“Moreover, it will serve you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder between your eyes, so that Adonai’s Torah may be on your lips; because with a strong hand Adonai brought you out of Egypt.

Adonai said to Moshe, “Here, I will cause bread to rain down from heaven for you. The people are to go out and gather a day’s ration every day. By this I will test whether they will observe my Torah or not.

Adonai said to Moshe, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay there. I will give you the stone tablets with the Torah and the mitzvot I have written on them, so that you can teach them.”

The same Torah and standard of judgment will apply to both you and the foreigner living with you.’”

“This is the regulation from the Torah which Adonai has commanded. Tell the people of Isra’el to bring you a young red female cow without fault or defect and which has never borne a yoke.

El‘azar the cohen said to the soldiers who had gone to the front, “This is the regulation from the Torah which Adonai has ordered Moshe.

There, beyond the Yarden, in the land of Mo’av, Moshe took it upon himself to expound this Torah and said:

What great nation is there that has laws and rulings as just as this entire Torah which I am setting before you today?

This is the Torah which Moshe placed before the people of Isra’el —

In accordance with the Torah they teach you, you are to carry out the judgment they render, not turning aside to the right or the left from the verdict they declare to you.

“When he has come to occupy the throne of his kingdom, he is to write a copy of this Torah for himself in a scroll, from the one the cohanim and L’vi’im use.

It is to remain with him, and he is to read in it every day, as long as he lives; so that he will learn to fear Adonai his God and keep all the words of this Torah and these laws and obey them;

and, after crossing over, write this Torah on them, every word — so that you can enter the land Adonai your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Adonai, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

You are to write on the stones all the words of this Torah very clearly.”

“‘A curse on anyone who does not confirm the words of this Torah by putting them into practice.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

“If you will not observe and obey all the words of this Torah that are written in this book, so that you will fear this glorious and awesome name, Adonai your God;

Not only that, but Adonai will bring upon you all the sicknesses and plagues that are not written in this book of the Torah — until you are destroyed.

Adonai will single him out from all the tribes of Isra’el to experience what is bad in all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the Torah.

“Things which are hidden belong to Adonai our God. But the things that have been revealed belong to us and our children forever, so that we can observe all the words of this Torah.

“However, all this will happen only if you pay attention to what Adonai your God says, so that you obey his mitzvot and regulations which are written in this book of the Torah, if you turn to Adonai your God with all your heart and all your being.

Then Moshe wrote down this Torah and gave it to the cohanim, the descendants of Levi who carried the ark with the covenant of Adonai, and to all the leaders of Isra’el.

when all Isra’el have come to appear in the presence of Adonai at the place he will choose, you are to read this Torah before all Isra’el, so that they can hear it.

Assemble the people — the men, the women, the little ones and the foreigners you have in your towns — so that they can hear, learn, fear Adonai your God and take care to obey all the words of this Torah;

Moshe kept writing the words of this Torah in a book until he was done. When he had finished,

“Take this book of the Torah and put it next to the ark with the covenant of Adonai your God, so that it can be there to witness against you.

he said to them, “Take to heart all the words of my testimony against you today, so that you can use them in charging your children to be careful to obey all the words of this Torah.

the Torah Moshe commanded us as an inheritance for the community of Ya‘akov.

They will teach Ya‘akov your rulings, Isra’el your Torah. They will set incense before you and whole burnt offerings on your altar.

Only be strong and very bold in taking care to follow all the Torah which Moshe my servant ordered you to follow; do not turn from it either to the right or to the left; then you will succeed wherever you go.

Yes, keep this book of the Torah on your lips, and meditate on it day and night, so that you will take care to act according to everything written in it. Then your undertakings will prosper, and you will succeed.

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.

He wrote there on the stones a copy of the Torah of Moshe, inscribing it in the presence of the people of Isra’el.

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.

Only take great care to obey the mitzvah and the Torah which Moshe the servant of Adonai gave you — to love Adonai your God, follow all his ways, observe his mitzvot, cling to him, and serve him with all your heart and being.”

“Therefore be very firm about keeping and doing everything written in the book of the Torah of Moshe and not turning aside from it either to the right or to the left.

Y’hoshua wrote these words in the book of the Torah of God. Then he took a big stone and set it up there under the oak next to the sanctuary of Adonai.

Observe the charge of Adonai your God to go in his ways and keep his regulations, mitzvot, rulings and instructions in accordance with what is written in the Torah of Moshe; so that you will succeed in all you do and wherever you go.

But Yehu made no effort to live wholeheartedly according to the Torah of Adonai the God of Isra’el and did not turn away from the sins of Yarov‘am, with which he had led Isra’el into sin.

But he did not put the children of the murderers to death, because of what is written in the scroll of the Torah of Moshe, as Adonai ordered when he said, “Fathers are not to be executed for the children, nor are children to be executed for the fathers; every person will be executed for his own sin.”

Adonai had warned Isra’el and Y’hudah in advance through every prophet and seer, “Turn from your evil ways; and obey my mitzvot and regulations, in accordance with the entire Torah which I ordered your ancestors to keep and which I sent to you through my servants the prophets.”

To this day they continue to follow their former [pagan] customs. They do not fear Adonai. They do not follow the regulations, rulings, Torah or mitzvah which Adonai ordered the descendants of Ya‘akov, to whom he gave the name Isra’el,

You are to observe forever the laws, rulings, Torah and mitzvah which he wrote for you. You are not to fear other gods,

Also I will not have the feet of Isra’el wander any longer out of the land which I gave their ancestors — if only they will take heed to obey every order I have given them and live in accordance with all the Torah that my servant Moshe ordered them to obey.”

Hilkiyahu the cohen hagadol said to Shafan the secretary, “I have found the scroll of the Torah in the house of Adonai.” Hilkiyah gave the scroll to Shafan, who read it.

After the king had heard what was written in the scroll of the Torah, he tore his clothes.

Yoshiyahu got rid of the mediums and the people using spirit guides, as well as the household gods, the idols and all the disgusting things spotted anywhere in Y’hudah and Yerushalayim. He did this in order to establish the words of the Torah written in the scroll Hilkiyahu the cohen had found in the house of Adonai.

No previous king was like him; because he turned to Adonai with all his heart, with all his being and with all his power, in accordance with all the Torah of Moshe; nor did any king like him arise afterwards.

