Keeping or Nullifying Vows

30 Moses spoke to the princes of the tribes of Bnei-Yisrael saying, “This is what Adonai has commanded:

Parashat Matot

² Whenever a man makes a vow to Adonai or swears an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he is not to violate his word but do everything coming out of his mouth.^[a]

³ “Suppose a woman in her youth vows to Adonai or obligates herself by a pledge in her father’s house. ⁴ If her father should hear her vow or her pledge with which she obligated herself and her father says nothing to her, all her vows and every pledge by which she has obligated herself will stand. ⁵ But if her father should forbid it on the day of his hearing it, none of her vows or pledges by which she has obligated herself will stand. Adonai will forgive her because her father has forbidden her.

⁶ “Suppose she should marry, after her vow or a rash promise of her lips by which she obligated herself. ⁷ Now if her husband hears about it but says nothing to her on the day he hears about it, her vows will stand and her pledges by which she has obligated herself will stand. ⁸ But if her husband should hear about it and on the day he hears it he forbids it, he thereby nullifies her vow and her rash promise by which her lips have obligated her, and Adonai will forgive her.

⁹ “Any vow or obligation of a widow or a divorced woman will be binding on her. ¹⁰ If in her husband’s house she vowed or obligated herself by pledge under oath, ¹¹ and her husband should hear it and say nothing to her, not forbidding her, all her vows and every pledge by which she has obligated herself will stand. ¹² But if her husband should nullify them on the day when he hears of them, nothing from her lips, whether vow or pledge, will stand. Her husband has nullified them and Adonai will forgive her. ¹³ Her husband may ratify or veto any vow or sworn oath to deny herself.

¹⁴ “But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he is confirming all her vows and all her oaths that are on her. He confirms them by saying nothing to her on the day of his hearing about it. ¹⁵ But if he nullifies them after hearing about it, he will bear her guilt.”

¹⁶ These are the statutes that Adonai gave to Moses relevant to relationships between a man and his wife, as well as between a father and his young daughter still living in his house.

Vengeance on Midian and Balaam

31 Adonai spoke to Moses saying, ² “Take vengeance on the Midianites for Bnei-Yisrael. Afterward you will be gathered to your people.”

³ So Moses spoke to the people saying, “Mobilize some of your men for battle. They will go out against Midian to carry out Adonai’s vengeance on Midian. ⁴ Send into the battle 1,000 men from each of the tribes of Israel.”

⁵ So from the thousands of Israel 1,000 from each tribe were assigned, 12,000 in all. ⁶ Moses sent them into battle, 1,000 from each tribe, and with them Phinehas son of Eleazar the kohen, who took with him articles from the Sanctuary and trumpets for signaling. ⁷ They fought Midian just as Adonai had commanded Moses, and killed every male. ⁸ Among the slain they also killed the Midianite kings: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

⁹ Bnei-Yisrael also captured women and sons of Midian, along with all their herds and flocks, and plundered all their goods. ¹⁰ They burned with fire all the Midianite cities, settlements, as well as all their camps. ¹¹ They seized all the plunder and all the spoil, both people and animals. ¹² They brought the captives, plunder and spoils to Moses, Eleazar the kohen and to the assembly of Bnei-Yisrael at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan at Jericho.

¹³ Moses, Eleazar the kohen, and all the princes of the community went to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴ But Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands, the commanders of hundreds, those returning from the campaign of the war. ¹⁵ Moses said to them, “You let all the women live? ¹⁶ Why, they are the ones—because of Balaam’s advice—who caused Bnei-Yisrael to be unfaithful to Adonai in the matter of Peor, so that the plague was on the community of Adonai! ¹⁷ So now, kill all the boys and kill every woman who has been intimate with a man. ¹⁸ But save for yourselves every girl who has not been intimate with a man.

¹⁹ “Any of you who has killed anyone or touched the body of anyone who has been killed must stay outside the camp for seven days. You must purify yourselves, on the third and seventh days—you and your captives. ²⁰ Also purify every item of clothing as well as every item made of leather or wood.”

²¹ Eleazar said to the men of the army who had gone to war, “This is the regulation of the Torah Adonai gave to Moses: ²² The gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, lead, ²³ and anything able to pass through fire is to be put through the fire and will then be clean. It is also to be purified with the water of cleansing. Anything that cannot stand the fire is to be put through the water. ²⁴ You are to wash your clothes also on the seventh day. You will then be clean and may then come into the camp.”

²⁵ Adonai said to Moses saying, ²⁶ “Count the total spoil from the captive people and animals—you, Eleazar the kohen and the princes of the fathers of the community. ²⁷ You are to divide the spoil between those fighting in the war, taking part in the battle, and the rest of the community. ²⁸ You are also to set apart from the men of war going into battle tribute to Adonai, one item from every 500, whether persons, cattle, donkeys or flock. ²⁹ From their half share, take and give it to Eleazar the kohen as Adonai’s part. ³⁰ From the half of Bnei-Yisrael, you are to take one in 50, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, flock, or any other animals, and give them to the Levites, those charged with the care of Adonai’s Tabernacle.”

