Chapter 5
1 Seeing the crowds, Yeshua walked up the hill. After he sat down, his talmidim came to him,
2 and he began to speak. This is what he taught them:
3 "How blessed are the poor in spirit! for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
4 "How blessed are those who mourn! for they will be comforted.
5 "How blessed are the meek! for they will inherit the Land!
6 "How blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness! for they will be filled.
7 "How blessed are those who show mercy! for they will be shown mercy.
8"How blessed are the pure in heart! for they will see Elohim.
9 "How blessed are those who make peace! for they will be called sons of Elohim.
10 "How blessed are those who are persecuted because they pursue righteousness! for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
11 "How blessed you are when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of vicious lies about you because you follow me!
12 Rejoice, be glad, because your reward in heaven is great -- they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.
13 "You are salt for the Land. But if salt becomes tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except being thrown out for people to trample on.
14 "You are light for the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
15Likewise, when people light a lamp, they don't cover it with a bowl but put it on a lampstand, so that it shines for everyone in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.
17 "Don't think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete.
18 Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah -- not until everything that must happen has happened.
19 So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness is far greater than that of the Torah-teachers and P'rushim, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven!
21 "You have heard that our fathers were told, `Do not murder,'l and that anyone who commits murder will be subject to judgment.
22 But I tell you that anyone who nurses anger against his brother will be subject to judgment; that whoever calls his brother, `You good-for-nothing!' will be brought before the Sanhedrin; that whoever says, `Fool!' incurs the penalty of burning in the fire of Gei-Hinnom!
23 So if you are offering your gift at the Temple altar and you remember there that your brother has something against you,
24 leave your gift where it is by the altar, and go, make peace with your brother. Then come back and offer your gift.
25 If someone sues you, come to terms with him quickly, while you and he are on the way to court; or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer of the court, and you may be thrown in jail!
26 Yes indeed! I tell you, you will certainly not get out until you have paid the last penny.
27 "You have heard that our fathers were told, `Do not commit adultery.'m
28But I tell you that a man who even looks at a woman with the purpose of lusting after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29 If your right eye makes you sin, gouge it out and throw it away! Better that you should lose one part of you than have your whole body thrown into Gei-Hinnom.
30 And if your right hand makes you sin, cut it off and throw it away! Better that you should lose one part of you than have your whole body thrown into Gei-Hinnom.
31 "It was said, `Whoever divorces his wife must give her a get.'
32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of fornication, makes her an adulteress; and that anyone who marries a divorcee commits adultery.
33 "Again, you have heard that our fathers were told, `Do not break your oath,' and `Keep your vows to ADONAI.'
34 But I tell you not to swear at all -- not `by heaven,' because it is God's throne;
35 not `by the earth,' because it is his footstool; and not `by Yerushalayim,' because it is the city of the Great King.
36 And don't swear by your head, because you can't make a single hair white or black.
37 Just let your `Yes' be a simple `Yes,' and your `No' a simple `No'; anything more than this has its origin in evil.
38 "You have heard that our fathers were told, `Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.'
39 But I tell you not to stand up against someone who does you wrong. On the contrary, if someone hits you on the right cheek, let him hit you on the left cheek too!
40 If someone wants to sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat as well!
41And if a soldier forces you to carry his pack for one mile, carry it for two!
42 When someone asks you for something, give it to him; when someone wants to borrow something from you, lend it to him.
43 "You have heard that our fathers were told, `Love your neighbors -- and hate your enemy.'
44 But I tell you, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!
45 Then you will become children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun shine on good and bad people alike, and he sends rain to the righteous and the unrighteous alike.
46 What reward do you get if you love only those who love you? Why, even tax-collectors do that!
47 And if you are friendly only to your friends, are you doing anything out of the ordinary? Even the Goyim do that!
48Therefore, be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Chapter 6
1 "Be careful not to parade your acts of tzedakah in front of people in order to be seen by them! If you do, you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 So, when you do tzedakah, don't announce it with trumpets to win people's praise, like the hypocrites in the synagogues and on the streets. Yes! I tell you, they have their reward already!
3But you, when you do tzedakah, don't even let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.
4 Then your tzedakah will be in secret; and your Father, who sees what you do in secret, will reward you.
5 "When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites, who love to pray standing in the synagogues and on street corners, so that people can see them. Yes! I tell you, they have their reward already!
