RSTNE 8th Edition Online – The Epistle of Barnabas-Bar-Nava

 

The Epistle of Barnabas-Bar-Nava

To Our People Yisrael

Bar-Nava, The Son of Comfort, is mentioned in Acts 1:23, 4:36, 9:27, 11:22, 25, 30, 12:25, 13:1, 2, 7, 43, 46, 50, 14:12, 14, 20, 15:2, 12, 22, 25, 35, 36, 37, 39, 1st Corinthians 9:6, Galatians 2:1, 9, 13 and in Colossians 4:10.

From these biblical references we can see concerning Bar-Nava that:

-He was a traveling companion Of Sholiach Shaul.

-He introduced Sholiach Shaul to the Yahrushalayim community of emunah.

-He was trusted by the Yahrushalayim zechanim.

-He was faithful with finances.

-He was a Yahudite believer.

-He was a Levite. His Hebrew name was Yoseph.

-He was a missionary and had a pastor’s lev.

-He was considered a teacher and a navi.

-He was ordained by the set Apart Ruach to rescue Ephraim from the goyim.

-He was from the island of Cyprus.

-He observed Shabbat with the House of Judah.

-He was a key speaker and delegate at the Acts 15 Yahrushalayim Council.

-He was a chosen ambassador by the Yahrushalayim Council, sent out with their rulings.

-He continued secular work.

-He was rebuked by Paul for following Peter in withdrawing from table chavurah from returning Ephraimites. This is a second issue where he is seen in sharp disagreement with Paul.

-He had a sharp break in chavurah with Paul.

-He was a believer before Paul.

-He donated large amounts of land and other material needs to the early Nazarene Yisraelite community.

-His nephew was John Mark author of the gospel bearing his name. Mark was a visitor when Paul was in prison in Rome.

1 Shalom, my sons and daughters in Yisrael, in the name of our Adon 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 the Moshiach, who has loved us in shalom.

2 I rejoice exceedingly and beyond measure at your happy and wonderful ruach, since the ordinances of The Torah of Ahlohim are great and rich towards you, who have received the engrafted unmerited chen of the spiritual gift.

3 So, I congratulate myself more, hoping to be saved because I see an emet The Ruach poured out upon you from the rich Ahlohim of ahava. So greatly has your longed for appearance hit me with anticipation.

4 Being persuaded, therefore, of this and knowing in myself that since I spoke among you, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has helped me in many things, in the derech of tzedakah. I am altogether compelled to love you even beyond my own nephesh because great emunah and ahava dwells in you, in the tikvah of His chayim.

5 Considering also this, that if I take care to communicate to you a part of that which I have received, it shall turn to my reward to have assisted such ruachim as you are. I gave diligence to write to you in few words, in order that together with your emunah, you might have your da’at perfect also.

6 For there are three doctrines ordained of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄: the tikvah of chayim, the beginning and the end.

7 For the Master has made known to us by the neviim, the things that are past and the things, which are at hand and has given us the bikkurim of the da’at of the things that are to come. Since, therefore, we see all these things, each working as He has spoken, we ought more fully and royally approach His altar;

  1. But I, not as a teacher but as one of yourselves, will show to you a few things, by means of which you may even in this present rejoice.

2 Since, therefore, the yamim are evil and the adversary has the authority, we ought to take heed to ourselves and seek out The Torah of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

2 For the helpers of our emunah are reverence and patience and they that fight on our side are longsuffering and continence.

3 While these, therefore, remain pure in things relating to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, chochmah and binah, science and da’at, rejoice together with them.

4 For Ahlohim has made known to us through all the neviim, that He desires neither sacrifices nor whole burnt offerings, nor oblations; for He said in a certain place,

5 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices? says 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄. I AM full of the whole burnt offerings of rams; I desire not the fat of lambs, nor the dahm of bulls and goats and you need not come to be seen by Me. For who has required these things at your hands? You shall not add to it in order to tread my court. If you bring the fine flour, it is vain; incense is an abomination to me; your new moons and Shabbats I cannot endure; your fastings and holidays and moadem my nephesh hates.

6 These things, therefore, He has made of none effect, that the new instructions of our Adon 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 The Moshiach, being free from the yoke of necessity, might have an offering not made with hands.

7 Again, He said to them, Did I command your ahvot, when you came out of the land of Mitzrayim, to offer to me whole burnt offerings and sacrifices?

8 Did I not rather command them this? Let each of you bear no malice against his neighbor in his lev and love not a false oath.

9 We ought to perceive, since we are not void of binah the meaning of the tovness of Ahlohim our Abba because He tells us, wishing to seek us who are wandering even as sheep, how we ought to approach Him.

10 He therefore speaks to us in this manner: The sacrifice before Ahlohim is a broken lev; a smell of sweet savor to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 is a lev that glorifies Him that made it. We should, therefore, brethren examine accurately concerning our own salvation, lest the evil one, making an entrance among us, should draw us away from our chayim.

3 Therefore, He said again, concerning these things, to them. Why do you fast to Me, says 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, so that your voice is heard today in its crying? This is not the fast that I have chosen, says 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, for a man to humiliate his nephesh;

2 Nor if you bend your neck as a ring and put under you sackcloth and ashes; not even then will you call it an acceptable fast.