Hear what Adonai says, you rulers of S’dom! Listen to God’s Torah, you people of ‘Amora!

Many peoples will go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Adonai, to the house of the God of Ya‘akov! He will teach us about his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For out of Tziyon will go forth Torah, the word of Adonai from Yerushalayim.

Therefore, as fire licks up the stubble, and the chaff is consumed in the flame; so their root will rot, and their flowers scatter like dust; because they have rejected the Torah of Adonai-Tzva’ot, they have despised the word of the Holy One of Isra’el.

For this is a rebellious people; they are lying children, children who refuse to hear the Torah of Adonai.

he will not weaken or be crushed until he has established justice on the earth, and the coastlands wait for his Torah.”

Adonai was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, to make the Torah great and glorious.

Who gave Ya‘akov to be pillaged, Isra’el to the plunderers? Didn’t Adonai, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they refused to walk, he whose Torah they did not obey?

“Pay attention to me, my people! My nation, listen to me! For Torah will go out from me; I will calm them with my justice as a light for the peoples.

“Listen to me, you who know justice, you people who have my Torah in your heart: don’t be afraid of people’s taunts, don’t be upset by their insults.

The cohanim didn’t ask, ‘Where is Adonai?’ Those who deal with the Torah did not know me, the people’s shepherds rebelled against me; the prophets prophesied by Ba‘al and went after things of no value.

Hear, oh earth! I am going to bring disaster on this people; it is the consequence of their own way of thinking; for they pay no attention to my words; and as for my Torah, they reject it.

“‘How can you say, “We are wise; Adonai’s Torah is with us,” when in fact the lying pen of the scribes has turned it into falsehood?

Adonai answers: “Because they abandoned my Torah, which I set before them, and neither listened to what I said nor lived accordingly,

then you are to say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors abandoned me, says Adonai, and went after other gods, serving and worshipping them, but abandoned me and did not keep my Torah.

Then they said, “Let’s develop a plan for dealing with Yirmeyahu. Torah won’t be lost from the cohanim, or counsel from the wise, or words from the prophets. So come, let’s destroy him with slander; and meanwhile, we won’t pay attention to anything he says.”

So tell them that this is what Adonai says: “If you will not pay attention to me and live according to my Torah, which I have given you,

“For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Isra’el after those days,” says Adonai: “I will put my Torah within them and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people.

They entered and took possession of it; but they did not pay attention to your voice, did not live according to your Torah, and did nothing of all you ordered them to do. Therefore you made this complete disaster befall them —

To this day they remain unhumbled; they have not been afraid, and they have not lived according to my Torah or my regulations that I presented to you and your ancestors.’

It is because you offered incense, sinned against Adonai, didn’t listen to what Adonai said, and didn’t live by his Torah, regulations and instructions that this disaster has befallen you, as it is today.”

Calamity will follow calamity, rumor will follow rumor; they will seek a vision from the prophet, but Torah will perish from the cohen and advice from the leaders.

Her cohanim have done violence to my Torah, profaned my holy things, made no difference between the holy and the common, not distinguished between unclean and clean, hidden their eyes from my shabbats, and profaned me among themselves.

If they become ashamed of all they have done, show them the elevation and plan of the house, its exits and entrances, all its details and decorations, and all its specifications, its design and its Torah. Sketch it for them to see, so that they can observe the entire design with its specifications, and carry them out.

This is Torah for the house: the whole surrounding area on the mountaintop will be especially holy. This is Torah for the house.”

Adonai said to me, “Human being, pay attention; see with your eyes and hear with your ears everything I tell you about all the regulations of Adonai’s house and about all its Torah; pay attention to who can enter the house and who must be excluded from the sanctuary.

My people are destroyed for want of knowledge. Because you rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as cohen for me. Because you forgot the Torah of your God, I will also forget your children.

“Put the shofar to your lips! Like a vulture [he swoops down] on the house of Adonai, because they have violated my covenant and sinned intentionally against my Torah.

I write him so many things from my Torah, yet he considers them foreign.

Here is what Adonai says: “For Y’hudah’s three crimes, no, four — I will not reverse it — because they rejected Adonai’s Torah and haven’t observed his laws, and their lies caused them to fall into error and live the way their ancestors did;

Many Gentiles will go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Adonai, to the house of the God of Ya‘akov! He will teach us about his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For out of Tziyon will go forth Torah, the word of Adonai from Yerushalayim.

Therefore Torah is not followed; justice never gets rendered, because the wicked fence in the righteous. This is why justice comes out perverted.

Her prophets are reckless, treacherous men; her cohanim profane the holy and do violence to Torah.

“Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says: ‘Ask the cohanim what the Torah says about this:

Yes, they made their hearts as hard as a diamond, so that they wouldn’t hear the Torah and the messages that Adonai-Tzva’ot had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. This is why great anger came from Adonai-Tzva’ot;

The true Torah was in his mouth, and no dishonesty was found on his lips; he walked with me in peace and uprightness and turned many away from sin.

A cohen’s lips should safeguard knowledge, and people should seek Torah from his mouth, because he is the messenger of Adonai-Tzva’ot.

But you turned away from the path, you caused many to fail in the Torah, you corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.

“Therefore I have in turn made you contemptible and vile before all the people, because you did not keep my ways but were partial in applying the Torah.”

“Remember the Torah of Moshe my servant, which I enjoined on him at Horev, laws and rulings for all Isra’el.

Their delight is in Adonai’s Torah; on his Torah they meditate day and night.

The Torah of Adonai is perfect, restoring the inner person. The instruction of Adonai is sure, making wise the thoughtless.

The Torah of his God is in his heart; his footsteps do not falter.

Doing your will, my God, is my joy; your Torah is in my inmost being.

He raised up a testimony in Ya‘akov and established a Torah in Isra’el. He commanded our ancestors to make this known to their children,

They did not keep the covenant of God and refused to live by his Torah.

“If his descendants abandon my Torah and fail to live by my rulings,

How happy the man whom you correct, Yah, whom you teach from your Torah,

א (Alef)

How happy are those whose way of life is blameless, who live by the Torah of Adonai!

Open my eyes, so that I will see wonders from your Torah.

Keep deceitful ways far from me, and favor me with your Torah.

