Parashah 9: Vayeshev (He continued living) 37:1–40:23

37 Ya‘akov continued living in the land where his father had lived as a foreigner, the land of Kena‘an.

² Here is the history of Ya‘akov. When Yosef was seventeen years old he used to pasture the flock with his brothers, even though he was still a boy. Once when he was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, he brought a bad report about them to their father. ³ Now Isra’el loved Yosef the most of all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a long-sleeved robe. ⁴ When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they began to hate him and reached the point where they couldn’t even talk with him in a civil manner.

⁵ Yosef had a dream which he told his brothers, and that made them hate him all the more. ⁶ He said to them, “Listen while I tell you about this dream of mine. ⁷ We were tying up bundles of wheat in the field when suddenly my bundle got up by itself and stood upright; then your bundles came, gathered around mine and prostrated themselves before it.” ⁸ His brothers retorted, “Yes, you will certainly be our king. You’ll do a great job of bossing us around!” And they hated him still more for his dreams and for what he said.

⁹ He had another dream which he told his brothers: “Here, I had another dream, and there were the sun, the moon and eleven stars prostrating themselves before me.” ¹⁰ He told his father too, as well as his brothers, but his father rebuked him: “What is this dream you have had? Do you really expect me, your mother and your brothers to come and prostrate ourselves before you on the ground?” ¹¹ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

(ii) ¹² After this, when his brothers had gone to pasture their father’s sheep in Sh’khem, ¹³ Isra’el asked Yosef, “Aren’t your brothers pasturing the sheep in Sh’khem? Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am.” ¹⁴ He said to him, “Go now, see whether things are going well with your brothers and with the sheep, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him away from the Hevron Valley, and he went to Sh’khem, ¹⁵ where a man found him wandering around in the countryside. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?” ¹⁶ “I’m looking for my brothers,” he answered. “Tell me, please, where are they pasturing the sheep?” ¹⁷ The man said, “They’ve left here; because I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dotan.’” Yosef went after his brothers and found them in Dotan.

¹⁸ They spotted him in the distance, and before he had arrived where they were, they had already plotted to kill him. ¹⁹ They said to each other, “Look, this dreamer is coming! ²⁰ So come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these water cisterns here. Then we’ll say some wild animal devoured him. We’ll see then what becomes of his dreams!” ²¹ But when Re’uven heard this, he saved him from being destroyed by them. He said, “We shouldn’t take his life. ²² Don’t shed blood,” Re’uven added. “Throw him into this cistern here in the wilds, but don’t lay hands on him yourselves.” He intended to rescue him from them later and restore him to his father.

(iii) ²³ So it was that when Yosef arrived to be with his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the long-sleeved robe he was wearing, ²⁴ and took him and threw him into the cistern (the cistern was empty; without any water in it). ²⁵ Then they sat down to eat their meal; but as they looked up, they saw in front of them a caravan of Yishma‘elim coming from Gil‘ad, their camels loaded with aromatic gum, healing resin and opium, on their way down to Egypt. ²⁶ Y’hudah said to his brothers, “What advantage is it to us if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? ²⁷ Come, let’s sell him to the Yishma‘elim, instead of putting him to death with our own hands. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers paid attention to him. ²⁸ So when the Midyanim, merchants, passed by, they drew and lifted Yosef up out of the cistern and sold him for half a pound of silver shekels to the Yishma‘elim, who took Yosef on to Egypt.

²⁹ Re’uven returned to the cistern, and, upon seeing that Yosef wasn’t in it, tore his clothes in mourning. ³⁰ He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I go now?”

³¹ They took Yosef’s robe, killed a male goat and dipped the robe in the blood. ³² Then they sent the long-sleeved robe and brought it to their father, saying, “We found this. Do you know if it’s your son’s robe or not?” ³³ He recognized it and cried, “It’s my son’s robe! Some wild animal has torn Yosef in pieces and eaten him!” ³⁴ Ya‘akov tore his clothes and, putting sackcloth around his waist, mourned his son for many days. ³⁵ Though all his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, he refused all consolation, saying, “No, I will go down to the grave, to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.

³⁶ In Egypt the Midyanim sold Yosef to Potifar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, a captain of the guard.

14 ⁽²⁾ Asa did what was good and right from the perspective of Adonai his God; ^2 (3) for he removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashing the standing-stones and chopping down the sacred poles. ^3 (4) He ordered Y’hudah to seek Adonai, the God of their ancestors, and to obey the Torah and the mitzvah. ^4 (5) He removed the high places and pillars for sun-worship from all the cities of Y’hudah, and under him the kingdom was quiet.

^5 (6) Because the land was quiet, and he had no war during those years, since Adonai had given him rest, he built fortified cities in Y’hudah. ^6 (7) “Let’s build these cities,” he said to Y’hudah; “we’ll surround them with walls, towers, gates and bars. The land is there for us to use, because we have sought Adonai our God; we have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered.

