²⁶ In the sixth month, the angel Gavri’el was sent by God to a city in the Galil called Natzeret, ²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man named Yosef, of the house of David; the virgin’s name was Miryam. ²⁸ Approaching her, the angel said, “Shalom, favored lady! Adonai is with you!” ²⁹ She was deeply troubled by his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Miryam, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ Look! You will become pregnant, you will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Yeshua. ³² He will be great, he will be called Son of Ha‘Elyon. Adonai, God, will give him the throne of his forefather David; ³³ and he will rule the House of Ya‘akov forever — there will be no end to his Kingdom.” ³⁴ “How can this be,” asked Miryam of the angel, “since I am a virgin?” ³⁵ The angel answered her,

³⁶ “You have a relative, Elisheva, who is an old woman; and everyone says she is barren. But she has conceived a son and is six months pregnant! ³⁷ For with God, nothing is impossible.” ³⁸ Miryam said, “I am the servant of Adonai; may it happen to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

³⁶ They were still talking about it when — there he was, standing among them! ³⁷ Startled and terrified, they thought they were seeing a ghost. ³⁸ But he said to them, “Why are you so upset? Why are these doubts welling up inside you? ³⁹ Look at my hands and my feet — it is I, myself! Touch me and see — a ghost doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you can see I do.” ⁴⁰ As he said this, he showed them his hands and feet. ⁴¹ While they were still unable to believe it for joy and stood there dumbfounded, he said to them, “Have you something here to eat?” ⁴² They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³ which he took and ate in their presence.

⁴⁴ Yeshua said to them, “This is what I meant when I was still with you and told you that everything written about me in the Torah of Moshe, the Prophets and the Psalms had to be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds, so that they could understand the Tanakh, ⁴⁶ telling them, “Here is what it says: the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day; ⁴⁷ and in his name repentance leading to forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed to people from all nations, starting with Yerushalayim. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ Now I am sending forth upon you what my Father promised, so stay here in the city until you have been equipped with power from above.”

⁵⁰ He led them out toward Beit-Anyah; then, raising his hands, he said a b’rakhah over them; ⁵¹ and as he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. ⁵² They bowed in worship to him, then returned to Yerushalayim, overflowing with joy. ⁵³ And they spent all their time in the Temple courts, praising God.

²⁶ “Also, at the time of the Son of Man, it will be just as it was at the time of Noach. ²⁷ People ate and drank, and men and women married, right up until the day Noach entered the ark; then the flood came and destroyed them all. ²⁸ Likewise, as it was in the time of Lot — people ate and drank, bought and sold, planted and built; ²⁹ but the day Lot left S’dom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. ³⁰ That is how it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed. ³¹ On that day, if someone is on the roof with his belongings in his house, he must not go down to take them away. Similarly, if someone is in the field, he must not turn back — ³² remember Lot’s wife! ³³ Whoever aims at preserving his own life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will stay alive. ³⁴ I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed — one will be taken and the other left behind. ³⁵ There will be two women grinding grain together — one will be taken and the other left behind.” ^36 [a]

³⁷ They asked him, “Where, Lord?” He answered, “Wherever there’s a dead body, that’s where the vultures gather.”

⁶ But the present condition of Isra’el does not mean that the Word of God has failed.

For not everyone from Isra’el is truly part of Isra’el; ⁷ indeed, not all the descendants are seed of Avraham;^[a] rather, “What is to be called your ‘seed’ will be in Yitz’chak.”^{[b] 8} In other words, it is not the physical children who are children of God, but the children the promise refers to who are considered seed. ⁹ For this is what the promise said: “At the time set, I will come; and Sarah will have a son.”^[c]

²¹ Tell me, you who want to be in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism, don’t you hear what the Torah itself says? ²² It says that Avraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman. ²³ The one by the slave woman was born according to the limited capabilities of human beings, but the one by the free woman was born through the miracle-working power of God fulfilling his promise. ²⁴ Now, to make a midrash on these things: the two women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai and bears children for slavery — this is Hagar. ²⁵ Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Yerushalayim, for she serves as a slave along with her children. ²⁶ But the Yerushalayim above is free, and she is our mother; ²⁷ for the Tanakh says,