³¹ So Moses and Eleazar the kohen did just as Adonai commanded Moses. ³² The remaining plunder taken by the people of the army was 675,000 sheep, ³³ 72,000 cattle, ³⁴ 61,000 donkeys, ³⁵ and from the human spoil were 32,000 women who had never been intimate with a man.

³⁶ The half share of those going into battle was 337,500 sheep, ³⁷ of which Adonai’s tribute was 675, ³⁸ 36,000 cattle, of which Adonai’s tribute was 72, ³⁹ 30,500 donkeys, of which Adonai’s tribute was 61, ⁴⁰ 16,000 persons, of which the tribute to Adonai was 32.

⁴¹ Moses gave the tribute, Adonai’s part, to Eleazar the kohen just as Adonai had commanded Moses. ⁴² From the half belonging to Bnei-Yisrael, which Moses had set apart from that of the fighting men, ⁴³ half belonging to the community was: 337,500 of the sheep, ⁴⁴ 36,000 cattle, ⁴⁵ 30,500 donkeys, ⁴⁶ 16,000 persons. ⁴⁷ From this half, Moses took one out of very 50 persons and animals, as Adonai had commanded him, and gave them to the Levites, those charged with the care of the Tabernacle of Adonai, just as Adonai had commanded Moses.

⁴⁸ Then the officers over the units of the army, the commanders over thousands and hundreds, came to Moses. ⁴⁹ They said to him, “Your servants have counted the heads of the men of war under our command, and not one is missing. ⁵⁰ So we have brought as an offering to Adonai the gold items each of us acquired—armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces to atone for ourselves before Adonai.”

⁵¹ Moses and Eleazar the kohen received the gold from them, all the crafted items. ⁵² All of the gold presented as a gift to Adonai came to 16,750 shekels from the commanders of thousands and hundreds. ⁵³ Each of the men of the army had taken plunder for himself. ⁵⁴ Moses and Eleazar the kohen received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and brought it into the Tent of Meeting as a memorial for Bnei-Yisrael before Adonai.

Temptation in the Wilderness

4 Yeshua, now filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh, returned from the Jordan. He was led by the Ruach in the wilderness ² for forty days, being tested by the devil. Now He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He was hungry.

³ The devil said to Him, “If You are Ben-Elohim, tell this stone to become bread.”

⁴ Yeshua answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”^[a]

⁵ And leading Him up, the devil showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in an instant. ⁶ And the devil said to Him, “I’ll give to You all this authority along with its glory, because it has been handed over to me and I can give it to anyone I wish. ⁷ Therefore, if you will worship before me, all this shall be Yours.”

⁸ But answering, Yeshua told him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship Adonai your God, and Him only shall you serve.’”^[b]

⁹ Then he brought Yeshua to Jerusalem and placed Him on the highest point of the Temple. He said to Him, “If You are Ben-Elohim, throw Yourself down from here. ¹⁰ For it is written,

¹² But answering, Yeshua said to him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put Adonai your God to the test.’” ^{[e] 13} And when the devil had completed every test, he departed from Him until another occasion.

Isaiah’s Prophecy Fulfilled in Natzeret

¹⁴ Yeshua returned in the power of the Ruach to the Galilee, and news about Him went out through all the surrounding region. ¹⁵ He taught in their synagogues, and everyone was praising Him. ¹⁶ And He came to Natzeret, where He had been raised. As was His custom, He went into the synagogue on Shabbat, and He got up to read. ¹⁷ When the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him, He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

²⁰ He closed the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue were focused on Him. ²¹ Then He began to tell them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears.”

²² All were speaking well of Him and marveling at the gracious words coming out of His mouth. And they were saying, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?”

²³ But He said to them, “Doubtless you will say to Me this proverb, ‘Doctor, heal yourself!’ and ‘What we have heard was done at Capernaum, do as much here also in your hometown.’”

²⁴ But He said, “Truly, I tell you, ‘No prophet is accepted in his own hometown.’ ²⁵ But with all truthfulness I say to you, that there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when heaven was closed for three and a half years and there came a great famine over all the land. ²⁶ Elijah was not sent to any of them, but only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon, to a widowed woman. ^{[h] 27} There were many with tzara’at in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them were purified apart from Naaman the Syrian.”^[i]

²⁸ Now all in the synagogue were filled with rage upon hearing these things. ²⁹ Rising up, they drove Him out of the town and brought Him as far as the edge of the mountain on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him off the cliff. ³⁰ But passing through the middle of them, He went on His way.

You Are My God

Psalm 63