3 But to us He said, Behold the fast which I have chosen, says 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄; not that a man should humiliate his nephesh but that he should loose every bond of unrighteousness and untie the knots of the covenants of violence; set at liberty them that are bruised and cancel every agreement of unrighteousness; break your lechem with the hungry and if you see the naked, clothe him; bring them that are homeless into your dwelling and if you see a man that is lowly, despise him not and turn not away from those of your family;

4 Then shall your ohr break forth early and your garments shall spring up quickly and justice shall go before you and the tifereth of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 shall surround you;

5 Then shall you cry and 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 shall listen to you; while you are yet speaking He shall say, See, Hinayne: if you put away from you the contract and the conspiracy and the word of murmuring and give your lechem to the hungry with all your lev and have rachamim upon the nephesh that is lowly.

6 The longsuffering Ahlohim therefore having seen beforehand that the people whom He had prepared for His beloved would believe in simplicity, has showed to us beforehand, concerning all these things, that we should not come as strangers to their Torah.

4 It behooves, therefore, that we, searching much concerning the things that are at hand, should seek out the things that are able to save us. Let us flee, therefore, utterly from all the works of unrighteousness and let us hate the error of the time that now is, that we may be loved in the atid lavoh.

2 Let us not give liberty to our nephesh that it should have feedom to run with sinners and evil men, neither let us act like them.

3 The Tribulation being made perfect is at hand, concerning which it is written, as Chanok said, For this purpose 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has cut short the times and the yamim, that His beloved might make haste and come into His inheritance.

4 The navi also speaks in this derech: Ten malchutim shall reign upon the earth; and there shall rise up after them a little melech who shall humble three of the melechim under one.

5 And in like manner Daniyel speaks concerning him: And I saw the fourth beast, evil and strong and harder than all the beasts of the earth; and I saw how there grew up from him ten horns and from among them a little horn, growing up beside them and how it humbled under one, three of the great horns.

6 You ought, therefore, to understand. And moreover I ask this of you, as being one among you, loving you especially and altogether, even above my own nephesh; that you should take heed to yourselves and not be like to certain men, by adding to your sins and saying that their brit is also ours. Ours, indeed, it is; but they have lost it le-olam-va-ed, in this derech, after that Moshe had already received it.

7 For the Katuv said, So Moshe was in the har fasting forty yamim and laylot and he received the brit from 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄; even tables of stone written with the finger of The Hand of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄. But when they turned to idols they lost it.

8 For 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 said this to Moshe, Moshe, get down quickly, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Mitzrayim, have done unlawfully. And Moshe understood and cast the two tables from his hands and the brit that was on them was broken; to the end that only the beloved 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 might be sealed in our levavot in the tikvah of His emunah.

9 Now, though I wished to write many things to you, not as a teacher but even as fits one that loves you, not to fall short of the things that we have, I have been zealous to write to you, as the least of you. Let us, therefore, give heed to the yamim ha-acharonim; for the whole time of our emunah will profit us nothing unless now, in the season of iniquity and among the stumbling-blocks that are coming, we resist as becomes the sons of Ahlohim.

10 That the evil one may not have entrance while we are unaware. Let us fly away from all vanity and fully hate the deeds of the evil derech. Do not, entering into your own houses, dwell alone, as though you were already justified but coming together, inquire one with another concerning the common advantage.

11 For the Katuv said, Woe to them that are wise in their own conceit and learned in their own eyes. Let us be spiritual: let us be a perfect Beit HaMikdash to Ahlohim. So far as in you lies, let us practice the reverence of Ahlohim and strive to keep His Torah mitzvoth, that we may be glad in His ordinances.

12 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 shall judge the olam without respect of persons; each shall receive according as he has done; if he is tov, tzedakah shall go before him but if he is evil, the reward of wickedness shall be before him.

13 Let us give heed that we do not, as being already elect, take rest and sleep in our sins, lest the ruler of wickedness, getting the victory over us, toss us from the malchut of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

14 And, moreover, my brethren, consider this. When you see that after so many signs and wonders what still has happened to part of Yisrael, even that they have been abandoned for now; let us take heed lest, as it is written, many of us be called but few chosen.

5 For on this account 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 endured to give His flesh to corruption, that we might be sanctified by the remission of sins, which is by the sprinkling of His dahm.

2 For there are written concerning Him certain things that pertain to Yisrael and certain others that pertain to us. For He speaks like this, He was wounded for our iniquities and vexed for our sins; by His stripes we are healed. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a Lamb dumb before him that shears it.

3 We ought therefore, to give special hodu to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 because He has made known to us the things that are past and has made us wise with regard to those that are at hand, neither are we without binah as regards to the future.

4 For the Katuv said, Not unjustly is the net stretched for the birds. Now this means that a man will perish justly who, having da’at of the derech of tzedakah, shuts himself up into the derech of darkness.

5 Consider this too, my brethren; if 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 endured to suffer for our naphsoth, though He were Ahlohim of the whole olam, to whom Ahlohim said from the foundation of the olam, Let Us make man according to Our image and according to Our likeness, how then did He endure to suffer at the hands of men? Learn.

6 The neviim having received the unmerited chen from Him and prophesied with regard to Him. But He, that He might make death of none effect and bring to ohr the resurrection from the dead because it behooved Him to be made manifest in the flesh,

7 Endured it that He might give to our ahvot the promise and by preparing for Himself a renewed people might show, while upon earth, that He will raise the dead and by Himself execute mishpat.

8 Yes, further; though He taught Yisrael and did so many signs and wonders among them, yet they loved Him not.

9 But when He chose out His own shlichim, who were about to preach His Besorah, they were men unrighteous beyond all sin, that He might show that He came not to call the tzadik but sinners to teshuvah; then He made Himself manifest that He was The Son of Ahlohim.

