The
following is a sharing of translation of the weekly Torah study into
understandable English. Words and names have a meaning that is missed
when they are left un-translated unless you understand Hebrew very well.
These studies are for those who are not proficient in the Hebrew
language. It is suggested that when you read these studies that you read
along with a version that is familiar to you. Please share your insight,
ask questions or dispute this translation by replying to channahwolf@gmail.com
Parashah Vayeshev(And Dwelled) Torah Portion: Genesis 37:1 - 40:231: 37:1-11 (11 Verses) Haftarah: Amos
2:6 - 3:8
First
Reader: 37:1-11
(11 Verses) CHAPTER 37 1
Supplanter lived in the 2 These are the generations of Supplanter. Eternal Has Added (Yowceph or Joseph), a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Troubled and the sons of Droplets of Myrrh, his father's women, and he brought their father a bad report about them. 3 Now Persevere as Mighty loved Eternal Has Added more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age. He made a richly ornamented garment for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. 5 Eternal Has Added had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it." 8 His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. 9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." 10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father took careful note of it and said to him, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?" 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father guarded the words. Second Reader: 37:12-22 (11 Verses) 12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Ridgeback, 13 and Persevere as Mighty said to Eternal Has Added, "As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Ridgeback. Come, I am going to send you to them." "Very well," he replied. 14
So he said to him, "Go and see if all is well with your
brothers and with the flocks and bring word back to me." Then he
sent him off from the 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, "What are you looking for?" 16 He replied, "I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?" 17 "They have moved on from here," the man answered. "I heard them say, 'Let's go to Double Wells.'" So Eternal Has Added went after his brothers and found them near Double Wells. 18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. 19 "Here comes that dreamer!" they said to one another. 20 "Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these wells and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams." 21 When Behold a Son (Reuben) heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his life," he said. 22 "Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this well here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him." Behold a Son said this so that he might rescue him from there and take him back to his father. Third
Reader 37:23-36 (14 Verses) 23 So when Eternal Has Added came to his brothers, they stripped him of his garment-- that richly ornamented garment he was wearing-- 24 and they took him and threw him into a well. Now the well was empty; there was no water in it. 25
As they sat down to eat their meal they looked up and saw a
caravan of the descendants of ‘the Mighty Hears’ (or Ishmael) coming
from the Mound of Testimony. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm
and myrrh, and they were on their way to take their goods down to 26 Praised said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let's sell him to these descendants of the Mighty Hears and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers then agreed. 28 So when the merchants who were the Sons of Strife came by, his brothers pulled Eternal Has Added up out of the well and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the descendants of the Mighty Hears, who took him to Double Straits . 29 When Behold a Son (Reuben) returned to the well and saw that Eternal Has Added was not there, he tore his clothes (in grief). 30 He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy isn't there! What can I do now?" 31 Then they got the garment of Eternal Has Added, slaughtered a goat and dipped the garment in the blood. 32 They took the ornamented garment back to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's garment." 33 He recognized it and said, "It is my son's garment! Some ferocious animal has (no doubt) devoured him. Eternal Has Added must surely have been torn to pieces." 34 Then Supplanter tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son for many days. 35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said, "I will go down to my grave mourning my son." So his father wept for him. 36
Meanwhile, the Sons of Strife sold Eternal Has Added in Fourth Reader: 38:1-30 (30 Verses) CHAPTER 38 1 At that time Praised left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of People’s Justice named One of Splendid Stock (or Hirah). 2 There Praised met the daughter of a man, a Zealot, named Abundance. He took her and lay with her; 3 she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was named Awake. 4 She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Strength. 5 She gave birth to still another son and named him Petition. It was at place called Fictitious where she gave birth to him. 6 Praised got a woman for Awake, his firstborn, and her name was Fruitful Palm. 7 But Awake, the firstborn of Praised, was wicked in the sight of ETERNAL; so ETERNAL put him to death. 8 Then Praised said to Strength, "Lie with your brother's woman and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother." 9 But Strength knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother's woman, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother. 10 What he did was wicked in the eyes of ETERNAL, so He also put him to death. 11 Praised then said to his daughter-in-law Fruitful Palm, "Live as a widow in your father's house until my son Petition grows up." He thought, in his heart, "He may die as well, just like his brothers." But Fruitful Palm went to live in her father's house. 12 After a long time the woman of Praised, the daughter of Abundance, died. When Praised had recovered from his grief, he went up to Portion, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend, named ‘One of Splendid Stock’, of the People’s Justice went with him. 13 When Fruitful Palm was told, "Your father-in-law is on his way to Portion to shear his sheep," 14 she took off her widow's clothes, she covered herself with a veil to disguise her self, and then sat down at the entrance to a Fountain, which is on the road to Portion. She was aware that, although Petition had by now grown up, she had not been given to him as his woman. 15 When Praised saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, "Come now, let me enter in with you." "And what will you give me to let you enter in with me?" she asked. 17 "I'll send you a young goat from my flock," he said. She responded, ‘You must give me something as a pledge until you send it.’ 18 He said, "What pledge should I give you?" She replied, "Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand". So he gave them to her and lay with her, and she became pregnant by him. 19 After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow's clothes again. 20 Meanwhile Praised sent the young goat by his friend from the People’s Justice in order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her. 21 He asked the men who lived there, "Where is the harlot who was beside the road at the Fountain?" "There hasn't been any harlot here," they said. 22 So he went back to Praised and said, "I didn't find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, 'There hasn't been any harlot here.'" 23 Then Praised said, "Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn't find her." 24 About three months later Praised was told, "Your daughter-in-law Fruitful Palm is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant." Praised said, "Bring her out and have her incinerated!" 25 As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. "I am pregnant by the man who owns these," she said. And she added, "See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are." 26 Praised knew them well and said, "She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn't give her to my son Petition." And he did not sleep with her again. 27 Later when the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 28 As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so her helper took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, "This one came out first." 29 But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, "So this is how you have broken out!" And he was then named Breach. 30 Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out and he was given the name Rising. Fifth
