Chronological

11 “Therefore, you are to love Adonai your God and always obey his commission, regulations, rulings and mitzvot. ² Today it is you I am addressing — not your children, who haven’t known or experienced the discipline of Adonai your God, his greatness, his strong hand, his outstretched arm, ³ his signs and his actions which he did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to his entire country. ⁴ They didn’t experience what he did to Egypt’s army, horses and chariots — how Adonai overwhelmed them with the water of the Sea of Suf as they were pursuing you, so that they remain destroyed to this day. ⁵ They didn’t experience what he kept doing for you in the desert until you arrived at this place; ⁶ or what he did to Datan and Aviram, the sons of Eli’av the descendant of Re’uven — how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, along with their households, tents and every living thing in their company, there in front of all Isra’el. ⁷ But you have seen with your own eyes all these great deeds of Adonai. ⁸ Therefore, you are to keep every mitzvah I am giving you today; so that you will be strong enough to go in and take possession of the land you are crossing over to conquer; ⁹ and so that you will live long in the land Adonai swore to give to your ancestors and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

(vi) ¹⁰ “For the land you are entering in order to take possession of it isn’t like the land of Egypt. There you would sow your seed and had to use your feet to operate its irrigation system, as in a vegetable garden. ¹¹ But the land you are crossing over to take possession of is a land of hills and valleys, which soaks up water when rain falls from the sky. ¹² It is a land Adonai your God cares for. The eyes of Adonai your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

¹³ “So if you listen carefully to my mitzvot which I am giving you today, to love Adonai your God and serve him with all your heart and all your being; ¹⁴ then, [says Adonai,] ‘I will give your land its rain at the right seasons, including the early fall rains and the late spring rains; so that you can gather in your wheat, new wine and olive oil; ¹⁵ and I will give your fields grass for your livestock; with the result that you will eat and be satisfied.’ ¹⁶ But be careful not to let yourselves be seduced, so that you turn aside, serving other gods and worshipping them. ¹⁷ If you do, the anger of Adonai will blaze up against you. He will shut up the sky, so that there will be no rain. The ground will not yield its produce, and you will quickly pass away from the good land Adonai is giving you. ¹⁸ Therefore, you are to store up these words of mine in your heart and in all your being; tie them on your hand as a sign; put them at the front of a headband around your forehead; ¹⁹ teach them carefully to your children, talking about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up; ²⁰ and write them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates — ²¹ so that you and your children will live long on the land Adonai swore to your ancestors that he would give them for as long as there is sky above the earth.

(vii & Maftir) ²² “For if you will take care to obey all these mitzvot I am giving you, to do them, to love Adonai your God, to follow all his ways and to cling to him, ²³ then Adonai will expel all these nations ahead of you; and you will dispossess nations bigger and stronger than you are. ²⁴ Wherever the sole of your foot steps will be yours; your territory will extend from the desert to the L’vanon and from the River, the Euphrates River, to the Western Sea. ²⁵ No one will be able to withstand you; Adonai your God will place the fear and dread of you on all the land you step on, as he told you.

Haftarah ‘Ekev: Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) 49:14–51:3

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah ‘Ekev: Mattityahu (Matthew) 4:1–11; Luke 4:1–13; Ya‘akov (James) 5:7–11

Parashah 47: Re’eh (See) 11:26 –16:17

²⁶ “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse — ²⁷ the blessing, if you listen to the mitzvot of Adonai your God that I am giving you today; ²⁸ and the curse, if you don’t listen to the mitzvot of Adonai your God, but turn aside from the way I am ordering you today and follow other gods that you have not known.

²⁹ “When Adonai your God brings you into the land you are entering in order to take possession of it, you are to put the blessing on Mount G’rizim and the curse on Mount ‘Eival. ³⁰ Both are west of the Yarden, in the direction of the sunset, in the land of the Kena‘ani living in the ‘Aravah, across from Gilgal, near the pistachio trees of Moreh. ³¹ For you are to cross the Yarden to enter and take possession of the land Adonai your God is giving you; you are to own it and live in it. ³² And you are to take care to follow all the laws and rulings I am setting before you today.

12 Here are the laws and rulings you are to observe and obey in the land Adonai, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess as long as you live on earth. ² You must destroy all the places where the nations you are dispossessing served their gods, whether on high mountains, on hills, or under some leafy tree. ³ Break down their altars, smash their standing-stones to pieces, burn up their sacred poles completely and cut down the carved images of their gods. Exterminate their name from that place.

⁴ “But you are not to treat Adonai your God this way. ⁵ Rather, you are to come to the place where Adonai your God will put his name. He will choose it from all your tribes; and you will seek out that place, which is where he will live, and go there. ⁶ You will bring there your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tenths [that you set aside for Adonai], the offerings that you give, the offerings you have vowed, your voluntary offerings, and the firstborn of your cattle and sheep. ⁷ There you will eat in the presence of Adonai your God; and you will rejoice over everything you set out to do, you and your households, in which Adonai your God has blessed you. ⁸ You will not do things the way we do them here today, where everyone does whatever in his own opinion seems right; ⁹ because you haven’t yet arrived at the rest and inheritance which Adonai your God is giving you. ¹⁰ But when you cross the Yarden and live in the land Adonai your God is having you inherit, and he gives you rest from all your surrounding enemies, so that you are living in safety; (ii) ¹¹ then you will bring all that I am ordering you to the place Adonai your God chooses to have his name live — your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tenths, the offering from your hand, and all your best possessions that you dedicate to Adonai; ¹² and you will rejoice in the presence of Adonai your God — you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves and the Levi staying with you, inasmuch as he has no share or inheritance with you.