10 For if He had not come in the flesh how could men have looked upon Him and have been saved, since they cannot endure to look at the rays of the shemesh, which must one yom perish and which is the work of His Hands?

11 For this purpose did The Son of Ahlohim come in the flesh, that He might sum up and finish the sin of them who persecuted His neviim to death;

12 Therefore He endured even to this. For Ahlohim said that the smiting of His flesh it was from them. When they shall smite their Shepherd, then shall the sheep of the flock be scattered.

13 But He himself wished to suffer, for it was necessary that He should suffer upon the execution stake; for He who prophesied about Him said, Spare my nephesh from the sword but drive nails into My flesh, for the synagogues of evil men have risen against Me.

14 And again He said, Behold, I have given My back to the scourging and My cheeks to buffetings; My face also have I set as a hard rock.

6 When, therefore, He made The Torah what said He? Who is he that disputes with Me? Let him resist Me; or who is he that contends with Me? Let him draw near to The Son of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

2 Woe to you, for you shall all wax old as a garment and the moth shall devour you. And again the navi said, Since He has been placed, as a Strong Stone, for crushing; behold I will place on the foundation of Tzion, a Stone precious, elect, a Rosh Pina of great price.

3 And then what said he? And he that believeth in Him shall live le-olam-va-ed. Is then our tikvah in a Stone? Ahlohim forbid. But it is said because 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has made strong His flesh, for He said, So He made Me as it were a hard Rock.

4 And again, The Stone, which the builders rejected, has become the head of the corner. And again He said, This is the yom, great and wonderful, which 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has made.

5 I write to you more simply that you may understand. I am the outcast of your love.

6 What then said the navi again? The assembly of the wicked came around Me; they surrounded me as bees do a honeycomb and over My garment they cast lots.

7 Since, therefore, He was about to be made manifest and to suffer in the flesh, His suffering was showed beforehand. For the navi said to Yisrael, Woe to their naphshot, for they have counseled an evil counsel among themselves, saying, Let us bind the tzadik because He is an encumbrance to us.

8 And what said the other navi, even Moshe, to them? Behold, this says 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 Ahlohim: Enter into the tov land which 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 swore to Avraham and Yitzchak and Yaakov and inherit it, even a land flowing with milk and honey.

9 What said da’at? Learn it. Place tikvah, upon 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏, who is about to be manifested to you in the flesh. For man is but earth, which suffers; for, from the face of the ground was made the molding for Ahdahm.

10 What then does He mean when He said, In to the tov land which flows with milk and honey? Blessed be 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, brethren, who has put into you chochmah and da’at of His secret things. For the navi speaks a parable from 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄. Who shall understand, except he that is wise and skillful and that loves his 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄?

11 Since, therefore, having renewed us by the remission of our sins, He has made us of a new character; He wills that we should have the naphsot of children, as it is indeed He who has formed us, as new napshot.

12 For the Katuv said concerning us, that He said to The Son, Let Us make man after Our own image and according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the beasts of the earth and the fowls of the shamayim and the fishes of the sea. And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 said, when He saw how excellent our form was, Increase and multiply and replenish the earth. These things He said to The Son.

13 Again I will show to you how 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 speaks to us, since He has made a second fashioning in these yamim ha-acharonim; 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 said, Behold I make the last even as the first. For to this purpose did the navi preach. Enter into the land flowing with milk and honey and have dominion over it.

14 Behold now we have been formed again, even as He said again in another navi: Behold, said 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, I will take out from these, that is out of those whom The Ruach of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 foresaw, the levavot of stone and will put into them levavot of flesh because He himself was about to be manifested in the flesh and to dwell among us.

15 For the habitation of our lev is a Beit HaMikdash set apart to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

16 For 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 said again, How shall I appear before 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 My Ahlohim and be esteemed? He said too, I will give hodu to You in the assembly, in the midst of My brethren; I will shir to You in the midst of the assembly of the kidushim. We are, therefore, those whom He brought into the tov land.

17 What, then, means the milk and honey? It is because a child is kept alive, first with honey, afterwards with milk. So we, too, being quickened by emunah in His promise and by His Word, shall live and rule over the earth.

18 And we said previously, So let them increase and multiply and rule over the fish. Who then is he who is able to rule over the beasts, the fish and fowls of the shamayim? For we ought to perceive that to rule means authority, so that a man by giving commands may exercise lordship.

19 If, therefore, this does not take place now, He has told us when it will; even when we ourselves have been made perfect, so that we become heirs of the brit of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

7 You perceive, therefore, beloved children that our tov 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has manifested to us all things beforehand, to the end that we should know who we should tehilla, returning hodu for all things.

2 If, therefore, The Son of Ahlohim, being He who is 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 and who is about to judge the living and the dead, suffered, to the end that His stripes might make us live, let us believe that The Son of Ahlohim could not suffer except on our account.

3 But being impaled, He was given to drink of vinegar and gall. How, then, did the kohanim of the temple signify concerning this? Now, the commandment is written in this derech: Whosoever shall not fast on the fast, he shall die the death; 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has commanded it. Since He also was about to offer the vessel that contained His Ruach as a sacrifice, in order that the type might be fulfilled which was given by the offering of Yitzchak at the altar,

4 What said He in the sefer of the navi? And let them eat of the goat, which is offered on the fast for the sins of all. Attend diligently to this. And let the kohanim alone eat of the unwashed intestines with vinegar.

5 What is the significance? Because you will one yom give Me to drink of vinegar and gall, when I AM about to offer up My flesh for My renewed people, you eat it alone, while the people fast and lament in sackcloth and ashes. He commanded this in order that He might show that He needs to suffer at their hands.