Give me understanding; then I will keep your Torah; I will observe it with all my heart.

and I will keep your Torah always, forever and ever.

Though the arrogant scorn me completely, I have not turned away from your Torah.

Fury seizes me when I think of the wicked, because they abandon your Torah.

I remember your name, Adonai, at night; and I observe your Torah.

Even when the cords of the wicked close around me, I don’t forget your Torah.

Their hearts are as thick as fat, but I take delight in your Torah.

The Torah you have spoken means more to me than a fortune in gold and silver.

Show me pity, and I will live, for your Torah is my delight.

The arrogant have dug pits for me to fall in; this is not in keeping with your Torah!

If your Torah had not been my delight, I would have perished in my distress.

מ (Mem)

How I love your Torah! I meditate on it all day.

I am continually taking my life in my hands, yet I haven’t forgotten your Torah.

ס (Samekh)

I hate doubleminded people, but I love your Torah.

The time has come for Adonai to act, because they are breaking your Torah.

Rivers of tears flow down from my eyes, because they don’t observe your Torah.

Your righteousness is eternal righteousness, and your Torah is truth.

The pursuers of carnality are getting close; they are distancing themselves from your Torah.

ר (Resh)

Look at my distress, and rescue me, for I do not forget your Torah.

I hate falsehood, I detest it; but I love your Torah.

Those who love your Torah have great peace; nothing makes them stumble.

I long for your deliverance, Adonai; and your Torah is my delight.

For the mitzvah is a lamp, Torah is light, and reproofs that discipline are the way to life.

Those who abandon Torah praise the wicked, but those who keep Torah fight them.

A wise son observes Torah, but a friend of those lacking restraint shames his father.

If a person will not listen to Torah, even his prayer is an abomination.

Without a prophetic vision, the people throw off all restraint; but he who keeps Torah is happy.

Her gates have sunk into the ground; he destroyed and broke their bars. Her king and rulers are among the Goyim, there is no more Torah, and her prophets do not receive visions from Adonai.

Yes, all Isra’el flouted your Torah and turned away, unwilling to listen to your voice. Therefore the curse and oath written in the Torah of Moshe the servant of God was poured out on us, because we sinned against him.

As written in the Torah of Moshe, this whole disaster came upon us. Yet we did not appease Adonai our God by renouncing our wrongdoing and discerning your truth.

Then Yeshua the son of Yotzadak with his fellow cohanim, and Z’rubavel the son of Sh’alti’el with his kinsmen, organized rebuilding the altar of the God of Isra’el; so that they could offer burnt offerings on it, as is written in the Torah of Moshe the man of God.

this ‘Ezra went up from Bavel. He was a scribe, expert in the Torah of Moshe, which Adonai the God of Isra’el had given; and the king granted him everything he asked for, since the hand of Adonai his God was on him.

For ‘Ezra had set his heart on studying and practicing the Torah of Adonai and teaching Isra’el the laws and rulings.

Here is the letter that King Artach’shashta gave ‘Ezra the cohen and Torah-teacher, the student of matters relating to Adonai’s mitzvot and his laws for Isra’el:

We should make a covenant with our God to send away all these wives, along with their children, in obedience to the advice of Adonai and of those who tremble at the mitzvah of our God; let us act in accordance with the Torah.

all the people gathered with one accord in the open space in front of the Water Gate and asked ‘Ezra the Torah-teacher to bring the scroll of the Torah of Moshe, which Adonai had commanded Isra’el.

‘Ezra the cohen brought the Torah before the assembly, which consisted of men, women and all children old enough to understand. It was the first day of the seventh month.

Facing the open space in front of the Water Gate, he read from it to the men, the women and the children who could understand from early morning until noon; and all the people listened attentively to the scroll of the Torah.

‘Ezra the Torah-teacher stood on a wood platform which they had made for the purpose; beside him on his right stood Mattityah, Shema, ‘Anayah, Uriyah, Hilkiyah and Ma‘aseiyah; while on his left were P’dayah, Misha’el, Malkiyah, Hashum, Hashbadanah, Z’kharyah and Meshulam.

The L’vi’im Yeshua, Bani, Sherevyah, Yamin, ‘Akuv, Shabtai, Hodiyah, Ma‘aseiyah, K’lita, ‘Azaryah, Yozavad, Hanan and P’layah explained the Torah to the people, while the people remained in their places.

They read clearly from the scroll, in the Torah of God, translated it, and enabled them to understand the sense of what was being read.

Nechemyah the Tirshata, ‘Ezra the cohen and Torah-teacher and the L’vi’im who taught the people said to all the people, “Today is consecrated to Adonai your God; don’t be mournful, don’t weep.” For all the people had been weeping when they heard the words of the Torah.

On the second day, the heads of fathers’ clans of all the people assembled with the cohanim and L’vi’im before ‘Ezra the Torah-teacher to study the words of the Torah.

They found written in the Torah that Adonai had ordered through Moshe that the people of Isra’el were to live in sukkot during the feast of the seventh month;

Also they read every day, from the first day until the last day, in the scroll of the Torah of God. They kept the feast for seven days; then on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.

Standing where they were, they read in the scroll of the Torah of Adonai their God for one-quarter of the day. For another quarter they confessed and prostrated themselves before Adonai their God.

You revealed to them your holy Shabbat and gave them mitzvot, laws and the Torah through Moshe your servant.

“‘Yet they disobeyed and rebelled against you, throwing your Torah behind their backs. They killed your prophets for warning them that they should return to you and committed other gross provocations.

You warned them, in order to bring them back to your Torah; yet they were arrogant. They paid no attention to your mitzvot, but sinned against your rulings, which, if a person does them, he will have life through them. However, they stubbornly turned their shoulders, stiffened their necks and refused to hear.

Our kings, our leaders, our cohanim and ancestors did not keep your Torah, pay attention to your mitzvot or heed the warnings you gave them.

The rest of the people, the cohanim, the L’vi’im, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants and all who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Torah of God, along with their wives, sons and daughters, everyone capable of knowing and understanding,

joined their kinsmen and their leaders in swearing an oath, accompanied by a curse [in case of noncompliance], as follows: “We will live by God’s Torah, given by Moshe the servant of God, and will perform and obey all the mitzvot, rulings and laws of Adonai our Lord.

