Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

87 (Of the Bnei Korach. A mizmor. A shir) On the Harei Kodesh (Holy Mountain) stands His foundation.

² Hashem loveth the sha’arei Tziyon more than all the mishkenot Ya’akov.

³ Glorious things are spoken of thee, O Ir HaElohim. Selah.

⁴ To them that know me, I will make mention of Rachav and Babylon; hinei, Philistia, and Tzor, with Ethiopia: this man was born there.

⁵ But of Tziyon it shall be said, This one and that one were born in her; and Elyon Himself shall establish it.

⁶ Hashem shall register, when He writeth up the people, that this one was born there. Selah.

⁷ The sharim (ones singing) as well as the cholelim (players on instruments) shall be there; all my fountains are in thee.

5 Now Na’aman, Sar Tzeva Melech Aram, was an ish gadol before his adon and highly honored, because by him Hashem had given deliverance unto Aram; he was also a gibbor chayil, but metzorah (having leprosy)

² And Aram (the Syrians) had gone out gedudim (in bands of soldiers), and had taken away captive out of Eretz Yisroel a na’arah ketanah; and she waited on Na’aman’s isha.

³ And she said unto her gevirah, If only adoni were before the navi that is in Shomron! For he would recover him of his tzara’at.

⁴ And one went in, and told his adon, saying, Thus and thus said the na’arah that is of Eretz Yisroel.

⁵ And Melech Aram said, Go to, go, and I will send a sefer (letter) unto Melech Yisroel. And he [Na’aman] departed, and took with him ten talents of kesef, and six thousand pieces of zahav, and ten changes of begadim.

⁶ And he brought the sefer (letter) to Melech Yisroel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, hinei, I have therewith sent Na’aman avdi to thee, that thou mayest of his tzara’at recover him.

⁷ And it came to pass, when Melech Yisroel had read the sefer, that he tore his begadim, and said, Am I HaElohim, to kill and to make alive, that this doth send unto me to recover an ish of his tzara’at? Wherefore consider, now, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.

⁸ And it was so, when Elishah Ish HaElohim had heard that Melech Yisroel had torn his beged, that he sent to HaMelech, saying, Why hast thou torn thy beged? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a navi in Yisroel.

⁹ So Na’aman came with his susim and with his merkavah, and stood at the petach of the bais Elishah.

¹⁰ And Elishah sent a malach unto him, saying, Go and wash sheva times in the Yarden, and thy basar shall come back to thee, and thou shalt be tahor.

¹¹ But Na’aman was in wrath, and went away, and said, Hinei, I thought that he will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the Shem Hashem Elohav, and wave his yad over the makom, and give recovery from the metzorah (leprosy, leprous area).

¹² Are not Avana and Parpar, naharot of Damascus, better than all the mayim of Yisroel? May I not wash in them, and be tahor? So he turned and went away in chemah (anger, hot temper).

¹³ And his avadim came near, and spoke unto him, and said, Avi, if the navi had bid thee do some davar gadol, wouldest thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be tahor?

¹⁴ Then went he down, and did undergo tevilah (dipped himself, immersed himself) sheva times in the Yarden, according to the devar of the Ish HaElohim; his basar came back like unto the basar of a na’ar katan; he was tahor.

15 And some men came down from Yehudah to Syrian Antioch and were teaching the Achim b’Moshiach that if you lack the bris milah as prescribed by Moshe Rabbenu, it is impossible for you to come to Yeshu’at Eloheinu.

² Now this brought them into a dispute and a debate of no little proportion with Rav Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba, who were appointed to go up with some others from them to bring this she’elah (question) before the Moshiach’s Shlichim and Zekenim in Yerushalayim.

³ Then having been sent on their way by the Kehillah, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Shomron telling in detail how the Nations were turning to Hashem and they were bringing great simcha to all the Achim b’Moshiach.

⁴ And having come to Yerushalayim, they were there received by Moshiach’s Kehillah and the Moshiach’s Shlichim and the Zekenim, and they reported what things Hashem had done with them.

⁵ But some of the ma’aminim hameshichiyim from the kat of the Perushim rose up, saying, "It is necessary to give the Goyim the bris milah and to command them to be shomer mitzvot, keeping the Torah of Moshe Rabbenu."

⁶ And the Moshiach’s Shlichim and the Zekenim were gathered together as a council to consider this matter.

⁷ And after much deliberation had taken place, Moshiach’s Shliach Shimon Kefa got up. Kefa said to them, "Anashim, Achim b’Moshiach, you have da’as that in the early days Hashem chose that among you I would be the one and through my mouth the Goyim would hear the dvar Hashem of the Besuras HaGeulah and would come to emunah [in the Orthodox Jewish faith].

⁸ "And the One who has da’as of levavot, Hashem, bore solemn edut and stood as their witness, having given the non-Jews the Ruach Hakodesh just as Hashem did also to us Jews [Acts 2:4; 10:46; 11:15-16].

⁹ "And in making tehorot their levavot by emunah, in this respect Hashem did not differentiate between us Jews and those non-Jews.

¹⁰ "Therefore, now why are you testing Hashem by laying an ol (yoke) upon the neck of the talmidim which neither Avoteinu nor we were able to bear? [Dt 9:5-6; Jer 31:31-34]

¹¹ "On the contrary, Anu Ma’aminim (We believe) that we Jews come to Yeshu’at Eloheinu by the Chen v’Chesed Hashem of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Adoneinu in the same Derech Hashem as those non-Jews do also." [Ro 3:9,30; Ga.3:12-13; Isa 53:9-12; Pp.3:9; Dt 9:4-6; Lk 18:11-12]

¹² And then all the multitude was silent and they were listening to Bar-Nabba and Rav Sha’ul describing what otot and moftim Hashem did among the Nations through them.

¹³ And after Rav Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba fell silent, Moshiach’s Shliach Ya’akov [see p.848] responded, saying, "Anashim, Achim b’Moshiach, listen to me.

¹⁴ "Shimon explained how Hashem first concerned Himself to receive from the Nations a people for SHMO [ZECHARYAH 6:12].

¹⁵ "And this is in agreement with the dvarim of the Nevi’im, just as it has been written,

¹⁶ ‘After these things I will return and AKIM ES SUKKAT DOVID HANOFELET VHARISOTAV AKIM U’VENITIHA ("I will restore the tent of Dovid which has fallen and the things having been torn down of it I will rebuild and I will restore it"),

¹⁷ “So that the she’erit (remnant) of anashim might seek Hashem and all the GOYIM who are called by my Name,

¹⁸ “Says the L-rd, who makes these things known from long ago. [Amos 9:11f Targum HaShivim, 12; Jer 12:15; Isa 45:21]

¹⁹ "Therefore, it is my judgment not to trouble the ones from the Goyim turning in teshuva to Hashem,

²⁰ "But to write to them to keep away from the pollution of elilim and of zenut and of the thing strangled and of dahm. [Lv 3:17; 7:26; 17:10 13; 19:26; Dt 12:16,23]

²¹ "For Moshe Rabbenu from ancient dorot in every shtetl has his maggidim and in the shuls every Shabbos he has been read."