6 How, then, did He give His commands? Listen. Take two goats, fair and like each other and offer them up. And let the kohen take one of them as a whole ascension offering for sin.

7 But what shall they do with the other? Let the other, He said, be cursed. Now listen, how the type of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 is made manifest.

8 And do you not all spit upon it and pierce it and put scarlet wool around its head and so let it be cast out into the midbar. And when this has been done, he who bears the goat leads it out into the midbar and takes away the wool and places it upon a bush, which is called Rachel, the shoots of which we are accustomed to eat when we find them in the fields. So the fruit of the Rachel only is sweet.

9 What, therefore, does this mean? Listen. One is brought to the altar, the other is cursed and the cursed one is crowned because they shall see Him in that yom, who had the scarlet robe around His flesh, and they shall say, Is not this He, who once we considered as nothing and impaled and spat upon and pierced? Truly this was He who at that time said that He was The Son of Ahlohim.

10 How then was one like the other? In this respect were the goats like Him: they were fair and equal, so that when they saw Him coming they were astonished at the likeness to the goat. Therefore, behold here the type of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏, who was about to suffer.

11 And what means the wool placed in the midst of thorns? It is a type of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏, which has been placed in the assembly of Yisrael. For He who wishes to take the scarlet wool must suffer many things because the thorn is terrible and sharp and must only after pain gain possession of it. So He said, Those who wish to see Me and to take hold of My malchut must through trouble and suffering receive Me.

8 And what type, do you think, was the mitzvah to Yisrael, that the men in whom sin had been accomplished should offer a heifer; and after they had slaughtered it should burn it; and that children should then take the ashes and cast them into vessels and place scarlet wool and hyssop around a stick? Behold, again, the type of the execution stake and the scarlet wool and so the children should sprinkle the people one by one, that they might be purged from their sins.

2 Behold, therefore, in what derech He speaks to you with simplicity. The red heifer signifies 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏; the sinful men who offer it are the men who brought Him to the slaughter. But now the men are no longer before us, no longer does the tifereth belong to sinners.

3 The children who sprinkled the dahm are those who brought us the Tov News of the forgiveness of sins and purification of lev, to whom He has given the authority of the Tov News for the purpose of preaching, being twelve in number, for a testimony to the tribes, for twelve, were the tribes of Yisrael.

4 And why, then, were the children who sprinkled three in number? For a testimony to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov because these are great before Ahlohim.

5 And what signifies the wool upon the wood? Because the malchut of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 is upon the execution stake; and because they who tikvah on Him, shall have chayim le-olam-va-ed.

6 And why are there at the same time the wool and the hyssop? Because in His malchut, the yamim in which we shall be saved shall be evil and filthy; because also he that grieves over His flesh, is healed through the purifying of the hyssop.

7 And these things having happened on this account are manifest to us but obscure to them because they listened not to the voice of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

9 He said also again concerning our ears, how He has made brit-milah upon our lev. 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 said in the navi, They have listened to Me with the hearing of their ears; and again, He said, They that are far off shall hear with their ears; they shall know what I have done; and be made brit-milah, said 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, in your lev;

2 And again, Shema Yisrael, for this says 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 your Ahlohim; and again The Ruach of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 prophesied, Who is he that wishes to live le-olam va-ed? Let him listen to the voice of My Son.

3 And again He said, Listen, O shamayim and give ear, O earth, for 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has spoken these things for a testimony. And again He said, Listen to the voice of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, you rulers of this people. And again He said, Listen children to the voice of one crying in the midbar.

4 To this end, therefore, has He made brit-milah to our hearing, that when we hear His Word, we should believe; for the brit milah in which they trust is done away with. For He has said that brit milah is not that which was made in the flesh alone; so they have transgressed, for an evil malach has deluded them.

5 He said to them, These things said 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 your Ahlohim; so here I find a new mitzvah: Sow not among thorns but be made brit-milah to your 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄. And what said He? Brit milah the hardness of your levavot and harden not your neck. And again, Behold, said 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, all the goyim are not in brit-milah in their foreskin but this nation is not in brit-milah in their levavot.

6 But he will say, Of an emet the people have been made brit-milah for a seal to them; but so, also, has every Syrian and Arabian and all the kohanim of idols. Do they also belong to the brit? The Egyptians also are in brit-milah.

7 Learn, therefore, children of ahava, richly concerning all things; that Avraham, who first gave brit- milah, made brit-milah, looking forward in The Ruach to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏, having received The Doctrines of The Three Letters.

8 For He said, So Avraham made brit-milah out of his household three hundred eighteen naphsoth. What, then, is the da’at that was given by this? Learn that he mentions the eighteen first and then, having made a pause, he mentions the three hundred naphsoth. In the eighteen, CH YAH, you have 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏; and because the execution stake seen in the letter Tau was about to convey the unmerited chen of redemption; He mentions also the three hundred. Therefore, he shows 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 in the two letters, IH-YAH and the execution stake in the one, Taf. *That is, Iota and Eta and T The doctrine of the three letters.

9 He knows this, who has placed the engrafted gift of His teaching in us. No one has had from me a more emet account than this; but I know that you are worthy.

10 But in that Moshe said, You shall not eat the swine, or the eagle, or the hawk, or the crow, or any fish that has no scales in itself, he had in his mind three doctrines.

2 For in the end he said to them in Devarim and I will arrange before this people my mitzvoth. The mitzvah of Ahlohim is not, therefore, that they should not eat only; but Moshe spoke in a spiritual sense as well.

