8 Adonai said to Y’hoshua, “Don’t be afraid or fall into despair! Take all the people who can fight with you, set out, and go up to ‘Ai; because now I have handed over to you the king of ‘Ai, his people, his city and his land. ² Do to ‘Ai and its king as you did to Yericho and its king; but this time, take its spoil and cattle as booty for yourselves. Ambush the city from behind.”

³ So Y’hoshua set out for ‘Ai with all the people who could fight. Y’hoshua chose 30,000 men, the most courageous of his troops, and sent them out by night. ⁴ He instructed them, “You are to lie in wait to ambush the city from behind. Stay close to the city; and all of you, be ready. ⁵ I and all the troops with me will approach the city; and when they come out to attack us, as they did before, we will run away from them. ⁶ They will chase after us until we have drawn them away from the city; because they will say, ‘They’re running away from us, as they did before’; so we’ll run away from them. ⁷ Then you will jump up from your ambush position and take possession of the city, for Adonai your God will hand it over to you. ⁸ When you have captured the city, you are to set it on fire; do according to what Adonai has said. Those are your orders.”

⁹ Y’hoshua sent them out; and they went to the place for the ambush, staying between Beit-El and ‘Ai, to the west of ‘Ai; while Y’hoshua camped that night with the people. ¹⁰ Y’hoshua got up early in the morning, mustered his men and went up to ‘Ai ahead of the people, he and the leaders of Isra’el . ¹¹ All the troops marching with him went up, advanced, arrived in front of the city and camped on the north side of ‘Ai, with a valley between him and ‘Ai. ¹² Then he took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Beit-El and ‘Ai, to the west of ‘Ai. ¹³ Thus the people arrayed themselves, with all the army to the north of the city, and their rearguard lying in wait to the west of the city. Y’hoshua spent that night in the valley.

¹⁴ The king of ‘Ai saw this, so the men in the city hurried out early in the morning to battle against Isra’el, he and all his people, at a meeting-place facing the ‘Aravah. But he was unaware that behind the city an ambush had been laid against him. ¹⁵ Y’hoshua and all Isra’el made as if they had been defeated before them and ran off on the road to the desert. ¹⁶ All the people in ‘Ai were summoned together to pursue them, so they chased Y’hoshua and were drawn away from the city. ¹⁷ Not a man was left in ‘Ai or Beit-El who had not gone after Isra’el; pursuing Isra’el, they left the city wide open.

¹⁸ Then Adonai said to Y’hoshua, “Point the spear in your hand toward ‘Ai, because I will hand it over to you.” Y’hoshua pointed the spear in his hand toward the city. ¹⁹ The men in ambush jumped up quickly from their place; the moment he stretched out his hand, they ran, entered the city and captured it; and they hurried to set the city on fire. ²⁰ When the men of ‘Ai looked behind them, they saw it — there was the smoke from the city, rising to the sky; and they had no power to flee this way or that — at which point the people who had run off toward the desert turned back on the pursuers. ²¹ When Y’hoshua and all Isra’el saw that the ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city was going up, they turned back and slaughtered the men of ‘Ai; ²² while the others came out of the city against them too; so that they were surrounded by Isra’el with some on this side and some on that side. They attacked them, allowing none to remain or escape. ²³ But they took the king of ‘Ai alive and brought him to Y’hoshua.

²⁴ When Isra’el had finished slaughtering all the inhabitants of ‘Ai in the countryside, in the desert where they had pursued them, and they had all fallen, consumed by the sword, then all Isra’el returned to ‘Ai and defeated it with the sword. ²⁵ Twelve thousand men and women fell that day, everyone in ‘Ai. ²⁶ For Y’hoshua did not withdraw his hand, which he had used to point the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of ‘Ai. ²⁷ Only the livestock and the spoil of that city did Isra’el take as booty for themselves, in keeping with the order Adonai had given Y’hoshua. ²⁸ So Y’hoshua burned down ‘Ai and turned it into a tel forever, so that it remains a ruin to this day. ²⁹ The king of ‘Ai he hanged on a tree until evening; at sundown Y’hoshua gave an order, so they took his carcass down from the tree, threw it at the entrance of the city gate and piled on it a big heap of stones, which is there to this day.