“We, the cohanim, the L’vi’im and the people, will cast lots in connection with the wood offering, so that it will be brought to the house of our God according to our fathers’ clans, at specified times, year by year, and then be burned on the altar of Adonai our God, as prescribed in the Torah.

“We will also bring the firstborn of our sons and of our livestock, as prescribed in the Torah, and the firstborn of our herds and flocks, to the house of our God, to the cohanim ministering in the house of our God.

This was in the days of Yoyakim the son of Yeshua, the son of Yotzadak, and in the days of Nechemyah the governor and of ‘Ezra the cohen and Torah-teacher.

and his kinsmen, Sh’ma‘yah, ‘Azar’el, Milalai, Gilalai, Ma‘ai, N’tan’el, Y’hudah and Hanani, who had the musical instruments of David the man of God. ‘Ezra the Torah-teacher led them.

At that time, men were appointed to be in charge of the storerooms for supplies, contributions, firstfruits and tenths, and to gather into them, from the fields belonging to the cities, the portions prescribed by the Torah for the cohanim and L’vi’im. For Y’hudah rejoiced over the cohanim and L’vi’im who took their position

On hearing the Torah, they separated from Isra’el everyone of mixed ancestry.

To supervise the storerooms I appointed Shelemyah the cohen, Tzadok the Torah-teacher and, from the L’vi’im, P’dayah; assisting them was Hanan the son of Zakur, the son of Mattanyah; for these were considered reliable. Their duty was to make the distribution to their kinsmen.

to offer burnt offerings to Adonai every morning and evening on the altar for burnt offerings, according to everything written in the Torah of Adonai, which he gave to Isra’el.

May Adonai give you common sense and understanding, and may he give you his orders concerning Isra’el, so that you will observe the Torah of Adonai your God.

Now therefore, Adonai, God of Isra’el, keep what you promised to your servant David, my father, when you said, ‘You will never lack a man in my presence to sit on the throne of Isra’el, if only your children are careful about what they do, so that they live by my Torah, just as you have lived in my presence.’

But in time, after Rechav‘am had consolidated his rulership and had become strong, he, and with him all Isra’el, abandoned the Torah of Adonai.

He ordered Y’hudah to seek Adonai, the God of their ancestors, and to obey the Torah and the mitzvah.

For a long time Isra’el was without the true God, without a cohen who could teach, and without Torah.

They taught in Y’hudah, having a scroll of the Torah of Adonai with them; they circulated through all the cities of Y’hudah, teaching among the people.

Y’hoyada appointed officers for the house of Adonai under the supervision of the cohanim and L’vi’im, whom David had assigned turns of duty in the house of Adonai, to offer the burnt offerings of Adonai, as written in the Torah of Moshe, with rejoicing and singing in keeping with David’s orders.

But he did not put their children to death; rather, he acted according to what is written in the Torah, in the scroll of Moshe, as Adonai ordered when he said, “Fathers are not to die for the children, nor are the children to die for the fathers; every person will die for his own sin.”

Now they stood at their stations, as prescribed in the Torah of Moshe the man of God; the cohanim splashed the blood given to them by the L’vi’im.

He determined a portion of the king’s property to be given for the burnt offerings, that is, for the morning and evening burnt offerings and for burnt offerings on Shabbats, Rosh-Hodesh and the designated times, as prescribed by the Torah of Adonai.

He also ordered the people living in Yerushalayim to contribute the portion meant for the cohanim and L’vi’im, so that they would be submitting themselves to the Torah of Adonai.

Every project that he undertook in order to seek his God, whether in the service of the house of God or in connection with the Torah and the mitzvot, he did with all his heart; and so he succeeded.

Also I will not remove the feet of Isra’el from the land I assigned your ancestors, if only they will take heed to obey every order I have given them, that is, all the Torah, laws and rulings that came through Moshe.”

While bringing out the money that had been brought into the house of Adonai, Hilkiyahu the cohen found the scroll of the Torah of Adonai given by Moshe.

Hilkiyahu said to Shafan the secretary, “I have found the scroll of the Torah in the house of Adonai.” Hilkiyahu gave the scroll to Shafan.

After the king had heard what was written in the Torah, he tore his clothes.

Other activities of Yoshiyahu and all his good deeds in keeping with what is written in the Torah of Adonai,

He called together all the head cohanim and Torah-teachers of the people and asked them, “Where will the Messiah be born?”

“Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete.

Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah — not until everything that must happen has happened.

For I tell you that unless your righteousness is far greater than that of the Torah-teachers and P’rushim, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

“Always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that sums up the teaching of the Torah and the Prophets.

for he was not instructing them like their Torah-teachers but as one who had authority himself.

A Torah-teacher approached and said to him, “Rabbi, I will follow you wherever you go.”

On seeing this, some of the Torah-teachers said among themselves, “This man is blaspheming!”

For all the prophets and the Torah prophesied until Yochanan.

“Or haven’t you read in the Torah that on Shabbat the cohanim profane Shabbat and yet are blameless?

At this some of the Torah-teachers said, “Rabbi, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.”

The Son of Man will send forth his angels, and they will collect out of his Kingdom all the things that cause people to sin and all the people who are far from Torah;

He said to them, “So then, every Torah-teacher who has been made into a talmid for the Kingdom of Heaven is like the owner of a home who brings out of his storage room both new things and old.”

since Yochanan had told Herod, “It violates the Torah for you to have her as your wife.”

Then some P’rushim and Torah-teachers from Yerushalayim came to Yeshua and asked him,

From that time on, Yeshua began making it clear to his talmidim that he had to go to Yerushalayim and endure much suffering at the hands of the elders, the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers; and that he had to be put to death; but that on the third day, he had to be raised to life.

The talmidim asked him, “Then why do the Torah-teachers say that Eliyahu must come first?”

“We are now going up to Yerushalayim, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the head cohanim and Torah-teachers. They will sentence him to death

But when the head cohanim and Torah-teachers saw the wonderful things he was doing, and the children crying out in the Temple, “Please deliver us!” to the Son of David, they were furious.

So tell us your opinion: does Torah permit paying taxes to the Roman Emperor or not?”

and one of them who was a Torah expert asked a sh’eilah to trap him:

“Rabbi, which of the mitzvot in the Torah is the most important?”

All of the Torah and the Prophets are dependent on these two mitzvot.”