3 He spoke of the swine with this meaning: You shall not cleave, He means, like men of this sort, who are like swine, for when they become filled up they forget 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 but when they are in want they think upon 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄; even as the swine when it eats knows not its Ahlohim but when it is hungry it cries and when it has received food it is again silent.

4 Nor shall you eat of the eagle, nor of the hawk, nor of the kite, nor of the crow. You shall not, He means, cleave to, nor be like men of this sort, who know not how to provide sustenance for themselves by labor and sweat but in their iniquity seize the property of others and, as though they walked in innocence, watch and observe whom they shall plunder, through their covetousness; even as these birds alone provide not sustenance for themselves by means of toil but, sitting idle, seek out how they may eat the flesh of others, being destructive by reason of their wickedness.

5 And you shall not eat, He said, of the lamprey, or the polypus, or the cuttle fish. You shall not, He means, cleave not to, or become like men of this sort, who are impious to the end and have been already condemned to death, even as these cursed fish alone swim in the depth, not floating as the others do but dwelling in the earth below the depth of the sea.

6 So, He said, You shall not eat the hare, meaning you shall not indulge in unnatural lusts;

7 Nor shall you eat the hyena, meaning you shall not be an adulterer;

8 Nor shall you eat the weasel, meaning you shall not do uncleanness with your mouth concerning food;

9 Therefore Moshe spoke in The Ruach these three doctrines. But they, according to the lusts of their flesh, received them as being only about kosher foods.

10 And Dawid receives da’at concerning the same three doctrines and said in like manner, Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the unrighteous, even as the unclean fish walk in darkness into the depths of the sea and has not stood in the derech of sinners, even as the unclean who pretend to fear 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 sin as does the swine and has not sat in the seat of the destroyers, even as the unclean birds that do sit for prey. You have also in the end a mitzvah concerning food;

11 But Moshe said, Eat everything that is cloven footed and that chews the cud. What means this? He that takes food knows Him that feeds him and, resting upon Him, seems to be glad. He therefore said well, having regard to the mitzvah. What then means this? Cleave to them that fear 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, who walk in His mitzvoth, which they have received in their levavot; to them that speak of the mitzvoth of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 and observe them, to them who know that the practice of them is a work of gilah and who meditate on the Word of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄. But what means that which cleaves the hoof? It means that the tzadik walks even in this olam and expects the set apart chayim. Behold how well Moshe has made all these Torot.

12 But how was it possible for them to perceive, or understand these things? But we, having rightly understood the mitzvoth and speak them even as 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has willed. On this account has He made brit-milah our ears and levavot, that we should understand these things.

11 Let us inquire, therefore, if 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 cared to show us beforehand concerning the mayim and concerning the execution stake. Concerning the mayim, it is written, with respect to Yisrael, how that they will not receive the mikvah that brings remission of sins but will establish one for themselves.

2 The navi therefore speaks in this derech, Be astonished, O shamayim. And let the earth be afraid still more at this because this people have done two great and evil things: they have abandoned Me who am the fountain of chayim and have dug for themselves broken cisterns.

3 Is My set apart har of Tzion a deserted rock? You shall be as the young of a bird, which has flown when the nest has been taken away.

4 And again the navi said, I will go before you and will lay low the mountains. And I will break the doors of brass and burst the bars of iron; and I will give to you the treasures of darkness hidden and unseen, that they may know that I AM 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 Ahlohim; and, he shall dwell in the lofty cave of the strong rock.

5 Then what says he of The Son? His mayim is faithful. You shall behold The Melech in His tifereth and your nephesh shall practice the reverence of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

6 And again, in another navi, he said, He that does these things shall be as an eytz that grows beside the mayim, which gives its fruit in its season; and its leaf shall not fall off and whatever it does shall prosper.

7 Not so are the unrighteous, not so; they are like the dust which the wind carries away from the face of the earth, so the unrighteous shall not rise up in the mishpat, nor sinners in the kehilla of the tzadik: for 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 knows the derech of the tzadik but the derech of the unrighteous shall perish.

8 You perceive how He has put together the mayim and the execution stake. For what He means is this, Blessed are they who having hoped on the execution stake, have gone down into the mayim. For He speaks of a reward to be given at the due season; then, said He, I will render what is due to you. But now in that He said, Their leaves shall not fall off or go astray, He means this, That every word that goes out from your mouth in emunah and ahava shall be for a refuge and a tikvah to many.

9 And again another navi said, So the land of Yaakov was praised beyond the whole earth. By so saying He means this, He shall esteem the vessel that contains His Ruach.

10 And what says He afterwards? There was a river flowing on the right and there grew up on its banks fair eytzim and whosoever eats of them shall live le-olam-va-ed.

11 By this He means that we go down into the mayim full of sin and pollution and go up bearing fruit in the lev, having in The Ruach reverence and tikvah towards 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏. And whoever shall eat of the fair eytzim, shall live le-olam-va-ed. He means this, Whoever, He said, shall hear these Words spoken and believes them, shall live le-olam-va-ed.

12 In like manner again He signifies concerning the execution stake in another navi, who said, So when shall these things be ulfilled? 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 said, When the eytz has been bent and shall rise up again and when dahm shall flow from the eytz. You have again a prophecy concerning the execution stake and about Him who is about to be impaled.

2 And He said again in Moshe, when Yisrael was under attack by foreigners, even that He might remind them, while they were under attack, that for their sins they were being delivered over to death; The Ruach said to the lev of Moshe, that he should make the form of an execution stake, of Him who was about to suffer. For He says, If they shall not tikvah upon Him, they will be made war against le-olam-va-ed. Moshe, therefore, arranges weapon against weapon in the midst of the battle and standing higher than all, stretched out his hands and so again Yisrael conquered; then, when he let the hands down, they were again slaughtered.