³⁰ Then Y’hoshua built an altar to Adonai, the God of Isra’el, on Mount ‘Eival, ³¹ as Moshe the servant of Adonai had ordered the people of Isra’el to do (this is written in the book of the Torah of Moshe), an altar of uncut stones that no one had touched with an iron tool. On it they offered burnt offerings to Adonai and sacrificed peace offerings. ³² He wrote there on the stones a copy of the Torah of Moshe, inscribing it in the presence of the people of Isra’el. ³³ Then all Isra’el, including their leaders, officials and judges, stood on either side of the ark in front of the cohanim, who were L’vi’im and who carried the ark for the covenant of Adonai. The foreigners were there along with the citizens. Half of the people were in front of Mount G’rizim and half of them in front of Mount ‘Eival, as Moshe the servant of Adonai had ordered them earlier in connection with blessing the people of Isra’el. ³⁴ After this, he read all the words of the Torah, the blessing and the curse, according to everything written in the book of the Torah. ³⁵ There was not a word of everything Moshe had ordered that Y’hoshua did not read before all Isra’el assembled, including the women, the little ones and the foreigners living with them.

4 ⁽⁴⁾ “I, N’vukhadnetzar, was contentedly living at home, enjoying the luxury of my palace; ^2 (5) but as I lay on my bed, I had a dream which frightened me, followed by fantasies and visions in my head which frightened me even more. ^3 (6) So I ordered all the sages of Bavel to present themselves to me, so that they could tell me the interpretation of the dream. ^4 (7) When the magicians, exorcists, astrologers and diviners came, I told them the dream; but they couldn’t interpret it for me. ^5 (8) Finally, however, Dani’el (renamed Belt’shatzar, after the name of my god), in whom is the spirit of the holy gods, came before me; and I told him the dream: ^6 (9) ‘Belt’shatzar, chief of the magicians! Because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and no mystery is too difficult for you, tell me the meaning of the visions I saw in my dream. ^7 (10) Here are the visions I had in my head as I lay on my bed: I looked, and there before me was a tree at the center of the earth; it was very tall. ^8 (11) The tree grew and became strong until its crown reached the sky, and it could be seen from anywhere on earth. ^9 (12) Its foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant; it produced enough food for everyone. The wild animals enjoyed its shade, the birds in the air lived in its branches, and it gave food to every living creature. ^10 (13) I looked in the visions of my head as I lay on my bed, and there appeared a holy watcher coming down from heaven. ^11 (14) He cried out:

^15 (18) “‘This is the dream which I, King N’vukhadnetzar, saw. Now you, Belt’shatzar, tell me its interpretation. None of the sages of my kingdom can tell me the interpretation, but you can do it, because the spirit of the holy gods is in you.’

^16 (19) “Dani’el, whose name was Belt’shatzar, was in shock awhile, frightened by his thoughts. The king said, ‘Belt’shatzar, don’t let the dream or the interpretation frighten you.’ Belt’shatzar answered, ‘My lord, if only the dream were about those who hate you, and the interpretation about your enemies! ^17 (20) The tree you saw which grew and became strong until its crown reached the sky, and it could be seen throughout the whole earth, ^18 (21) that had beautiful foliage and abundant fruit, enough to feed everyone, under which the wild animals lived, and on whose branches the birds in the air built their nests — ^19 (22) it’s you, your majesty! You have grown and become strong — your greatness has grown and reaches to heaven, and your rule extends to the end of the earth.

^20 (23) “‘Now the king saw a holy watcher coming down from heaven, who said,

^21 (24) “‘This is the interpretation, your majesty; and it is the decree of the Most High that has come upon my lord the king:

^23 (26) “‘But since it was ordered to leave the stump of the tree with its roots, your kingdom will be kept for you until you have learned that Heaven rules everything. ^24 (27) Therefore, your majesty, please take my advice: break with your sins by replacing them with acts of charity, and break with your crimes by showing mercy to the poor; this may extend the time of your prosperity.’

^25 (28) “All this happened to King N’vukhadnetzar. ^26 (29) Twelve months later, as he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Bavel, ^27 (30) the king said, ‘Bavel the great! I built it as a royal residence by my power and force to enhance the glory of my majesty!’ ^28 (31) No sooner had the king spoken these words when a voice came down from heaven: ‘King N’vukhadnetzar! These words are for you:

^30 (33) “Within the hour the word was fulfilled. N’vukhadnetzar was driven from human society, he ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with dew from the sky, until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.

^31 (34) “When this period was over, I, N’vukhadnetzar, lifted my eyes toward heaven, and my understanding came back to me. I blessed the Most High, I praised and gave honor to him who lives forever.

