1 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 departed from where He was and moved over to the water in Yahuḏah across the Yardĕn. And here too crowds gathered about Him to hear His message. Many of the usual questions were asked and similar answers given.
2 One man put this question to Him: “Great Teacher, is it lawful according to the great Torah for a man to put away his wife? For there are other laws concerning this.”
3 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 said, “What did one of the great lawgivers, speaking with the authority of Elohim, say about this matter?”
4 The man answered, “The Torah He gave permitted a severance deed to be made, and with this the wife is divorced.”
5 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 said, “Such laws are needful while men are without wisdom. I assure you it will not be so when the Rule of Elohim comes. They are made for those who cannot overcome differences by compassion and understanding. Where there is no feeling, there cannot be love. Divorce is decreed for the failures in love.”
6 “Since the beginning, there have been male and female, each needing the other for fulfillment and spiritual flowering. For this reason, a man leaves his parents and unites with a woman so the two become one in flesh and ruaḥ. The flesh is easily parted, but with the united Ruaḥ it is different. Therefore, when two are joined together in the union of love, let no act of man sever them from each other.”
7 “Fornication occurs in marriage as well as outside it, for marriage is much more than the union of flesh. And whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery in ruaḥ against the one who is his true wife. Should a wife divorce her husband and marry another, she too commits spiritual adultery.”
8 “Marriage has a much greater significance than this depraved generation realizes, for it enters into marriage thoughtlessly and irresponsibly, and then cries, ‘Loose us from our obligations, for we have failed and cannot stand the bonds of the covenant.’ ”
9 After this, a talmid came to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 and said, “Aḏonai, enlighten me. If there can be fornication in a marriage baraḵ by tradition and kohĕn, do a man and woman commit greater fornication if not baraḵ?”
10 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 said, “Marriage is the blending of two Ruaḥ; fornication is the joining of flesh. Nothing done or not done changes this. But if a man and woman be married in the sight of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 and not before a kohĕn, let this union not be lightly put apart. For I assure you that no future marriage baruḵ by kohĕn or otherwise will be a marriage in ruaḥ; it will be no more than fornication.”
11 The following morning, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 and five talmidim had not gone far along the road when a man came running after them, saying, “Aḏonai, what must I do to know the joys of immortality in glory? I know You teach goodness, but though I do my best, I find it difficult among so many pleasures.”
12 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 said, “You have the commandments of Mosheh; keep these faithfully as interpreted by the fullness of the Torah. But to these, two more are now added which shall be just as faithfully obeyed: Act towards others as you would have them act towards you and love your neighbor as yourself.”
13 The man said, “If only I could be as good as You.”
14 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 answered, “Do not call Me good, for no man made in the mold of man is wholly good. If I were not made in the same mold as man, I would not be subjected to his tests and trials and, without overcoming these, could not be wholly good either.”
15 When the man had gone, one of the talmidim who came from beyond the Western Sea said, “I have heard that three things only make men wholly good. But you have many Qodesh Books which I cannot read. Tell me of the things which are in them.”
16 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 said, “Store these things in your heart, they are sufficient for the day: Never utter curses against 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 or the powers about Him, nor speak immodestly to exalt yourself. Do not act fraudulently, and never exaggerate. Always maintain an even temper, and do not act hastily. Never use violence unnecessarily, nor do anything causing unnecessary sorrow. Avoid anything to do with lewdness and obscenity. Commit no slander and speak no gossip. Never make mischief so strife is brought into the lives of others. Tell no lies. Be humble without being servile and be clean in all ways. Whatever you do to earn your bread, do to the best of your ability. Fulfill all your daily obligations, and in the time left to you, serve a cause which is good. Add these to the teachings you have heard, and you will live a good life.”
17 Another talmid said, “A good man soon loses his friends.”
18 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 replied, “No; goodness – like adversity – winnows them.”
19 One of the other talmidim said, “It is very difficult to live a life which is wholly good.”
20 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 answered, “It is even more difficult to enter into the greater life of the Ruaḥ.”
21 The words surprised those hearing them, but 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 assured the talmidim about Him that it was true, adding, “Nothing worthwhile is ever easily gained.”
22 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 continued, “Let all who can do so empty themselves of evil. The deeds are outside, but the thoughts are within. By striving hard and chastening the flesh, not yielding to the call of its lusts, the soul is strengthened by an inflow of spiritual food.”
23 Then 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 asked the talmidim with Him if all understood that unless they could pass the tests of the flesh, they could not know the shamayim. All replied that they understood.
24 A talmid asked, “How long must men be subject to death?”
25 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 replied, “So long as women bear children.”
26 Another asked, “What is the food of the ruaḥ?”
27 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 said, “The truly hungry man eats bitter things and enjoys them; even so does the hungry ruaḥ thrive on the bitterness of the world. The body is not nourished by bitterness and therefore enjoys food supplied by every healthful plant. If the ruaḥ is to be made healthy, the body must be subdued; for either the body is master or the ruaḥ is.”
28 One of the women, Salome, who had accompanied the talmidim, asked 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏, “Is it within the Torah for a man to marry and yet not lie with his wife?”
29 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 answered, “It is never right to live falsely or to dishonor a pledge. Always let whatever be done accord with the intention declared.”
30 Salome said, “Aḏonai, when will the Rule of Elohim come?”
31 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 replied, “When women place greater value on the treasures they hold, for men will strive harder for gold than for brass. When man and woman cease to pander to the flesh and become truly one in ruaḥ. For of this I assure you: Unless man and woman exalt the ruaḥ above the flesh, they will not know life in glory.”
