Genesis 19 - 20, Matthew 14-15:28, Psalm 10

Yahweh Destroys Sodom and Gomorrah

19Then the ^atwo angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. ^bLot saw them and rose to meet them and ¹bowed down with his ²face to the ground. ²And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.” ³Yet he pressed them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; ^aand he made a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴Before they lay down, ^athe men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from young to old, all the people ¹from every quarter; ⁵and they called to Lot and said to him, “^aWhere are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may ¹know them.” ⁶But Lot went out to them at the doorway and shut the door behind him, ⁷and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. ⁸“Now behold, ^aI have two daughters who have not known a man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them what is good in your eyes; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the ¹shelter of my roof.” ⁹But they said, “Step aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came to sojourn, and already ^ahe is persistently acting like a judge; now we will treat you more wickedly than them.” So they pressed hard against ¹Lot and stepped up to break the door. ¹⁰But ^athe men reached out their ¹hands and brought Lot into the house ²with them and shut the door. ¹¹^aAnd they ¹struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from small to great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.

¹²Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and everyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place; ¹³for we are about to destroy this place because ^atheir outcry has become great before Yahweh, so ^bYahweh has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who ¹were to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up, ^aget out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city.” ^bBut he appeared to his sons-in-law ²to be jesting.

¹⁵Now at the ¹breaking of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the ²punishment of the city.” ¹⁶But he hesitated. So the men ^aseized his hand and the hand of his wife and the ¹hands of his two daughters, for ^bthe compassion of Yahweh was upon him; and they brought him out and put him outside the city. ¹⁷Now it happened, as they brought them outside, ¹one said, “^aEscape for your life! ^bDo not look behind you, and do not stay ²anywhere in the ^cvalley; escape to ^dthe ³mountains, lest you be swept away.” ¹⁸But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! ¹⁹“Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by preserving my life; but I cannot escape to the ¹mountains, lest calamity overtake me and I die; ²⁰now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) ¹that my life may be preserved.” ²¹And he said to him, “Behold, I grant you this ¹request also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²²“Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called ¹^,^aZoar.

²³The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴And Yahweh ^arained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven, ²⁵and ^aHe overthrew those cities, and all the ¹valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶Then his wife, from behind him, ^alooked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to ^athe place where he had stood before Yahweh; ²⁸and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the ¹valley, and he saw, and behold, ^athe smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a ²furnace.

²⁹Thus it happened, when God destroyed the cities of the ¹valley, that ^aGod remembered Abraham and ^bsent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰And Lot went up from Zoar and ¹^,^astayed in the ²mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to ³stay in Zoar; and he ⁴stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. ³¹Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man ¹on earth to ^acome in to us after the manner of the earth. ³²“Come, ^alet us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve our seed through our father.” ³³So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁴Now it happened on the following day, that the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve our seed through our father.” ³⁵So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁶Thus both the daughters of Lot conceived by their father. ³⁷And the firstborn bore a son and called his name ^aMoab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸As for the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the ¹sons of ^aAmmon to this day.

Abraham Lies to Abimelech

20And Abraham journeyed from ^athere toward the land of ^bthe ¹Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in ^cGerar. ²And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “^aShe is my sister.” So ^bAbimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. ³^aBut God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night and said to him, “Behold, ^byou are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is ¹married.” ⁴(Now Abimelech had not come near her.) Then he said, “Lord, ^awill You kill a nation, even though righteous? ⁵“Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she ^aherself also said, ‘He is my brother.’ In ^bthe integrity of my heart and the innocence of my ¹hands I have done this.” ⁶Then God said to him in the dream, “Indeed, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also ¹^,^aheld you back from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷“So now, return the man’s wife, for ^ahe is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”

⁸So Abimelech arose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were greatly afraid. ⁹^aThen Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And ¹how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom ^ba great sin? You have done to me ²things that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What have you seen, that you have done this thing?” ¹¹And Abraham said, “Because I said, surely there is no ^afear of God in this place, and ^bthey will kill me because of my wife. ¹²“Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife; ¹³and it happened when ^aGod caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is ¹the lovingkindness which you will show to me: ²everywhere we go, ^bsay of me, “He is my brother.”’” ¹⁴^aAbimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham and returned his wife Sarah to him. ¹⁵And Abimelech said, “^aBehold, my land is before you; ¹settle wherever it is good in your sight.” ¹⁶To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your ^abrother one thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is ¹your vindication before all who are with you, and before all you are ²cleared.” ¹⁷^aAnd Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants, so that they bore children. ¹⁸^aFor Yahweh had utterly shut all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

John the Baptist Beheaded

14^aAt that ¹time ^bHerod the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus, ²and said to his servants, “^aThis is John the Baptist; ¹he has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

³For when ^aHerod had John arrested, he bound him and put him ^bin prison because of ^cHerodias, the wife of his brother Philip. ⁴For John had been saying to him, “^aIt is not lawful for you to have her.” ⁵And although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they were regarding ¹John as ^aa prophet.

⁶But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of ^aHerodias danced ¹before them and pleased ^bHerod, ⁷so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. ⁸Now having been prompted by her mother, she *said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” ⁹And although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because of ¹his dinner guests. ¹⁰And he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. ¹¹And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. ¹²And his disciples came and took away the body and buried ¹it; and they went and reported to Jesus.

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand

¹³^aNow when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by Himself; and when the crowds heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. ¹⁴And when He went ¹ashore, He ^asaw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and ^bhealed their sick.