3 Why? That they might know that they are not to be saved except they tikvah upon Him.

4 And again, in another navi, He said, All yom long have I stretched out My hands to a people who are disobedient and who speak against My tzadik derech.

5 Again, Moshe makes another type of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏, that it behooves that He should suffer and cause others to live, whom they thought that they had destroyed in figure when Yisrael was falling: For 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 made every kind of serpent to bite them and they died, since the transgression happened to Chava by means of the serpent, to the end that He might convince them that through their transgression they should be given over to the cords of death.

6 For in the end Moshe himself, after he had given a mitzvah that there shall not be among you a molten image, or a graven image for an ahlahim, made one himself, that he might show a type of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏. Moshe, therefore, makes a brazen serpent and sets it aloft and calls the people by a proclamation.

7 When, therefore, they had come together they sought Moshe, that he should offer supplication for them concerning their healing. Moshe therefore said to them, When any of you is bitten, let him come to the dead serpent, that is placed upon the eytz and let him believe and tikvah that, though it is dead, He is able to make it live and immediately a person shall be saved; and so they did. You have, therefore, again in these things also, the tifereth of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 that in Him and to Him are all things.

8 What did Moshe also say to Husha the son of Nun, after he had given the name YAH-Husha to him, being a navi? To this end alone, that all the people might hear and understand that The Abba reveals all things concerning The Son 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏.

9 Moshe therefore said to Yahusha the son of Nun, having given him this name, when he sent him to spy out the land, Take the scroll into your hands and write what 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 said, even that The Son of Ahlohim, in the yamim ha-acharonim, will cut off the whole House of Amalek from the roots.

10 Behold, therefore, again 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏, not the son of humans but The Son of Ahlohim and through a type, was later made manifest in the flesh. Since, therefore, they should one yom say that Moshiach is the Son of Dawid, Dawid himself prophesies, being in reverence and in binah the deceitfulness of sinners, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 said to my Adon, Sit as My Right Hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool.

11 And again Yeshayahu speaks in this derech, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 said to Moshiach, My 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, whose right hand I have held, that the goyim should listen to Him and I will break the strength of melechim. Behold how Dawid calls him 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 and does not call Him my human son.

13 Let us inquire, therefore, whether our people or the first brit people inherit all things and whether the brit is for us or for them.

2 Hear, now, what the Katuv said concerning the people. But Yitzchak made tefillah for Rivkah his isha because she was barren and she conceived. Then went forth Rivkah to inquire of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 and 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 said to her, Two goyim are in your womb and two peoples are in your bowels and the one people shall surpass the other and the elder shall serve the younger.

3 We ought to understand who was Yitzchak and who was Rivkah and concerning whom He declared that the one people was greater than the other.

4 And in another prophecy Yaakov speaks yet more clearly to Yoseph his son, saying, Behold 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has not deprived me of your face; bring to me your sons, that I may bless them.

5 And Yoseph brought to him Ephraim and Manasseh, wishing that he should bless Manasseh because he was the elder. Yoseph, therefore, brought him to the right hand of his abba Yaakov. But Yaakov saw in The Ruach a figure of the people that should be from now on. And what said the Ketuvim? And Yaakov crossed his hands and placed his right hand on the head of Ephraim, the second and youngest and blessed him. And Yoseph said to Yaakov, Change your right hand to the head of Manasseh because he is my bachor son. And Yaakov said to Yoseph, I know, my son, I know; but the elder shall serve the younger; but this one also shall be blessed.

6 Behold in what derech he appointed that this people should be the first and heir of the brit.

7 If, therefore, it were moreover mentioned through Avraham also, we have the perfecting of our da’at. What, therefore, said He to Avraham, when he alone believed and it was counted to him for tzedakah? Behold I have made you, Avraham, an abba of the goyim who though not in brit milah, first believe in 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

14 Yes but let us inquire whether He has given the brit that He swore to the ahvot, that He would give to the people. Verily He has given it; but they were not worthy to receive it on account of their sins.

2 For the navi said, So Moshe was fasting on Har Senai forty yamim and forty laylot, that he might receive the brit that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has made with His people. And he received from 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 the two tablets, that were written by The Ruach with the finger of the Hand of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄. And Moshe, when he had received them, was bringing them down to the people to give it to them.

3 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 said to Moshe, Get down quickly, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Mitzrayim, have done evil. And Moshe perceived that they had again made molten images and he cast the tablets from his hands and the tablets of the brit of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 were broken.

4 Moshe indeed received them but the people were not worthy. Listen therefore, how we have received them. Moshe received them being an eved but 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 Himself gave it to us, to be a people of inheritance, having suffered for our sake.

5 And He was made manifest, that both they might be made full of their sins and that we, through Him that inherited, might receive the brit of The Adon 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏, who, for this purpose was prepared, that by appearing Himself and redeeming our levavot from darkness, which were already lavished on death and given over to the iniquity of deceit, He might place in us the renewed brit of His people.

6 For it is written how The Abba gave a mitzvah to Him, that having redeemed us from darkness, He should prepare for Himself a kadosh people.

7 Therefore the navi said, I,𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 your Ahlohim, have called You in tzedakah and I will hold Your hand and make You strong; and I have given You as a brit to the nation of Yisrael, for a Ohr to the goyim also, to open the eyes of the blind and to bring out of chains them that are bound and from the bayit of prison, those that sit in darkness. We know then from where we were redeemed.

