After leaving, she wandered in the desert around Be’er-Sheva. ¹⁵ When the water in the skin was gone, she left the child under a bush, ¹⁶ and went and sat down, looking the other way, about a bow-shot’s distance from him; because she said, “I can’t bear to watch my child die.” So she sat there, looking the other way, crying out and weeping. ¹⁷ God heard the boy’s voice, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What’s wrong with you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, because God has heard the voice of the boy in his present situation. ¹⁸ Get up, lift the boy up, and hold him tightly in your hand, because I am going to make him a great nation.” ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went, filled the skin with water and gave the boy water to drink.

²⁰ God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the desert and became an archer. ²¹ He lived in the Pa’ran Desert, and his mother chose a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

(vi) ²² At that time Avimelekh and Pikhol the commander of his army spoke to Avraham. They said, “God is with you in everything you do. ²³ Therefore, swear to me here by God that you will never deal falsely with me or with my son or grandson; but according to the kindness with which I have treated you, you will treat me and the land in which you have lived as a foreigner. ²⁴ Avraham said, “I swear it.”

²⁵ Now Avraham had complained to Avimelekh about a well which Avimelekh’s servants had seized. ²⁶ Avimelekh answered, “I don’t know who has done this. You didn’t tell me, and I heard about it only today.” ²⁷ Avraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Avimelekh, and the two of them made a covenant. ²⁸ Avraham put seven female lambs from the flock by themselves. ²⁹ Avimelekh asked Avraham, “What is the meaning of these seven female lambs you have put by themselves?” ³⁰ He answered, “You are to accept these seven female lambs from me as witness that I dug this well.” ³¹ This is why that place was called Be’er-Sheva [well of seven, well of an oath] — because they both swore an oath there. ³² When they made the covenant at Be’er-Sheva, Avimelekh departed with Pikhol the commander of his army and returned to the land of the P’lishtim. ³³ Avraham planted a tamarisk tree in Be’er-Sheva, and there he called on the name of Adonai, the everlasting God. ³⁴ Avraham lived for a long time as a foreigner in the land of the P’lishtim.

22 (vii) After these things, God tested Avraham. He said to him, “Avraham!” and he answered, “Here I am.” ² He said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Yitz’chak; and go to the land of Moriyah. There you are to offer him as a burnt offering on a mountain that I will point out to you.”

³ Avraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, together with Yitz’chak his son. He cut the wood for the burnt offering, departed and went toward the place God had told him about. ⁴ On the third day, Avraham raised his eyes and saw the place in the distance. ⁵ Avraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go there, worship and return to you.” ⁶ Avraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on Yitz’chak his son. Then he took in his hand the fire and the knife, and they both went on together.

⁷ Yitz’chak spoke to Avraham his father: “My father?” He answered, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “I see the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” ⁸ Avraham replied, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son”; and they both went on together.

⁹ They came to the place God had told him about; and Avraham built the altar there, set the wood in order, bound Yitz’chak his son and laid him on the altar, on the wood. ¹⁰ Then Avraham put out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.

¹¹ But the angel of Adonai called to him out of heaven: “Avraham? Avraham!” He answered, “Here I am.” ¹² He said, “Don’t lay your hand on the boy! Don’t do anything to him! For now I know that you are a man who fears God, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” ¹³ Avraham raised his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. Avraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son. ¹⁴ Avraham called the place Adonai Yir’eh [Adonai will see (to it), Adonai provides] — as it is said to this day, “On the mountain Adonai is seen.”

¹⁵ The angel of Adonai called to Avraham a second time out of heaven. ¹⁶ He said, “I have sworn by myself — says Adonai — that because you have done this, because you haven’t withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷ I will most certainly bless you; and I will most certainly increase your descendants to as many as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the cities of their enemies, ¹⁸ and by your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed — because you obeyed my order.”

¹⁹ So Avraham returned to his young men. They got up and went together to Be’er-Sheva, and Avraham settled in Be’er-Sheva.

(Maftir) ²⁰ Afterwards, Avraham was told, “Milkah too has borne children, to your brother Nachor — ²¹ ‘Utz his firstborn, Buz his brother, K’mu’el the father of Aram, ²² Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Yidlaf and B’tu’el. ²³ B’tu’el fathered Rivkah. These eight Milkah bore to Nachor Avraham’s brother. ²⁴ His concubine, whose name was Re’umah, bore children also: Tevach, Gacham, Tachash and Ma‘akhah.

Haftarah Vayera: M’lakhim Bet (2 Kings) 4:1–37 (A); 4:1–23 (S)

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Vayera: Luke 17:26 –37; Romans 9:6 – 9; Galatians 4:21–31; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 6:13–20; 11:13–19; Ya‘akov (James) 2:14–24; 2 Kefa (2 Peter) 2:4–10

8 After this, Yeshua traveled about from town to town and village to village, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God. With him were the Twelve, ² and a number of women who had been healed from evil spirits and illnesses — Miryam (called Magdalit), from whom seven demons had gone out; ³ Yochanah the wife of Herod’s finance minister Kuza; Shoshanah; and many other women who drew on their own wealth to help him.

⁴ After a large crowd had gathered from the people who kept coming to him from town after town, Yeshua told this parable: ⁵ “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell along the path and was stepped on, and the birds flying around ate it up. ⁶ Some fell on rock; and after it sprouted, it dried up from lack of moisture. ⁷ Some fell in the midst of thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. ⁸ But some fell into rich soil, and grew, and produced a hundred times as much as had been sown.” After saying this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear with, let him hear!”

