B'resheet - In The Beginning 3

THIS COMING SHABBAT PARSHAH (WEEKLY PORTION) {10/06/2018}

"B'RESHEET" (IN THE BEGINNING)

HAFTORAH (PROPHETS):

Isaiah 42:5-43:11

This is what God, YHWH, says—
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk on it—
“I am YHWH. I have called you
for a righteous purpose,
and I will hold you by your hand.
I will watch over you, and I will appoint you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light to the nations,
in order to open blind eyes,
to bring out prisoners from the dungeon,
and those sitting in darkness from the prison house.
I am YHWH. That is my name,
and I will not give my glory to another
or my praise to idols.
The past events have indeed happened.
Now I declare new events;
I announce them to you before they occur.”

Sing a new song to YHWH;
sing his praise from the ends of the earth,
you who go down to the sea with all that fills it,
you coasts and islands with your inhabitants.
Let the desert and its cities shout,
the settlements where Kedar dwells cry aloud.
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy;
let them cry out from the mountaintops.
Let them give glory to YHWH
and declare his praise in the coasts and islands.
YHWH advances like a warrior;
he stirs up his zeal like a soldier.
He shouts, he roars aloud,
he prevails over his enemies.

“I have kept silent from ages past;
I have been quiet and restrained myself.
But now, I will groan like a woman in labor,
gasping breathlessly.
I will lay waste mountains and hills
and dry up all their vegetation.
I will turn rivers into islands
and dry up marshes.
I will lead the blind by a way they did not know;
I will guide them on paths they have not known.
I will turn darkness to light in front of them
and rough places into level ground.
This is what I will do for them,
and I will not abandon them.
They will be turned back and utterly ashamed—
those who trust in an idol
and say to a cast image,
‘You are our gods!’

“Listen, you deaf!
Look, you blind, so that you may see.
Who is blind but my servant,
or deaf like my messenger I am sending?
Who is blind like my dedicated one,
or blind like the servant of YHWH?
Though seeing many things, you pay no attention.
Though his ears are open, he does not listen.”

Because of his righteousness, YHWH was pleased
to magnify his instruction and make it glorious.
But this is a people plundered and looted,
all of them trapped in holes
or imprisoned in dungeons.
They have become plunder
with no one to rescue them
and loot, with no one saying, “Give it back!”
Who among you will hear this?
Let him listen and obey in the future.
Who gave Jacob to the robber,
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not YHWH?
Have we not sinned against him?
They were not willing to walk in his ways,
and they would not listen to his instruction.
So he poured out his furious anger
and the power of war on Jacob.
It surrounded him with fire, but he did not know it;
it burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.

Now this is what YHWH says—
the one who created you, Jacob,
and the one who formed you, Israel—
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name; you are mine.
I will be with you
when you pass through the waters,
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not overwhelm you.
You will not be scorched
when you walk through the fire,
and the flame will not burn you.
For I am YHWH your God,
the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior.
I have given Egypt as a ransom for you,
Cush and Seba in your place.
Because you are precious in my sight
and honored, and I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you
and nations instead of your life.
Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east,
and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back!’
Bring my sons from far away,
and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
everyone who bears my name
and is created for my glory.
I have formed them; indeed, I have made them.”

Bring out a people who are blind, yet have eyes,
and are deaf, yet have ears.
All the nations are gathered together,
and the peoples are assembled.
Who among them can declare this,
and tell us the former things?
Let them present their witnesses
to vindicate themselves,
so that people may hear and say, “It is true.”
“You are my witnesses”—
this is YHWH’s declaration—
“and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
No god was formed before me,
and there will be none after me.
I—I am YHWH.
Besides me, there is no Savior."

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