8 And again, the navi said, Behold, I have placed You for A Ohr to the goyim, that you should be for My 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏, even to the ends of the earth; this said 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 Ahlohim who has redeemed you.

9 And again, the navi said, The Ruach of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 is upon Me because He has anointed Me to preach The Besorah to the poor, He has sent Me to heal those that are broken in lev, to preach deliverance to the captives and deliverance to the devastated, to tell of the acceptable year of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 and the yom of recompense, to comfort all that mourn.

15 And, moreover, concerning the Shabbat it is written in the Ten Mitzvoth in which He spoke on Har Senai to Moshe panayim-el-panayim: Sanctify the Shabbat of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 with pure hands and a pure lev.

2 And in another place He said, If my sons shall keep My Shabbat, then will I place My rachamim upon them.

3 He speaks, too, of the Shabbat in the beginning of the creation: And Ahlohim made in six yamim the works of His Hands and finished them on the seventh yom and rested on it and sanctified it.

4 Consider, my children, what significance have these words; He finished them in six yamim. They mean this: that in six thousand years, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 will make an end of all things; for a yom is with Him, as a thousand years. And He himself bears witness to me, saying: Behold this yom; a yom shall be as a thousand years. Therefore, my children, in six yamim, that is in six thousand years, shall all things be brought to an end.

5 And the Words, He rested on the seventh yom, have this significance: After that His Son has come and has caused to cease the time of the wicked one and has judged the unrighteous and repaired the shemesh and the yarayach and the cochavim, then shall He rest well on the seventh yom.

6 And further He said, You shall sanctify it with pure hands and a pure lev. Who, therefore, can sanctify the yom that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has sanctified, unless he is pure of lev? In all things, have we been deceived.

7 Behold, that then indeed we shall be able to rest well and sanctify it; even when we ourselves, having been justified and having received the promise, when iniquity exists no longer but when all things have been made new by 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, we shall then be able to sanctify it, having been first fully sanctified ourselves.

8 And, furthermore, He said to them, Your new moons and your Shabbats I cannot endure. See, now, what He means. The Shabbats, that now are, are not acceptable to Me, but that which I have made is, even that in which, after that I have brought all things to an end, I shall make a beginning of the eighth yom, which thing is the beginning of another olam, the olam haba.

9 So we keep the eighth yom, as well as the Shabbat, as a yom of gilah, on which also 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 was discovered risen from the dead and after which He had appeared and later ascended to the shamayim.

16 And I will, moreover, tell you concerning the Beit HaMikdash, how these wretched men, being deceived, placed their hopes in the building, as if it were the actual habitation of Ahlohim and not on the Ahlohim who made them.

2 For almost after the manner of the goyim, did they consecrate Him in the Beit HaMikdash. But what said 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, when making it of no affect? Listen. Who has measured out the shamayim with His palm or the earth with the palm of His hand, is it not I, says 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄? The shamayim is My kesay and earth the footstool of My feet. What bayit will you build for Me or what shall be the place of My rest? You have known that their tikvah was vain.

3 And, yet further, He said again, Behold they that have destroyed this Beit HaMikdash shall rebuild it.

4 And so does it happen, for through their war it has been destroyed by the enemy and now both they themselves and the avadim of their enemies shall rebuild it.

5 And again it was made manifest how the Beit HaMikdash and the people of Yisrael should be given up to their enemies. For the Katuv said, So it shall come to pass in the yamim ha-acharonim that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 shall deliver up the sheep of His pasture and their fold and their tower shall He give up to destruction; and it happened according to that which 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 had spoken.

6 Let us inquire, therefore, whether there is any Beit HaMikdash of Ahlohim. There is; even where He himself has declared that He would make and perfect it. For it is written, So it shall be when the week is completed, that the Beit HaMikdash of Ahlohim shall be rebuilt beautifully, in The Name of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

7 I find, therefore, that there is a Beit HaMikdash; how then shall it be built in The Name of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄? Learn. Before we believed in Ahlohim the habitation of our lev was corrupted and feeble, a temple built by our own hands. For it was full of idolatry and was a habitation of demons because we did such things as were contrary to Ahlohim;

8 But it shall be rebuilt in The Name of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄. Pay attention, so that the Beit HaMikdash of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 may be rebuilt beautifully. But in what manner will it be built? Listen: having received the remission of our sins and having hoped upon The Name of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, we have become new, having been again created entirely new. So Ahlohim truly dwells in us as His habitation.

9 How? The Word of His emunah, the calling of His promise, the chochmah of His Torah ordinances, the mitzvoth of His doctrines, He Himself prophesying in us, He himself dwelling in us. To us, who were enslaved by death, He opens the gate of the Beit HaMikdash, which is His mouth and giving us teshuvah, leads us into the incorruptible Beit HaMikdash.

10 For he who desires to be saved looks not to man but to Him that dwells in him and speaks in him, wondering that he had never before heard Him speaking such words out of his own mouth, or even desired to hear them. This is the spiritual Beit HaMikdash built by 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

17 So far as it is possible for me to show you these things with simplicity, my mind and nephesh have tikvah that I have not omitted any of the things that pertain to salvation;

2 For if I write to you concerning the things that are at hand or the things that will be from now on, you would not be able to understand them fully because they are couched in mishle. These simple things, therefore, I have written.

18 Let us pass on now to another kind of da’at and instruction. There are two paths of instruction and authority; the one of Ohr and the other of darkness. But there is a great difference between the two derachot. For over one, are appointed as overseers the malachim of Ahlohim and over the other the malachim of s.a.tan.

