The Angel of Adonai Appears

¹³ Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of Adonai appears to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the Child, to kill Him.”^[a]

¹⁴ So he got up, took the Child and His mother during the night, and went to Egypt. ¹⁵ He stayed there until Herod’s death. This was to fulfill what was spoken by Adonai through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My son.”^[b]

¹⁶ Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became furious. And he sent and killed all boys in Bethlehem and in all its surrounding area, from two years old and under, according to the time he had determined from the magi. ¹⁷ Then was fulfilled what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

¹⁹ But when Herod died, behold, an angel of Adonai appears in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, ²⁰ saying, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those seeking the Child’s life are dead.”

²¹ So he got up, took the Child and His mother, and went to the land of Israel. ²² But hearing that Archelaus was king of Judea in place of his father Herod, he became afraid to go there. Then after being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of the Galilee. ²³ And he went and lived in a city called Natzeret,^[d] to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets, that Yeshua shall be called a Natzrati.

“Your Will Be Done”

³⁶ Then Yeshua comes with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He tells the disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷ And He took along Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, and He began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸ Then He tells them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.” ³⁹ Going a little farther, He fell face down and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me! Yet not as I will, but as You will.”

⁴⁰ Then He comes to the disciples and finds them sleeping; and He tells Peter, “So couldn’t you keep watch with Me for one hour? ⁴¹ Keep watching and praying, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ⁴² Again for a second time He went away and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, let Your will be done.” ⁴³ And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴ So He left them again and prayed a third time, saying the same words once more. ⁴⁵ Then He comes to the disciples and says to them, “Still sleeping? Taking your rest? Look, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being delivered into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶ Get up, let’s go! Look, My betrayer is near.”

Removing the “Hametz” from Your House

5 It is actually reported that among you there is sexual immorality, and such immorality as is not even among the pagans—that someone has his father’s wife. ² And you are puffed up! Shouldn’t you have mourned instead, so that the one who did this deed might be removed from among you? ³ For even though I am absent in body, I am present in spirit—I have already passed judgment on the one who has done this thing, as though I were present. ⁴ When you are gathered together in the name of our Lord Yeshua, I am with you in spirit. With the power of our Lord Yeshua, ⁵ you are to turn such a fellow over to satan for the destruction of his fleshly nature,^[a] so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Yeshua.

⁶ Your boasting is no good. Don’t you know that a little hametz leavens the whole batch of dough? ⁷ Get rid of the old hametz,^[b] so you may be a new batch, just as you are unleavened—for Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸ Therefore let us celebrate the feast not with old hametz,^[c] the hametz of malice and wickedness, but with unleavened bread—the matzah of sincerity and truth.

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter not to mix together^[d] with sexually immoral people— ¹⁰ not at all meaning the sexually immoral people of this world or the greedy or swindlers or idolaters, for then you would have to exit the world. ¹¹ But now I am writing to you not to mix together with anyone who is being called a brother if he is sexually immoral or greedy or an idolater or a slanderer or a drunkard or a swindler—not even to eat with such a fellow. ¹² For what business do I have judging outsiders? Don’t you judge those who are inside? ¹³ But those who are outside, God judges. Put away the wicked fellow from among yourselves.^[e]

Unity of the Body and of God

4 Therefore I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you were called— ² with complete humility and gentleness, with patience, putting up with one another in love, ³ making every effort to keep the unity of the Ruach in the bond of shalom.

⁷ But to each one of us grace was given in keeping with the measure of Messiah’s gift. ⁸ Therefore it says,

⁹ Now what does “He went up” mean, except that He first went down to the lower regions of the earth? ^{[c] 10} The One who came down is the same One who went up far above all the heavens, in order to fill all things.

