Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

34 (vii) Moshe ascended from the plains of Mo’av to Mount N’vo, to the summit of Pisgah, across from Yericho. There Adonai showed him all the land — Gil‘ad as far as Dan, ² all Naftali, the land of Efrayim and M’nasheh, the land of Y’hudah all the way to the sea beyond, ³ the Negev, and the ‘Aravah, including the valley where Yericho, the City of Date-Palms, as far away as Tzo‘ar. ⁴ Adonai said to him, “This is the land concerning which I swore to Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over there.”

⁵ So Moshe, the servant of Adonai, died there in the land of Mo’av, as Adonai had said. ⁶ He was buried in the valley across from Beit-P‘or in the land of Mo’av, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.

⁷ Moshe was 120 years old when he died, with eyes undimmed and vigor undiminished. ⁸ The people of Isra’el mourned Moshe on the plains of Mo’av for thirty days; after this, the days of crying and mourning for Moshe ended.

⁹ Y’hoshua the son of Nun was full of the Spirit of wisdom, for Moshe had laid his hands on him, and the people of Isra’el heeded him and did what Adonai had ordered Moshe.

¹⁰ Since that time there has not arisen in Isra’el a prophet like Moshe, whom Adonai knew face to face. ¹¹ What signs and wonders Adonai sent him to perform in the land of Egypt upon Pharaoh, all his servants and all his land! ¹² What might was in his hand! What great terror he evoked before the eyes of all Isra’el!

Haftarah V’zot HaBrachah: Y’hoshua (Joshua) 1:1–18 (A); 1:1–9 (S)

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah V’zot HaBrachah: Mattityahu (Matthew) 17:1–9; Mark 9:2–10; Luke 9:28–36; Y’hudah (Jude) 3–4, 8–10

Hazak, hazak, v’nit’chazek!

Be strong, be strong, and let us be strengthened!

Book IV: Psalms 90–106

2 You yourselves know, brothers, that our visit to you was not fruitless. ² On the contrary, although we had already suffered and been outraged in Philippi, as you know, we had the courage, united with our God, to tell you the Good News even under great pressure. ³ For the appeal we make does not flow from error or from impure motives, neither do we try to trick people. ⁴ Instead, since God has tested us and found us fit to be entrusted with Good News, this is how we speak: not to win favor with people but with God, who tests our hearts. ⁵ For, as you know, never did we employ flattering talk, nor did we put on a false front to mask greed — God is witness. ⁶ Nor did we seek human praise — either from you or from others. ⁷ As emissaries of the Messiah, we could have made our weight felt; but instead, we were gentle when we were with you, like a mother feeding and caring for her children. ⁸ We were so devoted to you that we were glad to share with you not only God’s Good News but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.

³⁴ but when the P’rushim learned that he had silenced the Tz’dukim, they got together, ³⁵ and one of them who was a Torah expert asked a sh’eilah to trap him: ³⁶ “Rabbi, which of the mitzvot in the Torah is the most important?” ³⁷ He told him, “‘You are to love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’^{[a] 38} This is the greatest and most important mitzvah. ³⁹ And a second is similar to it, ‘You are to love your neighbor as yourself.’^{[b] 40} All of the Torah and the Prophets are dependent on these two mitzvot.”

⁴¹ Then, turning to the assembled P’rushim, Yeshua put a sh’eilah to them: ⁴² “Tell me your view concerning the Messiah: whose son is he?” They said to him, “David’s.” ⁴³ “Then how is it,” he asked them, “that David, inspired by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord,’ when he says,

⁴⁵ If David thus calls him ‘Lord,’ how is he his son?” ⁴⁶ No one could think of anything to say in reply; and from that day on, no one dared put to him another sh’eilah.