2 On the one side is He who is 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, from everlasting to everlasting, on the other is the ruler of the olam that now lies in wickedness.

19 Now, the derech of chayim is this: If anyone wishes to travel to the appointed place, let him hurry it by means of his mitzvoth. Now, the da’at of walking in that which is given to us is this:

2 You shall love Him that made you, you shall fear Him that formed you and you shall esteem Him that redeemed you from death. You shall be simple in lev and rich in ruach; you shall not cleave to them that go in the derech of death. You shall hate whatever is not pleasing to Ahlohim; you shall hate all hypocrisy; you shall not abandon the mitzvoth of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄;

3 You shall not exalt yourself; you shall be humble in all things; you shall not take tifereth for yourself; you shall not take evil counsel against your neighbor; you shall not take audacity into your nephesh.

4 You shall not commit fornication, you shall not commit adultery. You shall not pollute yourself with mankind: let not the Word of Ahlohim go forth from you in corruption. You shall not accept the status of anyone, in order to reprove any man for transgression. You shall be gentle, you shall be quiet; you shall tremble at the Words that you have heard; you shall not bear malice against your brother;

5 You shall not doubt whether a thing shall be or not; you shall not take The Name of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 in vain. You shall love your neighbor beyond your own nephesh; you shall not kill a child by abortion, neither shall you destroy it after it is born. You shall not remove your hand from instructing your son or your daughter but shall teach them from their youth the fear of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

6 You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods; you shall not be an extortioner; you shall not cleave with your nephesh to the proud but you shall have your conversation with the lowly and the tzadik. Receive as brachot the troubles that come to you, knowing that without Ahlohim nothing happens.

7 You shall not be double minded nor double tongued, for to be double tongued is the snare of death. You shall submit yourself to your Torah teachers, as to the image of Ahlohim, with shame and fear. You shall not give commands with bitterness to your eved and your handmaid, who hopes in the same Ahlohim as you do, lest, perhaps, you cease to reverence Ahlohim, who is over both. For 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 came not to call men with respect of persons but to call only those whom The Ruach had prepared.

8 You shall share in all tov things with your neighbor and shall not say that things are your own. For if you are partners in that which is incorruptible, how much more in the things that are corruptible? You shall not be quick of speech, for the mouth is a snare of death. As far as you are able, you shall be pure concerning your nephesh.

9 Be not a stretcher forth of your hand to receive but draw it back for giving. You shall love, as the apple of your eye, everyone that instructs you in the Word of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

10 You shall remember the Yom of Judgment by lyla and by yom; and you shall seek out every yom the persons of the kidushim.

11 You shall not doubt to give, nor shall you murmur in giving. Give to everyone that asks you and then you shall know who is the Tov Recompenser of the reward. You shall take care of that which you have received, neither adding to it, nor taking from it. You shall hate the evil of man to the end and shall judge justly.

12 You shall not make a schism but shall make shalom by bringing adversaries together. You shall make confession of your sins. You shall not go into tefillah with an evil conscience. This is the derech of chayim; laboring by means of the Word and proceeding to exhort and practicing to save the nephesh by the Word, or you shall work by your hands for the redemption of your sins.

20 But the derech of darkness is crooked and full of cursing, for it is the derech of eternal death and punishment, in which derech the things are that destroy the nephesh. Idolatry, boldness, the pride of power, hypocrisy, double heartedness, adultery, murder, rape, haughtiness, transgression, deceit, malice, self-will, witchcraft, sorcery, covetousness, lack of the reverence of Ahlohim.

2 These are those who are persecutors of the tov and the emet, they are lovers of lies; they who know not the reward of tzedakah, who cleave not to what is tov nor to tzadik mishpat; who attend not to the widow and the orphan; who are awake not for the reverence of Ahlohim but for evil; from whom meekness and patience are far off; who love the things that are vain, who follow after recompense, who pity not the poor, who labor not for him who is in trouble; who are prompt to evil speaking, who know not Him that made them; murderers of children, corruptors of the image of Ahlohim; who turn away from the poor man and oppress the afflicted; advocates of the rich, unjust shophtim of the poor, sinners in all things.

21 It is therefore right that he who has learned The Torah ordinances of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, even as many as have been written beforehand, should walk in them. For he who does these things shall be esteemed in the malchut of Ahlohim but he who chooses the contrary things, shall perish together with his works. On this account is the resurrection; on this account is the retribution.

2 I ask those who are of high estate among you, if you will receive any friendly advice from me; keep those with you, with whom you may do what is honorable. Fail not in so doing.

3 The yom is at hand in which everything shall perish together with the evil one; 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 is near at hand and His reward also.

4 Again and again do I ask you, be tov Torah keepers over yourselves, be tov advisers over yourselves. Abide faithful counselors of one another; take out of the midst of you all hypocrisy,

5 And may Ahlohim, who rules the whole olam, give you chochmah, binah, science, da’at of His ordinances and patience.

6 And be taught by Ahlohim, inquiring what 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 seeks of you and so do that work, that you may be found saved in the Yom of Judgment.

7 But if there is any memory of that which is tov, remember me while you practice these things, so that both your desire and your watching over it may turn to some tov.

8 I ask you this, asking it as chen to me. So long as the tov vessel is with you, fail not in any of these things but seek them out, without ceasing and fulfill all The Torah mitzvoth, for these things are worthy.

9 Therefore I have been very excited to write to you, so far as I was able, so that I might give you simcha. Shalom, children of ahava and shalom; the Ahlohim of tifereth and of all unmerited chen be with your ruach. Ahmein.