6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
7 "And when you pray, don't babble on and on like the pagans, who think God will hear them better if they talk a lot.
8 Don't be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 You, therefore, pray like this: `Our Father in heaven! May your Name be kept holy.
10 May your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.
11 Give us the food we need today.
12Forgive us what we have done wrong, as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us.
13 And do not lead us into hard testing, but keep us safe from the Evil One. For kingship, power and glory are yours forever. Amen.'
14 For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;
15 but if you do not forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will not forgive yours.
16 "Now when you fast, don't go around looking miserable, like the hypocrites. They make sour faces so that people will know they are fasting. Yes! I tell you, they have their reward already!
17 But you, when you fast, wash your face and groom yourself,
18 so that no one will know you are fasting -- except your Father, who is with you in secret. Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
19 "Do not store up for yourselves wealth here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and burglars break in and steal.
20 Instead, store up for yourselves wealth in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and burglars do not break in or steal.
21 For where your wealth is, there your heart will be also.
22 `The eye is the lamp of the body.' So if you have a `good eye' [that is, if you are generous] your whole body will be full of light;
23 but if you have an `evil eye' [if you are stingy] your whole body will be full of darkness. If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 No one can be slave to two masters; for he will either hate the first and love the second, or scorn the second and be loyal to the first. You can't be a slave to both God and money.
25 "Therefore, I tell you, don't wor y about your life -- what you will eat or drink; or about your body -- what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds flying about! They neither plant nor harvest, nor do they gather food into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they are?
27Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to his life?
28 "And why be anxious about clothing? Think about the fields of wild irises, and how they grow. They neither work nor spin thread,
29 yet I tell you that not even Shlomo in all his glory was clothed as beautifully as one of these.
30 If this is how God clothes grass in the field -- which is here today and gone tomorrow, thrown in an oven -- won't he much more clothe you? What little trust you have!
31 "So don't be anxious, asking, `What will we eat?,' `What will we drink?' or `How will we be clothed?'
32 For it is the pagans who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all.
33 But seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34Don't worry about tomorrow -- tomorrow will worry about itself! Today has enough tsuris already!
Chapter 7
1 "Don't judge, so that you won't be judged.
2 For the way you judge others is how you will be judged -- the measure with which you measure out will be used to measure to you.
3 Why do you see the splinter in your brother's eye but not notice the log in your own eye?
4 How can you say to your brother, `Let me take the splinter out of your eye,' when you have the log in your own eye?
5 You hypocrite! First, take the log out of your own eye; then you will see clearly, so that you can remove the splinter from your brother's eye!
6 "Don't give to dogs what is holy, and don't throw your pearls to the pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, then turn and attack you.
7"Keep asking, and it will be given to you; keep seeking, and you will find; keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who keeps asking receives; he who keeps seeking finds; and to him who keeps knocking, the door will be opened.
9 Is there anyone here who, if his son asks him for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone?
10 or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
11 So if you, even though you are bad, know how to give your children gifts that are good, how much more will your Father in heaven keep giving good things to those who keep asking him!
12"Always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that sums up the teaching of the Torah and the Prophets.
13 "Go in through the narrow gate; for the gate that leads to destruction is wide and the road broad, and many travel it;
14 but it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
15 "Beware of the false prophets! They come to you wearing sheep's clothing, but underneath they are hungry wolves!
16 You will recognize them by their fruit. Can people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?
17 Likewise, every healthy tree produces good fruit,
but a poor tree produces bad fruit.
18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, or a poor tree good fruit.
19 Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire!
20 So you will recognize them by their fruit.
21 "Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, only those who do what my Father in heaven wants.
22 On that Day, many will say to me, `Adonai,
Adonai!
Didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we expel demons in your name? Didn't we perform many miracles in your name?'
23 Then I will tell them to their faces, `I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!'
24 "So, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on bedrock.
25 The rain fell, the rivers flooded, the winds blew and beat against that house, but it didn't collapse, because its foundation was on rock.
26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand.
27 The rain fell, the rivers flooded, the wind blew and beat against that house, and it collapsed -- and its collapse was horrendous!"
28 When Yeshua had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at the way he taught,
29 for he was not instructing them like their Torah-teachers but as one who had authority himself.
Shabbat Shalom.
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