¹⁵Now when it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already ¹late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” ¹⁶But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!” ¹⁷But they *said to Him, “We have here only ^afive loaves and two fish.” ¹⁸And He said, “Bring them here to Me.” ¹⁹And ordering the crowds to ¹sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He ^ablessed the food. And breaking the loaves, He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, ²⁰and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full ^abaskets. ²¹And there were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.

Jesus Walks on the Sea

²²^aImmediately He ¹made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. ²³And after He had sent the crowds away, ^aHe went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. ²⁴But the boat was already many ¹stadia away from the land, ²being battered by the waves; for the wind was ³^,^aagainst them. ²⁵And in ^athe ¹fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶Now when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is ^aa ghost!” And they cried out ¹in fear. ²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “^aTake courage, ¹it is I; ^bdo not be afraid.”

²⁸And Peter answered and said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” ²⁹And He said, “Come!” And getting out of the boat, Peter walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” ³¹And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “^aYou of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³²And when they got into the boat, the wind stopped. ³³And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are truly ^aGod’s Son!”

³⁴^aAnd when they had crossed over, they came to land at ^bGennesaret. ³⁵And when the men of that place ¹recognized Him, they sent word into all that surrounding district and brought to Him all who were sick; ³⁶and they were pleading with Him that they might just touch ^athe fringe of His garment; and as many as ^btouched it were cured.

God’s Commandments, Man’s Traditions

15^aThen some Pharisees and scribes *came to Jesus ^bfrom Jerusalem and said, ²“Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they ^ado not wash their hands when they eat bread.” ³And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴“For God said, ‘^aHonor your father and mother,’ and, ‘^bHe who speaks evil of father or mother is to ¹be put to death.’ ⁵“But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever you might benefit from me ¹is given to God,” ⁶he need not ¹honor his father.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. ⁷“You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:

⁸‘^aThis people honors Me with their lips,But their heart is far away from Me.⁹‘But in vain do they worship Me,Teaching as ^adoctrines the commands of men.’”

¹⁰After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand. ¹¹“^aIt is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

¹²Then the disciples *came and *said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were ¹offended when they heard this statement?” ¹³But He answered and said, “^aEvery plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. ¹⁴“Let them alone; ^athey are blind guides ¹of the blind. And ^bif a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

The Heart of Man

¹⁵Now Peter answered and said to Him, “^aExplain the parable to us.” ¹⁶And ¹Jesus said, “Are you still lacking in understanding also? ¹⁷“Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and goes into the sewer? ¹⁸“But ^athe things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. ¹⁹“^aFor out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false witness, slanders. ²⁰“These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”

The Canaanite Woman

²¹^aAnd going away from there, Jesus withdrew into the district of ^bTyre and ^cSidon. ²²And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, ^aSon of David; my daughter is cruelly ^bdemon-possessed.” ²³But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and were pleading with Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting ¹at us.” ²⁴But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to ^athe lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵But she came and ¹^,^awas bowing down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” ²⁶And He answered and said, “It is not ¹good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷But she said, “Yes, Lord; ¹but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, ^ayour faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed ¹at once.

Do Not Forget the Afflicted

ל Lamedh

¹Why ^ado You stand afar off, O Yahweh?Why ^bdo You hide ²Yourself in times of distress?²In his ^alofty pride the wicked ¹hotly pursues the afflicted;²Let them be ^bcaught in the thoughts which they have devised.³For the wicked ^aboasts of his ^bsoul’s desire,And ¹the greedy man curses and ^cspurns Yahweh.⁴The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, ^adoes not seek Him.All his ¹thoughts are, “^bThere is no God.”⁵His ways ¹^,^aprosper at all times;Your judgments are on high, ^bout of his sight;As for all his adversaries, he snorts at them.⁶He says in his heart, “^aI will not be shaken;¹From generation to generation ^bI will not be in adversity.”

פ Pe

⁷His ^amouth is full of curses and deceit and ^boppression;^cUnder his tongue is mischief and wickedness.

ע Ayin

⁸He sits in the ¹^,^aplaces of the villages where one lies in wait;In the hiding places he ^bkills the innocent;His eyes ²stealthily watch for the ³^,^cunfortunate.⁹He lies in wait in a hiding place as ^aa lion in his ¹lair;He ^blies in wait to catch ^cthe afflicted;He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his ^dnet.¹⁰He ¹crouches, he ²bows down,And the ³unfortunate fall ⁴by his mighty ones.¹¹He ^asays in his heart, “God has forgotten;He has hidden His face; He will never see it.”

ק Qoph

¹²Arise, O Yahweh; O God, ^alift up Your hand.^bDo not forget the afflicted.¹³Why has the wicked ^aspurned God?He has said in his heart, “You will not require it.”

ר Resh

¹⁴You have seen it, for You have beheld ^amischief and vexation to ¹take it into Your hand.The ²^,^bunfortunate commits himself to You;You have been the ^chelper of the orphan.

שׁ Shin

¹⁵^aBreak the arm of the wicked and the evildoer,¹^,^bSeek out his wickedness until You find none.¹⁶Yahweh is ^aKing forever and ever;^bNations have perished from His land.

ת Tav

¹⁷O Yahweh, You have heard the ^adesire of the ¹humble;You will ^bstrengthen their heart, ^cYou will cause Your ear to give heed¹⁸To give justice to the ^aorphan and the ^boppressed,So that man who is of the earth will no longer cause ^cterror.