¹¹ He Himself gave some to be emissaries, some as prophets, some as proclaimers of the Good News, and some as shepherds and teachers— ¹² to equip the kedoshim for the work of service, for building up the body of Messiah. ¹³ This will continue until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of Ben-Elohim—to mature adulthood, to the measure of the stature of Messiah’s fullness. ¹⁴ As a result, we are no longer to be like children, tossed around by the waves and blown all over by every wind of teaching, by the trickery of men with cunning in deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all ways into Messiah, who is the Head. ¹⁶ From Him the whole body is fitted and held together by every supporting ligament. The proper working of each individual part produces the body’s growth, for building itself up in love.

Put Off The Old, Put On The New

¹⁷ So I tell you this, indeed I insist on it in the Lord—walk no longer as the pagans do, stumbling around in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance in them due to the hardness of their heart. ¹⁹ Since they are past feeling, they have turned themselves over to indecency for the practice of every kind of immorality, with greed for more.

²⁰ However, you did not learn Messiah in this way— ²¹ if indeed you have heard Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Yeshua. ²² With respect to your former lifestyle, you are to lay aside the old self corrupted by its deceitful desires, ²³ be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and put on the new self—created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

²⁵ So lay aside lying and “each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,”^[d] for we are members of one another. ²⁶ “Be angry, yet do not sin.”^[e] Do not let the sun go down on your anger, ^{[f] 27} nor give the devil a foothold. ²⁸ The one who steals must steal no longer—instead he must work, doing something useful with his own hands, so he may have something to share with the one who has need. ²⁹ Let no harmful word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for building others up according to the need, so that it gives grace to those who hear it. ³⁰ Do not grieve the Ruach ha-Kodesh of God,^[g] by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Get rid of all bitterness and rage and anger and quarreling and slander, along with all malice. ³² Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other just as God in Messiah also forgave you.

¹¹ By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive^[a] when she was barren and past the age, since she considered the One who had made the promise to be faithful. ¹² So from one—and him as good as dead—were fathered offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and as uncountable as the sand on the seashore.^[b]

¹³ These all died in faith without receiving the things promised—but they saw them and welcomed them from afar, and they confessed that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth. ^{[c] 14} For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵ If indeed they had been thinking about where they had come from, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But as it is, they yearn for a better land—that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had received the promises was offering up his one and only son— ¹⁸ the one about whom it was said, “Through Isaac offspring shall be named for you.” ^{[d] 19} He reasoned that God was able to raise him up even from the dead—and in a sense, he did receive him back from there.

²⁰ By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come.

144,000 Marked with a Seal

7 After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth^[a] so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or against any tree. ² Then I saw another angel coming up from the east,^[b] having the seal of the living God. He cried out with a loud voice to the four angels who were permitted to harm the earth and the sea, ³ saying, “Do no harm to the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”^[c]

⁴ Now I heard the number of those marked with the seal:

144,000 from every tribe of Bnei-Yisrael—

⁵ 12,000 from the tribe of Judah;

12,000 from the tribe of Reuben;

12,000 from the tribe of Gad;

⁶ 12,000 from the tribe of Asher;

12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali;

12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh;

⁷ 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon;

12,000 from the tribe of Levi;

12,000 from the tribe of Issachar;

⁸ 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun;

12,000 from the tribe of Joseph;

12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin.

Countless Worshipers Before the Throne

⁹ After these things I looked, and behold, a vast multitude that no one could count—from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues—was standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes, with palm branches^[d] in their hands ¹⁰ and crying out with a loud voice, saying,

¹¹ And all the angels were standing around the throne, along with the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹² saying,

¹³ Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these dressed in white robes, and where have they come from?”

I said to him, “Sir, you know.”

¹⁴ Then he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.^[e] They have washed their robes and made them white^[f] in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵ For this reason, they are before the throne of God, and they serve Him day and night in His Temple. The One seated on the throne will shelter them. ^{[g] 16} They shall never again go hungry, nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. ^{[h] 17} For the Lamb in the midst of the throne shall shepherd them and guide them to springs of living water, and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.”^[i]