⁹ His talmidim asked him what this parable might mean, ¹⁰ and he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the Kingdom of God; but the rest are taught in parables, so that they may look but not see, and listen but not understand.^[a]

¹¹ “The parable is this: the seed is God’s message. ¹² The ones along the path are those who hear, but then the Adversary comes and takes the message out of their hearts, in order to keep them from being saved by trusting it. ¹³ The ones on rock are those who, when they hear the word, accept it with joy; but these have no root — they go on trusting for awhile; but when a time of testing comes, they apostatize. ¹⁴ As for what fell in the midst of thorns these are the ones who hear; but as they go along, worries and wealth and life’s gratifications crowd in and choke them, so that their fruit never matures. ¹⁵ But what fell in rich soil — these are the ones who, when they hear the message, hold onto it with a good, receptive heart; and by persevering, they bring forth a harvest.

¹⁶ “No one who has lit a lamp covers it with a bowl or puts it under a bed; no, he puts it on a stand; so that those coming in may see the light. ¹⁷ For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed, nothing is covered up that will not be known and come out into the open. ¹⁸ Pay attention, then, to how you hear! For anyone who has something will be given more; but from anyone who has nothing, even what he seems to have will be taken away.”

¹⁹ Then Yeshua’s mother and brothers came to see him, but they couldn’t get near him because of the crowd. ²⁰ It was reported to him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and want to see you.” ²¹ But he gave them this answer: “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s message and act on it!”

²² One day Yeshua got into a boat with his talmidim and said to them, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” ²³ So they set out; and as they were sailing, he fell asleep. A windstorm came down on the lake, so that the boat began to fill up with water, putting them in great danger. ²⁴ They went and woke him, saying, “Rabbi! Rabbi! We’re about to die!” He woke up, rebuked the wind and the rough water; and they calmed down, so that it was still. ²⁵ Then he said to the talmidim, “Where is your trust?” Awestruck, they marveled, asking one another, “Who can this be, that he commands even the wind and the water, and they obey him?”

²⁶ They sailed on and landed in the region of the Gerasenes, which is opposite the Galil. ²⁷ As Yeshua stepped ashore, a man from the town who had demons came to meet him. For a long time he had not worn clothes; and he lived, not in a house, but in the burial caves. ²⁸ Catching sight of Yeshua, he screamed, fell down in front of him and yelled, “Yeshua! Son of God Ha‘Elyon! What do you want with me? I beg you, don’t torture me!” ²⁹ For Yeshua had ordered the unclean spirit to come out of the man. It had often taken hold of him — he had been kept under guard, chained hand and foot, but had broken the bonds and been driven by the demon into the desert. ³⁰ Yeshua asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he said, because many demons had entered him. ³¹ They begged Yeshua not to order them to go off into the Bottomless Pit.

³² Now there was a herd of many pigs, feeding on the hill; and the demons begged him to let them go into these. So he gave them permission. ³³ The demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, whereupon the herd rushed down the hillside into the lake and were drowned.

³⁴ When the swineherds saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the town and in the country; ³⁵ and the people came out to see for themselves. They came to Yeshua and found the man out of whom the demons had gone, sitting — dressed and in his right mind — at the feet of Yeshua; and they were frightened. ³⁶ Those who had seen it told how the formerly demonized man had been delivered.

³⁷ Then all the people of the Gerasene district asked him to leave them, for they had been seized with great fear. So he boarded the boat and returned. ³⁸ The man from whom the demons had gone out begged that he might go with him; but Yeshua sent him away, saying, ³⁹ “Go back to your home and tell how much God has done for you.” He went away proclaiming throughout the whole town how much Yeshua had done for him.

⁴⁰ When Yeshua got back, the crowd welcomed him; for they were all expecting him. ⁴¹ Then there came a man named Ya’ir who was president of the synagogue. Falling at Yeshua’s feet, he pleaded with him to come to his house; ⁴² for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old; and she was dying.

As he went, with the crowds on every side virtually choking him, ⁴³ a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, ⁴⁴ came up behind him and touched the tzitzit on his robe; instantly her hemorrhaging stopped. ⁴⁵ Yeshua asked, “Who touched me?” When they all denied doing it, Kefa said, “Rabbi! The crowds are hemming you in and jostling you!” ⁴⁶ But Yeshua said, “Someone did touch me, because I felt power go out of me.” ⁴⁷ Seeing she could not escape notice, the woman, quaking with fear, threw herself down before him and confessed in front of everyone why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. ⁴⁸ He said to her, “My daughter, your trust has saved you; go in peace.”

⁴⁹ While Yeshua was still speaking, a man came from the synagogue president’s house. “Your daughter has died,” he said. “Don’t bother the rabbi any more.” ⁵⁰ But on hearing this, Yeshua answered him, “Don’t be afraid! Just go on trusting, and she will be made well.” ⁵¹ When he arrived at the house, he didn’t allow anyone to go in with him except Kefa, Yochanan, Ya‘akov and the child’s father and mother ⁵² All the people were wailing and mourning for her; but he said, “Don’t weep; she hasn’t died, she’s sleeping.” ⁵³ They jeered at him, since they knew she had died. ⁵⁴ But he took her by the hand, called out, “Little girl, get up!” ⁵⁵ and her spirit returned. She stood up at once, and he directed that something be given her to eat. ⁵⁶ Her parents were astounded, but he instructed them to tell no one what had happened.