“The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim,” he said, “sit in the seat of Moshe.

“But woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P’rushim! For you are shutting the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces, neither entering yourselves nor allowing those who wish to enter to do so.

“Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P’rushim! You go about over land and sea to make one proselyte; and when you succeed, you make him twice as fit for Gei-Hinnom as you are!

“Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P’rushim! You pay your tithes of mint, dill and cumin; but you have neglected the weightier matters of the Torah — justice, mercy, trust. These are the things you should have attended to — without neglecting the others!

“Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P’rushim! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.

“Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P’rushim! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look fine on the outside but inside are full of dead people’s bones and all kinds of rottenness.

Likewise, you appear to people from the outside to be good and honest, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and far from Torah.

“Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P’rushim! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the tzaddikim,

Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and Torah-teachers — some of them you will kill, indeed, you will have them executed on stakes as criminals; some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.

and many people’s love will grow cold because of increased distance from Torah.

Those who had seized Yeshua led him off to Kayafa the cohen hagadol, where the Torah-teachers and elders were assembled.

Likewise, the head cohanim jeered at him, along with the Torah-teachers and elders,

They were amazed at the way he taught, for he did not instruct them like the Torah-teachers but as one who had authority himself.

Some Torah-teachers sitting there thought to themselves,

When the Torah-teachers and the P’rushim saw that he was eating with sinners and tax-collectors, they said to his talmidim, “Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?”

The Torah-teachers who came down from Yerushalayim said, “He has Ba‘al-Zibbul in him,” and “It is by the ruler of the demons that he expels the demons.”

but Yochanan had told him, “It violates the Torah for you to marry your brother’s wife.”

The P’rushim and some of the Torah-teachers who had come from Yerushalayim gathered together with Yeshua

The P’rushim and the Torah-teachers asked him, “Why don’t your talmidim live in accordance with the Tradition of the Elders, but instead eat with ritually unclean hands?”

He began teaching them that the Son of Man had to endure much suffering and be rejected by the elders, the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers; and that he had to be put to death; but that after three days, he had to rise again.

They also asked him, “Why do the Torah-teachers say that Eliyahu has to come first?”

When they got back to the talmidim, they saw a large crowd around them and some Torah-teachers arguing with them.

Some P’rushim came up and tried to trap him by asking him, “Does the Torah permit a man to divorce his wife?”

“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,

The head cohanim and the Torah-teachers heard what he said and tried to find a way to do away with him; they were afraid of him, because the crowds were utterly taken by his teaching.

They went back into Yerushalayim; and as he was walking in the Temple courts, there came to him the head cohanim, the Torah-teachers and the elders;

They came and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you tell the truth and are not concerned with what people think about you, since you pay no attention to a person’s status but really teach what God’s way is. Does Torah say that taxes are to be paid to the Roman Emperor, or not?”

One of the Torah-teachers came up and heard them engaged in this discussion. Seeing that Yeshua answered them well, he asked him, “Which is the most important mitzvah of them all?”

The Torah-teacher said to him, “Well said, Rabbi; you speak the truth when you say that he is one, and that there is no other besides him;

As Yeshua was teaching in the Temple, he asked, “How is it that the Torah-teachers say the Messiah is the Son of David?

As he taught them, he said, “Watch out for the kind of Torah-teachers who like to walk around in robes and be greeted deferentially in the marketplaces,

It was now two days before Pesach (that is, the festival of Matzah), and the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers were trying to find some way to arrest Yeshua surreptitiously and have him put to death;

While Yeshua was still speaking, Y’hudah (one of the Twelve!) came, and with him a crowd carrying swords and clubs, from the head cohanim, the Torah-teachers and the elders.

They led Yeshua to the cohen hagadol, with whom all the head cohanim, elders and Torah-teachers were assembling.

As soon as it was morning, the head cohanim held a council meeting with the elders, the Torah-teachers and the whole Sanhedrin. Then they put Yeshua in chains, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

Likewise, the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers made fun of him, saying to each other, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself!”

When the time came for their purification according to the Torah of Moshe, they took him up to Yerushalayim to present him to Adonai

(as it is written in the Torah of Adonai, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to Adonai”)

and also to offer a sacrifice of a pair of doves or two young pigeons, as required by the Torah of Adonai.

Prompted by the Spirit, he went into the Temple courts; and when the parents brought in the child Yeshua to do for him what the Torah required,

When Yosef and Miryam had finished doing everything required by the Torah of Adonai, they returned to the Galil, to their town Natzeret.

One day when Yeshua was teaching, there were P’rushim and Torah-teachers present who had come from various villages in the Galil and Y’hudah, also from Yerushalayim; and the power of Adonai was with him to heal the sick.

The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim began thinking, “Who is this fellow that speaks such blasphemies? Who can forgive sin except God?”

The P’rushim and their Torah-teachers protested indignantly against his talmidim, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors and sinners?”

The Torah-teachers and P’rushim watched Yeshua carefully to see if he would heal on Shabbat, so that they could accuse him of something.

but the P’rushim and the Torah-teachers, by not letting themselves be immersed by him, nullified for themselves God’s plan.

adding, “The Son of Man has to endure much suffering and be rejected by the elders, the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers; and he has to be put to death; but on the third day, he has to be raised to life.”

An expert in Torah stood up to try and trap him by asking, “Rabbi, what should I do to obtain eternal life?”

But Yeshua said to him, “What is written in the Torah? How do you read it?”

One of the experts in Torah answered him, “Rabbi, by saying these things you are insulting us also.”

Yeshua said, “Woe to you Torah experts too! You load people down with burdens they can hardly bear, and you won’t lift a finger to help them!

“Woe to you Torah experts! For you have taken away the key of knowledge! Not only did you yourselves not go in, you also have stopped those who were trying to enter!”

As Yeshua left that place, the Torah-teachers and the P’rushim began to oppose him bitterly and to provoke him to express his views on all sorts of subjects,

Yeshua spoke up and asked the Torah experts and P’rushim, “Does the Torah allow healing on Shabbat or not?”

and the P’rushim and Torah-teachers kept grumbling. “This fellow,” they said, “welcomes sinners — he even eats with them!”

Up to the time of Yochanan there were the Torah and the Prophets. Since then the Good News of the Kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone is pushing to get in.

But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in the Torah to become void.

