Book of Common Prayer

15 Some time later the word of Adonai came to Avram in a vision: “Don’t be afraid, Avram. I am your protector; your reward will be very great.” ² Avram replied, “Adonai, God, what good will your gifts be to me if I continue childless; and Eli‘ezer from Dammesek inherits my possessions? ³ You haven’t given me a child,” Avram continued, “so someone born in my house will be my heir.” ⁴ But the word of Adonai came to him: “This man will not be your heir. No, your heir will be a child from your own body.” ⁵ Then he brought him outside and said, “Look up at the sky, and count the stars — if you can count them! Your descendants will be that many!” ⁶ He believed in Adonai, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

(vi) ⁷ Then he said to him, “I am Adonai, who brought you out from Ur-Kasdim to give you this land as your possession.” ⁸ He replied, “Adonai, God, how am I to know that I will possess it?” ⁹ He answered him, “Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a dove and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ He brought him all these, cut the animals in two and placed the pieces opposite each other; but he didn’t cut the birds in half. ¹¹ Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Avram drove them away.

¹⁷ After the sun had set and there was thick darkness, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared, which passed between these animal parts. ¹⁸ That day Adonai made a covenant with Avram: “I have given this land to your descendants — from the Vadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River — ¹⁹ the territory of the Keni, the K’nizi, the Kadmoni, ²⁰ the Hitti, the P’rizi, the Refa’im, ²¹ the Emori, the Kena‘ani, the Girgashi and the Y’vusi.”

9 Now the first covenant had both regulations for worship and a Holy Place here on earth. ² A tent was set up, the outer one, which was called the Holy Place; in it were the menorah, the table and the Bread of the Presence. ³ Behind the second parokhet was a tent called the Holiest Place, ⁴ which had the golden altar for burning incense and the Ark of the Covenant, entirely covered with gold. In the Ark were the gold jar containing the man, Aharon’s rod that sprouted and the stone Tablets of the Covenant; ⁵ and above it were the k’ruvim representing the Sh’khinah, casting their shadow on the lid of the Ark — but now is not the time to discuss these things in detail.

⁶ With things so arranged, the cohanim go into the outer tent all the time to discharge their duties; ⁷ but only the cohen hagadol enters the inner one; and he goes in only once a year, and he must always bring blood, which he offers both for himself and for the sins committed in ignorance by the people. ⁸ By this arrangement, the Ruach HaKodesh showed that so long as the first Tent had standing, the way into the Holiest Place was still closed. ⁹ This symbolizes the present age and indicates that the conscience of the person performing the service cannot be brought to the goal by the gifts and sacrifices he offers. ¹⁰ For they involve only food and drink and various ceremonial washings — regulations concerning the outward life, imposed until the time for God to reshape the whole structure.

¹¹ But when the Messiah appeared as cohen gadol of the good things that are happening already, then, through the greater and more perfect Tent which is not man-made (that is, it is not of this created world), ¹² he entered the Holiest Place once and for all.

And he entered not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus setting people free forever. ¹³ For if sprinkling ceremonially unclean persons with the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer restores their outward purity; ¹⁴ then how much more the blood of the Messiah, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself to God as a sacrifice without blemish, will purify our conscience from works that lead to death, so that we can serve the living God!

5 After this, there was a Judean festival; and Yeshua went up to Yerushalayim. ² In Yerushalayim, by the Sheep Gate, is a pool called in Aramaic, Beit-Zata, ³ in which lay a crowd of invalids — blind, lame, crippled. ^{4 [a] 5} One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶ Yeshua, seeing this man and knowing that he had been there a long time, said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” ⁷ The sick man answered, “I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I’m trying to get there, someone goes in ahead of me.” ⁸ Yeshua said to him, “Get up, pick up your mat and walk!” ⁹ Immediately the man was healed, and he picked up his mat and walked.

Now that day was Shabbat, ¹⁰ so the Judeans said to the man who had been healed, “It’s Shabbat! It’s against Torah for you to carry your mat!” ¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who healed me — he’s the one who told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who told you to pick it up and walk?” ¹³ But the man who had been healed didn’t know who it was, because Yeshua had slipped away into the crowd.

¹⁴ Afterwards Yeshua found him in the Temple court and said to him, “See, you are well! Now stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you!” ¹⁵ The man went off and told the Judeans it was Yeshua who had healed him; ¹⁶ and on account of this, the Judeans began harassing Yeshua because he did these things on Shabbat.

¹⁷ But he answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I too am working.” ¹⁸ This answer made the Judeans all the more intent on killing him — not only was he breaking Shabbat; but also, by saying that God was his own Father, he was claiming equality with God.