Reader: 39:1-6 (6 Verses) CHAPTER 39 2 The ETERNAL generously favored Eternal Has Added and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his master, the man of Double Straits. 3 When his master saw that ETERNAL favored him and that the ETERNAL gave him success in everything he did, 4 Eternal Has Added found favor in his eyes and became his personal attendant. Child of the Sun put him in charge of his household and entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the ETERNAL blessed the household of the one of Double Straits because of Eternal Has Added. The blessing of the ETERNAL was on everything Child of the Sun had, both in the house and in the field. 6 So he left in the care of Eternal Has Added everything he had. After putting Eternal Has Added in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Eternal Has Added was well-built and easy to look upon, Sixth Reader: 39:7-23 (17 Verses) 8 But he refused. "By putting me in charge," he told her, "my master does not need concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his woman. How then could I do such a wicked thing and fall short in the eyes of my Mighty One?" 10 And although she spoke to Eternal Has Added day after day, he continued to refuse to lie with her or even be with her. 11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants were inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come lie with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. 13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14 she called her servants, the house men. "Look," she said to them, "this man from beyond (or Hebrew) has entered here to make sport of us! He came in here to lie with me, but I screamed. 15 When he heard my scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house." 16 She kept his cloak close beside her until the master came home. 17 Then she related to him these words: "That slave Man from beyond (or Hebrew) you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18 But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house." 19 When his master heard the story his woman told him, saying, "This is how your slave treated me," he grew hot with anger. 20 The master of Eternal Has Added took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. But while Eternal Has Added was there in the prison, 21 the ETERNAL still favored him; He showed him kindness and granted him acceptance in the eyes of the captain of the prison. 22 So the captain put Eternal Has Added in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The captain paid no attention to anything under the care of Eternal Has Added, because the ETERNAL was with Eternal Has Added and gave him success in whatever he did. Seventh Reader: 40:1-23 (23 Verses) 2 Big House was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, 3 and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Eternal Has Added was confined. 4 The captain of the guard assigned them to Eternal Has Added, and he attended them. After they had been in custody for some time, 5 each of the two men-- the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Double Straits, who were being held in prison-- had a dream on the very same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. 6 When Eternal Has Added came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. 7 So he asked these officials of Big House, who were in custody with him, in the house of their master, "Why are your faces so long today?" 8 "We both had dreams," they answered, "but there is no one to interpret them." Then Eternal Has Added said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to the Mighty? Tell me your dreams." 9 So the chief cupbearer told the one called Eternal Has Added his dream. He said to him, "In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, 10 and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. 11 Big House's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Big House's cup and put the cup in his hand." 12 "This is what it means," Eternal Has Added said to him. "The three branches are three days. 13 Within three days Big House will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put the cup of Big House in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer. 14 But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Big House so I may be freed from this prison. 15 For I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Men from beyond (or Hebrews), and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in this pit." 16 When the chief baker saw that Eternal Has Added had given a favorable interpretation, he said to Eternal Has Added, "I too had a dream: On my head were three baskets of bread. 17 In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Big House, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head." 18 "This is what it means," Eternal Has Added said. "The three baskets are three days. 19 Within three days Big House will lift your head and hang you on the gallows. And the birds will eat away your flesh." 20 Now the third day was the birthday of Big House, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials: 21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the cup into Big House's hand, 22 but he hanged the chief baker, just as Eternal Has Added had said to them in his interpretation. 23 The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Eternal Has Added and just ignored him. Haftarah:
Amos
2:6 - 3:8
Amos 2:6-3:8 6 This is what ETERNAL says: "For three transgressions of those who, Persevere as Mighty, even for four, I will not turn upon them. They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. 7 They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son go into the same girl and thus profane My Holy Name. 8 They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. In the house of their Mighty they drink wine. 9 "I destroyed the Boasters before them, though they were tall as the cedars and strong as the oaks. I destroyed his fruit above and his roots below. 10
"I brought you up out of Double Straits (called 11 I also lifted up prophets from among your sons and consecrated ones from among your youths. ETERNAL declares, “Is this not so, you sons of Persevere as Mighty?" 12 "But you made the Consecrated ones drink wine and you commanded the prophets, saying, ‘prophesy not’. 13 "Now then, I will crush you as a cart crushes, when loaded with grain. 14 The swift will not escape, the strong will not muster their strength, and the warrior will not escape. 15 The archer will not stand his ground, the fleet-footed soldier will not get away, and the soul of the horseman will not escape. 16 Even the bravest warriors will flee naked on that day," declares the ETERNAL. CHAPTER 3 1 Hear this word ETERNAL has spoken against you, sons of Persevere as Mighty-- against the whole family I brought up out of Double Straits: 2 "You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquity." 3 Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? 4 Does a lion roar in the thicket when he has no prey? Does he growl in his den when he has caught nothing? 5 Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground where no snare has been set? Does a trap spring up from the earth when there is nothing to catch? 6 When a trumpet sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the ETERNAL caused it? 7 Surely the Master ETERNAL does nothing without revealing his secret plans to his servants the prophets. 8 The lion has roared, who will not be in fear? The Master ETERNAL has spoken, who will not prophesy?
|