Every day he taught at the Temple. The head cohanim, the Torah-teachers and the leaders of the people tried to find a way of putting an end to him;

One day, as Yeshua was teaching the people at the Temple, making known the Good News, the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers, along with the elders, came up to him

The Torah-teachers and the head cohanim would have seized him at that very moment, because they knew that he had aimed this parable at them, but they were afraid of the people.

Does Torah permit us to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor or not?”

Some of the Torah-teachers answered, “Well spoken, Rabbi.”

“Watch out for the kind of Torah-teachers that like to walk around in robes and be greeted deferentially in the marketplaces, the kind that like to have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets,

and the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers began trying to find some way to get rid of Yeshua, because they were afraid of the people.

At daybreak, the people’s council of elders, including both head cohanim and Torah-teachers, met and led him off to their Sanhedrin,

However, the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers stood there, vehemently pressing their case against him.

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.”

For the Torah was given through Moshe; grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah.

Philip found Natan’el and told him, “We’ve found the one that Moshe wrote about in the Torah, also the Prophets — it’s Yeshua Ben-Yosef from Natzeret!”

so the Judeans said to the man who had been healed, “It’s Shabbat! It’s against Torah for you to carry your mat!”

Didn’t Moshe give you the Torah? Yet not one of you obeys the Torah! Why are you out to kill me?”

If a boy is circumcised on Shabbat so that the Torah of Moshe will not be broken, why are you angry with me because I made a man’s whole body well on Shabbat?

True, these ‘am-ha’aretz do, but they know nothing about the Torah, they are under a curse!”

“Our Torah doesn’t condemn a man — does it? — until after hearing from him and finding out what he’s doing.”

The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery and made her stand in the center of the group.

Now in our Torah, Moshe commanded that such a woman be stoned to death. What do you say about it?”

And even in your Torah it is written that the testimony of two people is valid.

Yeshua answered them, “Isn’t it written in your Torah, ‘I have said, “You people are Elohim’ ”?

The crowd answered, “We have learned from the Torah that the Messiah remains forever. How is it that you say the Son of Man has to be ‘lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”

But this has happened in order to fulfill the words in their Torah which read, ‘They hated me for no reason at all.’

This man was arrested in accordance with God’s predetermined plan and foreknowledge; and, through the agency of persons not bound by the Torah, you nailed him up on a stake and killed him!

The next day, the people’s rulers, elders and Torah-teachers assembled in Yerushalayim,

But one of the members of the Sanhedrin rose to his feet, a Parush named Gamli’el, a teacher of the Torah highly respected by all the people. He ordered the men put outside for a little while

They stirred up the people, as well as the elders and the Torah-teachers; so they came and arrested him and led him before the Sanhedrin.

There they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and against the Torah;

you! — who receive the Torah as having been delivered by angels — but do not keep it!”

After the reading from the Torah and from the Prophets, the synagogue leaders sent them a message, “Brothers, if any of you has a word of exhortation for the people, speak!”

That is, God clears everyone who puts his trust in this man, even in regard to all the things concerning which you could not be cleared by the Torah of Moshe.

But some of those who had come to trust were from the party of the P’rushim; and they stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Torah of Moshe.”

saying, “This man is trying to persuade people to worship God in ways that violate the Torah.”

On hearing it, they praised God; but they also said to him, “You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of believers there are among the Judeans, and they are all zealots for the Torah.

Take them with you, be purified with them, and pay the expenses connected with having their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is nothing to these rumors which they have heard about you; but that, on the contrary, you yourself stay in line and keep the Torah.

“Men of Isra’el, help!” they shouted. “This is the man who goes everywhere teaching everyone things against the people, against the Torah and against this place! And now he has even brought some Goyim into the Temple and defiled this holy place!”

“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city and trained at the feet of Gamli’el in every detail of the Torah of our forefathers. I was a zealot for God, as all of you are today.

“A man named Hananyah, an observant follower of the Torah who was highly regarded by the entire Jewish community there,

Then Sha’ul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Will you sit there judging me according to the Torah, yet in violation of the Torah order me to be struck?”

Sha’ul said, “I didn’t know, brothers, that he was the cohen hagadol; for it says in the Torah, ‘You are not to speak disparagingly of a ruler of your people.’”

So there was a great uproar, with some of the Torah-teachers who were on the side of the P’rushim standing up and joining in — “We don’t find anything wrong with this man; and if a spirit or an angel spoke to him, what of it?”

I found that he was charged in connection with questions of their “Torah” but that there was no charge deserving death or prison.

“But this I do admit to you: I worship the God of our fathers in accordance with the Way (which they call a sect). I continue to believe everything that accords with the Torah and everything written in the Prophets.

In reply, Sha’ul said, “I have committed no offense — not against the Torah to which the Jews hold, not against the Temple, and not against the Emperor.”

So they arranged a day with him and came to his quarters in large numbers. From morning until evening he explained the matter to them, giving a thorough witness about the Kingdom of God and making use of both the Torah of Moshe and the Prophets to persuade them about Yeshua.

All who have sinned outside the framework of Torah will die outside the framework of Torah; and all who have sinned within the framework of Torah will be judged by Torah.

For it is not merely the hearers of Torah whom God considers righteous; rather, it is the doers of what Torah says who will be made righteous in God’s sight.

For whenever Gentiles, who have no Torah, do naturally what the Torah requires, then these, even though they don’t have Torah, for themselves are Torah!

For their lives show that the conduct the Torah dictates is written in their hearts. Their consciences also bear witness to this, for their conflicting thoughts sometimes accuse them and sometimes defend them

But if you call yourself a Jew and rest on Torah and boast about God

and know his will and give your approval to what is right, because you have been instructed from the Torah;

an instructor for the spiritually unaware and a teacher of children, since in the Torah you have the embodiment of knowledge and truth;

You who take such pride in Torah, do you, by disobeying the Torah, dishonor God? —

For circumcision is indeed of value if you do what Torah says. But if you are a transgressor of Torah, your circumcision has become uncircumcision!

Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the Torah, won’t his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?

Indeed, the man who is physically uncircumcised but obeys the Torah will stand as a judgment on you who have had a b’rit-milah and have Torah written out but violate it!

Moreover, we know that whatever the Torah says, it says to those living within the framework of the Torah, in order that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world be shown to deserve God’s adverse judgment.