¹³ “Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings just anywhere you see, ¹⁴ but do it in the place Adonai will choose in one of your tribal territories; there is where you are to offer your burnt offerings and do everything I order you to do. ¹⁵ However, you may slaughter and eat meat wherever you live and whenever you want, in keeping with the degree to which Adonai your God has blessed you. The unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer. ¹⁶ But don’t eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.

¹⁷ “You are not to eat on your own property the tenth of your grain, new wine or olive oil [that you set aside for Adonai], or the firstborn of your cattle or sheep, or any offering you have vowed, or your voluntary offering, or the offering from your hand. ¹⁸ No, you are to eat these in the presence of Adonai your God in the place Adonai your God will choose — you and your sons, daughters, male and female slaves, and the Levi who is your guest; and you are to rejoice before Adonai your God in everything you undertake to do. ¹⁹ As long as you are living on your property, take care not to abandon the Levi.

²⁰ “When Adonai your God expands your territory, as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I want to eat meat,’ simply because you want to eat meat, then you may eat meat, as much as you want. ²¹ If the place which Adonai your God chooses to place his name is too far away from you; then you are to slaughter animals from your cattle or sheep, which Adonai has given you; and eat on your own property, as much as you want. ²² Eat it as you would gazelle or deer; the unclean and clean alike may eat it. ²³ Just take care not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you are not to eat the life with the meat. ²⁴ Don’t eat it, but pour it out on the ground like water. ²⁵ Do not eat it, so that things will go well with you and with your children after you, as you do what Adonai sees as right. ²⁶ Only the things set aside for God which you have, and the vows you have vowed to make, you must take and go to the place which Adonai will choose. ²⁷ There you will offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of Adonai your God. The blood of your sacrifices is to be poured out on the altar of Adonai your God, and you will eat the meat. ²⁸ Obey and pay attention to everything I am ordering you to do, so that things will go well with you and with your descendants after you forever, as you do what Adonai sees as good and right.

(iii) ²⁹ “When Adonai your God has cut off ahead of you the nations you are entering in order to dispossess, and when you have dispossessed them and are living in their land; ³⁰ be careful, after they have been destroyed ahead of you, not to be trapped into following them; so that you inquire after their gods and ask, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I want to do the same.’ ³¹ You must not do this to Adonai your God! For they have done to their gods all the abominations that Adonai hates! They even burn up their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods!

13 ^(12:32) “Everything I am commanding you, you are to take care to do. Do not add to it or subtract from it.

^2 (1) “If a prophet or someone who gets messages while dreaming arises among you and he gives you a sign or wonder, ^3 (2) and the sign or wonder comes about as he predicted when he said, ‘Let’s follow other gods, which you have not known; and let us serve them,’ ^4 (3) you are not to listen to what that prophet or dreamer says. For Adonai your God is testing you, in order to find out whether you really do love Adonai your God with all your heart and being. ^5 (4) You are to follow Adonai your God, fear him, obey his mitzvot, listen to what he says, serve him and cling to him; ^6 (5) and that prophet or dreamer is to be put to death; because he urged rebellion against Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from a life of slavery; in order to seduce you away from the path Adonai your God ordered you to follow. This is how you are to rid your community of this wickedness.

^7 (6) “If your brother the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or your wife whom you love, or your friend who means as much to you as yourself, secretly tries to entice you to go and serve other gods, which you haven’t known, neither you nor your ancestors — ^8 (7) gods of the peoples surrounding you, whether near or far away from you, anywhere in the world — ^9 (8) you are not to consent, and you are not to listen to him; and you must not pity him or spare him; and you may not conceal him. ^10 (9) Rather, you must kill him! Your own hand must be the first one on him in putting him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people. ^11 (10) You are to stone him to death; because he has tried to draw you away from Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of a life of slavery. ^12 (11) Then all Isra’el will hear about it and be afraid, so that they will stop doing such wickedness as this among themselves.

^13 (12) “If you hear it told that in one of your cities which Adonai your God is giving you to live in, ^14 (13) certain scoundrels have sprung up among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city by saying, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods, which you haven’t known,’ ^15 (14) then you are to investigate the matter, inquiring and searching diligently. If the rumor is true, if it is confirmed that such detestable things are being done among you, ^16 (15) you must put the inhabitants of that city to death with the sword, destroying it completely with the sword, everything in it, including its livestock. ^17 (16) Heap all its spoils in an open space, and burn the city with its spoils to the ground for Adonai your God; it will remain a tel forever and not be built again — ^18 (17) none of what has been set apart for destruction is to stay in your hands. Then Adonai will turn from his fierce anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and increase your numbers, as he swore to your ancestors — ^19 (18) provided you listen to what Adonai says and obey all his mitzvot that I am giving you today, thus doing what Adonai your God sees as right.