^33 (36) “It was at that moment that my understanding came back to me; and for the sake of the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor also came back to me. My advisers and lords sought me out, I was re-established in my kingdom, and to my previous greatness even more was added. ^34 (37) So now I, N’vukhadnetzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven:

10 Then Yeshua left that place and went into the regions of Y’hudah and the territory beyond the Yarden. Again crowds gathered around him; and again, as usual, he taught them. ² Some P’rushim came up and tried to trap him by asking him, “Does the Torah permit a man to divorce his wife?” ³ He replied, “What did Moshe command you?” ⁴ They said, “Moshe allowed a man to hand his wife a get and divorce her.”^{[a] 5} But Yeshua said to them, “He wrote this commandment for you because of your hardheartedness. ⁶ However, at the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.^{[b] 7} For this reason, a man should leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, ⁸ and the two are to become one flesh.^[c] Thus they are no longer two, but one. ⁹ So then, no one should break apart what God has joined together.” ¹⁰ When they were indoors once more, the talmidim asked him about this. ¹¹ He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against his wife; ¹² and if a wife divorces her husband and marries another man, she too commits adultery.”

¹³ People were bringing children to him so that he might touch them, but the talmidim rebuked those people. ¹⁴ However, when Yeshua saw it, he became indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me, don’t stop them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵ Yes! I tell you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it!” ¹⁶ And he took them in his arms, laid his hands on them, and made a b’rakhah over them.

¹⁷ As he was starting on his way, a man ran up, kneeled down in front of him and asked, “Good rabbi, what should I do to obtain eternal life?” ¹⁸ Yeshua said to him, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good except God! ¹⁹ You know the mitzvot — ‘Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t give false testimony, don’t defraud, honor your father and mother, . . .’”^{[d] 20} “Rabbi,” he said, “I have kept all these since I was a boy.” ²¹ Yeshua, looking at him, felt love for him and said to him, “You’re missing one thing. Go, sell whatever you own, give to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come, follow me!” ²² Shocked by this word, he went away sad; because he was a wealthy man.

²³ Yeshua looked around and said to his talmidim, “How hard it is going to be for people with wealth to enter the Kingdom of God!” ²⁴ The talmidim were astounded at these words; but Yeshua said to them again, “My friends, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God! ²⁵ It’s easier for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.” ²⁶ They were utterly amazed and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ Yeshua looked at them and said, “Humanly, it is impossible, but not with God; with God, everything is possible.” ²⁸ Kefa began saying to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” ²⁹ Yeshua said, “Yes! I tell you that there is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, ³⁰ who will not receive a hundred times over, now, in the ‘olam hazeh, homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and lands — with persecutions! — and in the ‘olam haba, eternal life. ³¹ But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first!”

³² They were on the road going up to Yerushalayim. Yeshua was walking ahead of them, and they were amazed — and those following were afraid. So again taking the Twelve along with him, he began telling them what was about to happen to him. ³³ “We are now going up to Yerushalayim, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers. They will sentence him to death and turn him over to the Goyim, ³⁴ who will jeer at him, spit on him, beat him and kill him; but after three days, he will rise.”^[e]

³⁵ Ya‘akov and Yochanan, the sons of Zavdai, came up to him and said, “Rabbi, we would like you to do us a favor.” ³⁶ He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” ³⁷ They replied, “When you are in your glory, let us sit with you, one on your right and the other on your left.” ³⁸ But Yeshua answered, “You don’t know what you’re asking! Can you drink the cup that I am drinking? or be immersed with the immersion that I must undergo?” ³⁹ They said to him, “We can.” Yeshua replied, “The cup that I am drinking, you will drink; and the immersion I am being immersed with, you will undergo. ⁴⁰ But to sit on my right and on my left is not mine to give. Rather, it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

⁴¹ When the other ten heard about this, they became outraged at Ya‘akov and Yochanan. ⁴² But Yeshua called them to him and said to them, “You know that among the Goyim, those who are supposed to rule them become tyrants, and their superiors become dictators. ⁴³ But among you, it must not be like that! On the contrary, whoever among you wants to be a leader must be your servant; ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first among you must become everyone’s slave! ⁴⁵ For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve — and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

⁴⁶ They came to Yericho; and as Yeshua was leaving Yericho with his talmidim and a great crowd, a blind beggar, Bar-Timai (son of Timai), was sitting by the side of the road. ⁴⁷ When he heard that it was Yeshua from Natzeret, he started shouting, “Yeshua! Son of David! Have pity on me!” ⁴⁸ Many people scolded him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the louder, “Son of David! Have pity on me!” ⁴⁹ Yeshua stopped and said, “Call him over!” They called to the blind man, “Courage! Get up! He’s calling for you!” ⁵⁰ Throwing down his blanket, he jumped up and came over to Yeshua. ⁵¹ “What do you want me to do for you?” asked Yeshua. The blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me be able to see again.” ⁵² Yeshua said to him, “Go! Your trust has healed you.” Instantly he received his sight and followed him on the road.