For in his sight no one alive will be considered righteous on the ground of legalistic observance of Torah commands, because what Torah really does is show people how sinful they are.

But now, quite apart from Torah, God’s way of making people righteous in his sight has been made clear — although the Torah and the Prophets give their witness to it as well —

So what room is left for boasting? None at all! What kind of Torah excludes it? One that has to do with legalistic observance of rules? No, rather, a Torah that has to do with trusting.

Therefore, we hold the view that a person comes to be considered righteous by God on the ground of trusting, which has nothing to do with legalistic observance of Torah commands.

Does it follow that we abolish Torah by this trusting? Heaven forbid! On the contrary, we confirm Torah.

The reason the promise is based on trusting is so that it may come as God’s free gift, a promise that can be relied on by all the seed, not only those who live within the framework of the Torah, but also those with the kind of trust Avraham had — Avraham avinu for all of us.

Sin was indeed present in the world before Torah was given, but sin is not counted as such when there is no Torah.

And the Torah came into the picture so that the offence would proliferate; but where sin proliferated, grace proliferated even more.

Surely you know, brothers — for I am speaking to those who understand Torah — that the Torah has authority over a person only so long as he lives?

For example, a married woman is bound by Torah to her husband while he is alive; but if the husband dies, she is released from the part of the Torah that deals with husbands.

Therefore, while the husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress if she marries another man; but if the husband dies, she is free from that part of the Torah; so that if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress.

Thus, my brothers, you have been made dead with regard to the Torah through the Messiah’s body, so that you may belong to someone else, namely, the one who has been raised from the dead, in order for us to bear fruit for God.

For when we were living according to our old nature, the passions connected with sins worked through the Torah in our various parts, with the result that we bore fruit for death.

But now we have been released from this aspect of the Torah, because we have died to that which had us in its clutches, so that we are serving in the new way provided by the Spirit and not in the old way of outwardly following the letter of the law.

Therefore, what are we to say? That the Torah is sinful? Heaven forbid! Rather, the function of the Torah was that without it, I would not have known what sin is. For example, I would not have become conscious of what greed is if the Torah had not said, “Thou shalt not covet.”

But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, worked in me all kinds of evil desires — for apart from Torah, sin is dead.

I was once alive outside the framework of Torah. But when the commandment really encountered me, sin sprang to life,

So the Torah is holy; that is, the commandment is holy, just and good.

For we know that the Torah is of the Spirit; but as for me, I am bound to the old nature, sold to sin as a slave.

Now if I am doing what I don’t want to do, I am agreeing that the Torah is good.

So I find it to be the rule, a kind of perverse “torah,” that although I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me!

For in my inner self I completely agree with God’s Torah;

but in my various parts, I see a different “torah,” one that battles with the Torah in my mind and makes me a prisoner of sin’s “torah,” which is operating in my various parts.

Thanks be to God [, he will]! — through Yeshua the Messiah, our Lord! To sum up: with my mind, I am a slave of God’s Torah; but with my old nature, I am a slave of sin’s “Torah.”

Why? Because the Torah of the Spirit, which produces this life in union with Messiah Yeshua, has set me free from the “Torah” of sin and death.

For what the Torah could not do by itself, because it lacked the power to make the old nature cooperate, God did by sending his own Son as a human being with a nature like our own sinful one [but without sin]. God did this in order to deal with sin, and in so doing he executed the punishment against sin in human nature,

so that the just requirement of the Torah might be fulfilled in us who do not run our lives according to what our old nature wants but according to what the Spirit wants.

For the mind controlled by the old nature is hostile to God, because it does not submit itself to God’s Torah — indeed, it cannot.

the people of Isra’el! They were made God’s children, the Sh’khinah has been with them, the covenants are theirs, likewise the giving of the Torah, the Temple service and the promises;

However, Isra’el, even though they kept pursuing a Torah that offers righteousness, did not reach what the Torah offers.

For the goal at which the Torah aims is the Messiah, who offers righteousness to everyone who trusts.

For Moshe writes about the righteousness grounded in the Torah that the person who does these things will attain life through them.

Don’t owe anyone anything — except to love one another; for whoever loves his fellow human being has fulfilled Torah.

Love does not do harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fullness of Torah.

Where does that leave the philosopher, the Torah-teacher, or any of today’s thinkers? Hasn’t God made this world’s wisdom look pretty foolish?

What I am saying is not based merely on human authority, because the Torah says the same thing —

for in the Torah of Moshe it is written, “You are not to put a muzzle on an ox when it is treading out the grain.” If God is concerned about cattle,

That is, with Jews, what I did was put myself in the position of a Jew, in order to win Jews. With people in subjection to a legalistic perversion of the Torah, I put myself in the position of someone under such legalism, in order to win those under this legalism, even though I myself am not in subjection to a legalistic perversion of the Torah.

With those who live outside the framework of Torah, I put myself in the position of someone outside the Torah in order to win those outside the Torah — although I myself am not outside the framework of God’s Torah but within the framework of Torah as upheld by the Messiah.

In the Torah it is written, “By other tongues, by the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people. But even then they will not listen to me,” says Adonai.

let the wives remain silent when the congregation meets; they are certainly not permitted to speak out. Rather, let them remain subordinate, as also the Torah says;

The sting of death is sin; and sin draws its power from the Torah;

“But,” says the Torah, “whenever someone turns to Adonai, the veil is taken away.”

even so, we have come to realize that a person is not declared righteous by God on the ground of his legalistic observance of Torah commands, but through the Messiah Yeshua’s trusting faithfulness. Therefore, we too have put our trust in Messiah Yeshua and become faithful to him, in order that we might be declared righteous on the ground of the Messiah’s trusting faithfulness and not on the ground of our legalistic observance of Torah commands. For on the ground of legalistic observance of Torah commands, no one will be declared righteous.

For it was through letting the Torah speak for itself that I died to its traditional legalistic misinterpretation, so that I might live in direct relationship with God.

I want to know from you just this one thing: did you receive the Spirit by legalistic observance of Torah commands or by trusting in what you heard and being faithful to it?

What about God, who supplies you with the Spirit and works miracles among you — does he do it because of your legalistic observance of Torah commands or because you trust in what you heard and are faithful to it?