²⁸ You, brothers, like Yitz’chak, are children referred to in a promise of God. ²⁹ But just as then the one born according to limited human capability persecuted the one born through the Spirit’s supernatural power, so it is now. ³⁰ Nevertheless, what does the Tanakh say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for by no means will the son of the slave woman inherit along with the son of the free woman!”^{[b] 31} So, brothers, we are children not of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

¹³ For when God made his promise to Avraham, he swore an oath to do what he had promised; and since there was no one greater than himself for him to swear by, he swore by himself^{[a] 14} and said,

¹⁵ and so, after waiting patiently, Avraham saw the promise fulfilled. ¹⁶ Now people swear oaths by someone greater than themselves, and confirmation by an oath puts an end to all dispute. ¹⁷ Therefore, when God wanted to demonstrate still more convincingly the unchangeable character of his intentions to those who were to receive what he had promised, he added an oath to the promise; ¹⁸ so that through two unchangeable things, in neither of which God could lie, we, who have fled to take a firm hold on the hope set before us, would be strongly encouraged. ¹⁹ We have this hope as a sure and safe anchor for ourselves, a hope that goes right on through to what is inside the parokhet, ²⁰ where a forerunner has entered on our behalf, namely, Yeshua, who has become a cohen gadol forever, to be compared with Malki-Tzedek.^[c]

¹³ All these people kept on trusting until they died, without receiving what had been promised. They had only seen it and welcomed it from a distance, while acknowledging that they were aliens and temporary residents on the earth.^{[a] 14} For people who speak this way make it clear that they are looking for a fatherland. ¹⁵ Now if they were to keep recalling the one they left, they would have an opportunity to return; ¹⁶ but as it is, they aspire to a better fatherland, a heavenly one. This is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

¹⁷ By trusting, Avraham, when he was put to the test, offered up Yitz’chak as a sacrifice. Yes, he offered up his only son, he who had received the promises, ¹⁸ to whom it had been said, “What is called your ‘seed’ will be in Yitz’chak.”^{[b] 19} For he had concluded that God could even raise people from the dead! And, figuratively speaking, he did so receive him.

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith but has no actions to prove it? Is such “faith” able to save him? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food, ¹⁶ and someone says to him, “Shalom! Keep warm and eat hearty!” without giving him what he needs, what good does it do? ¹⁷ Thus, faith by itself, unaccompanied by actions, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say that you have faith and I have actions. Show me this faith of yours without the actions, and I will show you my faith by my actions! ¹⁹ You believe that “God is one”?^[a] Good for you! The demons believe it too — the thought makes them shudder with fear!

²⁰ But, foolish fellow, do you want to be shown that such “faith” apart from actions is barren? ²¹ Wasn’t Avraham avinu declared righteous because of actions when he offered up his son Yitz’chak on the altar? ²² You see that his faith worked with his actions; by the actions the faith was made complete; ²³ and the passage of the Tanakh was fulfilled which says, “Avraham had faith in God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness.”^[b] He was even called God’s friend.^{[c] 24} You see that a person is declared righteous because of actions and not because of faith alone.

⁴ For God did not spare the angels who sinned; on the contrary, he put them in gloomy dungeons lower than Sh’ol to be held for judgment. ⁵ And he did not spare the ancient world; on the contrary, he preserved Noach, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, and brought the Flood upon a world of ungodly people. ⁶ And he condemned the cities of S’dom and ‘Amora, reducing them to ashes and ruin, as a warning to those in the future who would live ungodly lives; ⁷ but he rescued Lot, a righteous man who was distressed by the debauchery of those unprincipled people; ⁸ for the wicked deeds which that righteous man saw and heard, as he lived among them, tormented his righteous heart day after day. ⁹ So the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and how to hold the wicked until the Day of Judgment while continuing to punish them, ¹⁰ especially those who follow their old natures in lust for filth and who despise authority.

Presumptuous and self-willed, these false teachers do not tremble at insulting angelic beings;