32 Another woman asked, “Who then shall know eternal ḥai?”
33 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 said, “All will have eternal life, but not all will know it, while many will be found in a place of sorrow.”
34 She said, “No woman can make a man good.”
35 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 replied, “Any woman can make a man better.”
36 When they came to a place of rest, Philippos said, “Aḏonai, teach us to understand our Father in the shamayim. And if we know His nature, it will suffice.”
37 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 answered, “I have been with you some time, but still, many of you do not understand. I do not speak of Myself, but as the mouthpiece of the Father. Can the nature of a father be much different from that of His Bĕn’s?”
38 “I teach you about 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 the Father, for you have to carry My words to others, and, spoken thus, they will understand. But He is not quite like earthly fathers, for His wisdom is infinitely greater. Think of an earthly father and magnify his greatness and goodness, his wisdom and justice, his sense of discipline and compassion a thousand times, and you glimpse 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 the Father hazily.”
39 One of the women, not yet a talmid, approached the place where 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 sat, and said, “I have been harshly treated by the Torah concerning a daughter’s inheritance. How do You interpret it?”
40 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 said, “I interpret all laws with mercy and compassion, but justice must not be put aside in their favor. It is written that if a man dies without fathering a son, his inheritance shall become the daughter’s, but his wife shall not be deprived of her portion. Yet when there are sons, a daughter is not deprived of her portion. Therefore, the inheritance should be divided equally among sons and daughters.”
41 “All women should have a rightful portion at marriage, but it would be unseemly for any woman to contend with her kinsmen for it. No woman should ever seek a husband because of what she may gain from such marriage, for this makes her a deceiver, denying him the joy of love. No woman should ever snare a man into lust or seek a husband so she can leave her father’s house, for this is a wrong against the husband.”
42 “No woman having committed fornication should ever go to a man as wife, for in giving herself cheaply to one and dearly to another, she shames and insults her husband. If she loved him, how could she say, ‘Give much for that which I freely bestowed on another’? Better for her to say, ‘As with him, so with you.’”
43 “A man built a house, taking care with the decorating and its furnishings. Then, going to a friend, he said, ‘Because of my affection for you, I will give this house to you as a gift. I know this is not usual, but I have so much affection for you that I willingly disregard the common custom of men.’ Later, he built another house and, taking the furnishings which were no longer new from the first house, put them into the second. Going to another friend, he said, ‘I have a house which, because of my affection for you, I will sell at the usual price with a yearly rental for the furnishings.’ Now, for which of these friends did he have the greatest affection? Would not the second man justly feel he had been treated badly in relation to the first? Would it not be fairer to have treated both alike?”
44 “The Torah is to wear the clothes of purity, and to absorb the words of the Qodesh Books is to be anointed with wisdom. For the Qodesh Books of Wisdom are weavers preparing the garments of eternal life in glory. They are available to all and may be either accepted or ignored.”
45 “The Reign of the shamayim is like a sovereign giving a wedding feast, who, moving about among his guests, notices a man without a wedding garment. The sovereign says to him, ‘My friend, why did you come here attired like this, when it makes you completely out of place?’ The man can make no answer, so the sovereign calls his servants and says, ‘Turn him out, for he does not fit in here.’ ”
46 “Let all men be just and merciful towards one another, for all who are will not be overlooked in the life to come. But those who act otherwise shall surely suffer. Those who pander to people in high places, or who distort the Torah of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 to suit their own ends or twist them to serve unintended purposes, shall not be overlooked at the accounting.”
47 “There are those who interpret the Torah narrowly, so that, while not taking the clothes from the widow’s back, they will take her house and milk cow and drive the fatherless children from their home. They justify themselves by saying, ‘This is the Torah. And was not her husband a debtor?’ Many are the devious roads followed by the hypocrites, for this is a wrongful interpretation of the Torah.”
48 “The Qodesh Books of the Yahuḏim say that an eye shall be taken for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, but the words of the Torah must be interpreted with justice. For if an eye be taken from he who put out another’s, or a tooth from someone who has knocked out the tooth of another, is the loss made good in this manner? Or if a one-eyed man causes him with two eyes to lose one, shall he be made blind and so suffer a greater loss? Or if a man with two eyes causes a man with one eye to be made blind, shall he lose both?”
49 “Henceforth, let the loss be made good in silver or through labor, for now the law of revenge shall be overruled by the law of retribution. All laws shall now be administered under the rule of recompense. All these things I give you that they may be established and added to the Torah, so that henceforth they be used in judgments among the just.”
50 “I come to open the blind eyes of ignorance, to rescue the captives confined in dungeons of delusion, and to free men from the shackles of the flesh. I come to quicken the dead in ruaḥ, to heal the wounds of worldly woes, and to comfort the despairing.”
51 About this time, some of the Parashyim who inclined towards 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 came to warn Him that certain men of Hĕrodĕs sought to do Him harm, advising Him to leave.
52 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 said, “If anyone intends to report My whereabouts to Hĕrodĕs, let Him do so. But I will not leave until the third day, when My work here will be complete.”
53 He then went with His talmidim to Allon, where He rested among the trees for seven days, teaching them the secrets of hidden things.
54 On the seventh day, men of Qodesh came out of Yahuḏah, and 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 said, “Beware of these, for they betrayed their own fathers and pollute whatever is clean.”
55 Then 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 and those with Him departed.