For everyone who depends on legalistic observance of Torah commands lives under a curse, since it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything written in the Scroll of the Torah.”

The Messiah redeemed us from the curse pronounced in the Torah by becoming cursed on our behalf; for the Tanakh says, “Everyone who hangs from a stake comes under a curse.”

Here is what I am saying: the legal part of the Torah, which came into being 430 years later, does not nullify an oath sworn by God, so as to abolish the promise.

For if the inheritance comes from the legal part of the Torah, it no longer comes from a promise. But God gave it to Avraham through a promise.

So then, why the legal part of the Torah? It was added in order to create transgressions, until the coming of the seed about whom the promise had been made. Moreover, it was handed down through angels and a mediator.

Does this mean that the legal part of the Torah stands in opposition to God’s promises? Heaven forbid! For if the legal part of the Torah which God gave had had in itself the power to give life, then righteousness really would have come by legalistically following such a Torah.

Now before the time for this trusting faithfulness came, we were imprisoned in subjection to the system which results from perverting the Torah into legalism, kept under guard until this yet-to-come trusting faithfulness would be revealed.

Accordingly, the Torah functioned as a custodian until the Messiah came, so that we might be declared righteous on the ground of trusting and being faithful.

but when the appointed time arrived, God sent forth his Son. He was born from a woman, born into a culture in which legalistic perversion of the Torah was the norm,

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?

Again, I warn you: any man who undergoes b’rit-milah is obligated to observe the entire Torah!

For the whole of the Torah is summed up in this one sentence: “Love your neighbor as yourself”;

But if you are led by the Spirit, then you are not in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism.

humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things.

Bear one another’s burdens — in this way you will be fulfilling the Torah’s true meaning, which the Messiah upholds.

For even those who are getting circumcised don’t observe the Torah. On the contrary, they want you to get circumcised so that they can boast of having gained your adherence.

by destroying in his own body the enmity occasioned by the Torah, with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances. He did this in order to create in union with himself from the two groups a single new humanity and thus make shalom,

b’rit-milah on the eighth day,by birth belonging to the people of Isra’el,from the tribe of Binyamin,a Hebrew-speaker, with Hebrew-speaking parents,in regard to the Torah, a Parush,

Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For the Day will not come until after the Apostasy has come and the man who separates himself from Torah has been revealed, the one destined for doom.

For already this separating from Torah is at work secretly, but it will be secretly only until he who is restraining is out of the way.

Then the one who embodies separation from Torah will be revealed, the one whom the Lord Yeshua will slay with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the glory of his coming.

When this man who avoids Torah comes, the Adversary will give him the power to work all kinds of false miracles, signs and wonders.

They want to be teachers of Torah, but they understand neither their own words nor the matters about which they make such emphatic pronouncements.

We know that the Torah is good, provided one uses it in the way the Torah itself intends.

We are aware that Torah is not for a person who is righteous, but for those who are heedless of Torah and rebellious, ungodly and sinful, wicked and worldly, for people who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers,

He gave himself up on our behalf in order to free us from all violation of Torah and purify for himself a people who would be his own, eager to do good.

But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, quarrels and fights about the Torah; because they are worthless and futile.

Do your best to help Zenas the Torah expert and Apollos with their arrangements for travelling, so that they will lack nothing.

Now the descendants of Levi who became cohanim have a commandment in the Torah to take a tenth of the income of the people, that is, from their own brothers, despite the fact that they too are descended from Avraham.

Therefore, if it had been possible to reach the goal through the system of cohanim derived from Levi (since in connection with it, the people were given the Torah), what need would there have been for another, different kind of cohen, the one spoken of as to be compared with Malki-Tzedek and not to be compared with Aharon?

For if the system of cohanim is transformed, there must of necessity occur a transformation of Torah.

one who became a cohen not by virtue of a rule in the Torah concerning physical descent, but by virtue of the power of an indestructible life.

(for the Torah did not bring anything to the goal); and, on the other hand, a hope of something better is introduced, through which we are drawing near to God.

For the Torah appoints as cohanim g’dolim men who have weakness; but the text which speaks about the swearing of the oath, a text written later than the Torah, appoints a Son who has been brought to the goal forever.

Now if he were on earth, he wouldn’t be a cohen at all, since there already are cohanim offering the gifts required by the Torah.

But now the work Yeshua has been given to do is far superior to theirs, just as the covenant he mediates is better. For this covenant has been given as Torah on the basis of better promises.

“‘For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Isra’el after those days,’ says Adonai: ‘I will put my Torah in their minds and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people.

After Moshe had proclaimed every command of the Torah to all the people, he took the blood of the calves with some water and used scarlet wool and hyssop to sprinkle both the scroll itself and all the people;

In fact, according to the Torah, almost everything is purified with blood; indeed, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

For the Torah has in it a shadow of the good things to come, but not the actual manifestation of the originals. Therefore, it can never, by means of the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, bring to the goal those who approach the Holy Place to offer them.

In saying first, “You neither willed nor were pleased with animal sacrifices, meal offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings,” things which are offered in accordance with the Torah;

“ ‘This is the covenant which I will make with them after those days,’ says Adonai: ‘I will put my Torah on their hearts, and write it on their minds . . . ,’ ”

Someone who disregards the Torah of Moshe is put to death without mercy on the word of two or three witnesses.

But if a person looks closely into the perfect Torah, which gives freedom, and continues, becoming not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work it requires, then he will be blessed in what he does.

If you truly attain the goal of Kingdom Torah, in conformity with the passage that says, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

But if you show favoritism, your actions constitute sin, since you are convicted under the Torah as transgressors.

For a person who keeps the whole Torah, yet stumbles at one point, has become guilty of breaking them all.

For the One who said, “Don’t commit adultery,” also said, “Don’t murder.” Now, if you don’t commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the Torah.

Keep speaking and acting like people who will be judged by a Torah which gives freedom.

Brothers, stop speaking against each other! Whoever speaks against a brother or judges a brother is speaking against Torah and judging Torah. And if you judge Torah, you are not a doer of what Torah says, but a judge.

There is but one Giver of Torah; he is also the Judge, with the power to deliver and to destroy. Who do you think you are, judging your fellow human being?

Everyone who keeps sinning is violating Torah — indeed, sin is violation of Torah.