^7 (8) Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Y’hudah, equipped with shields and spears, and another 280,000 from Binyamin, with shields and bows; all were brave, strong men. ^8 (9) Zerach the Ethiopian came out to attack them with an army of one million and three hundred chariots. When he arrived at Mareshah, ^9 (10) Asa went out to fight him, and the forces were arranged for battle in the Tz’fat Valley at Mareshah.

^10 (11) Asa cried out to Adonai his God, “Adonai, there is no one besides yourself, strong or weak, who can help. Help us, Adonai our God, because we are relying on you, and we are coming against this vast throng in your name. You are Adonai our God; don’t let human beings stop you!” ^11 (12) So Adonai struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Y’hudah, and the Ethiopians fled. ^12 (13) Asa and the army with him pursued them to G’rar, and the Ethiopians were defeated beyond recovery; they were shattered before Adonai and his army, who carried off much spoil. ^13 (14) Then they attacked all the cities in the vicinity of G’rar, for a panic from Adonai had overcome them. They plundered all the cities, for they were full of spoil. ^14 (15) They also attacked the tents of those tending the livestock and carried off sheep and camels in abundance. Then they returned to Yerushalayim.

8 and Sha’ul gave his approval to his murder.

Starting with that day, there arose intense persecution against the Messianic Community in Yerushalayim; all but the emissaries were scattered throughout the regions of Y’hudah and Shomron. ² Some godly men buried Stephen and mourned him deeply. ³ But Sha’ul set out to destroy the Messianic Community — entering house after house, he dragged off both men and women and handed them over to be put in prison. ⁴ However, those who were scattered announced the Good News of the Word wherever they went.

⁵ Now Philip went down to a city in Shomron and was proclaiming the Messiah to them; ⁶ and the crowds were paying close attention to what Philip said, as they heard and saw the miraculous signs he was doing. ⁷ For many people were having unclean spirits driven out of them, shrieking; also many paralytics and crippled persons were being healed; ⁸ so that there was great joy in that city.

⁹ But there was a man named Shim‘on in the city who for some time had been practicing magic and astonishing the nation of Shomron, claiming to be somebody great. ¹⁰ Everyone gave heed to him, from the lowest to the highest, saying, “This man is the power of God called ‘The Great Power’.” ¹¹ They followed him because for a considerable time he had amazed them with his magic.

¹² But when they came to believe Philip, as he announced the Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Yeshua the Messiah, they were immersed, both men and women. ¹³ Moreover, Shim‘on himself came to believe; and after being immersed, he attached himself closely to Philip; and he was amazed as he saw the miraculous signs and great works of power that kept taking place.

¹⁴ When the emissaries in Yerushalayim heard that Shomron had received the Word of God, they sent them Kefa and Yochanan, ¹⁵ who came down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Ruach HaKodesh. ¹⁶ For until then he had not come upon any of them; they had only been immersed into the name of the Lord Yeshua. ¹⁷ Then, as Kefa and Yochanan placed their hands on them, they received the Ruach HaKodesh.

¹⁸ Shim‘on saw that the Spirit was given when the emissaries placed their hands on them, and he offered them money. ¹⁹ “Give this power to me, too,” he said, “so that whoever I place my hands on will receive the Ruach HaKodesh.” ²⁰ But Kefa said to him, “Your silver go to ruin — and you with it, for thinking the free gift of God can be bought! ²¹ You have no part at all in this matter; because in the eyes of God, your heart is crooked. ²² So repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord. Perhaps you will yet be forgiven for holding such a thought in your heart. ²³ For I see that you are extremely bitter and completely under the control of sin!” ²⁴ Shim‘on answered, “Pray to the Lord for me, so that none of the things you have spoken about will happen to me.”

²⁵ Then, after giving a thorough witness and speaking the Word of the Lord, Kefa and Yochanan started back to Yerushalayim, announcing the Good News to many villages in Shomron.

²⁶ An angel of Adonai said to Philip, “Get up, and go southward on the road that goes down from Yerushalayim to ‘Azah, the desert road.” ²⁷ So he got up and went. On his way, he caught sight of an Ethiopian, a eunuch who was minister in charge of all the treasure of the Kandake, or queen, of Ethiopia. He had been to Yerushalayim to worship; ²⁸ and now, as he was returning home, he was sitting in his chariot, reading the prophet Yesha‘yahu. ²⁹ The Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot, and stay close to it.” ³⁰ As Philip ran up, he heard the Ethiopian reading from Yesha‘yahu the prophet. “Do you understand what you’re reading?” he asked. ³¹ “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” And he invited Philip to climb up and sit with him.

³² Now the portion of the Tanakh that he was reading was this:

³⁴ The eunuch said to Philip, “Here’s my question to you — is the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip started to speak — beginning with that passage, he went on to tell him the Good News about Yeshua.

³⁶ As they were going down the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Here’s some water! Is there any reason why I shouldn’t be immersed?” ^{37 [b] 38} He ordered the chariot to stop; then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip immersed him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch saw no more of him, because he continued on his way — full of joy. ⁴⁰ But Philip showed up at Ashdod and continued proclaiming the Good News as he went through all the towns until he came to Caesarea.