8 Av 5781
July 17, 2021

Parashat Devarim
“Words”

Here are the Torah, Haftarah and suggested Brit Chadasha (New Testament) and Tehillim (Psalms) readings for this week.

• Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22
• Isaiah 1:1-27
• Acts 7:51-8:4
• Psalm 137

By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there we hung up our harps.
For there our captors demanded songs and our tormentors asked for joy:
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”
How can we sing a song of Adonai in a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither.
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I cease to remember you,
If I do not set Jerusalem above my chief joy.
(Psalm 137:1-6 TLV)

The seven aliyot readings from the Torah begin at these verses:

1. Deuteronomy 1:1
2. Deuteronomy 1:11
3. Deuteronomy 1:22
4. Deuteronomy 1:39
5. Deuteronomy 2:2
6. Deuteronomy 2:31
7. Deuteronomy 3:15

Maftir: Deuteronomy 3:20

In Devarim

The Key People include Moshe (Moses), speaking to all Yisra’el (Israel), and Y’hoshua (Joshua).

The Scene is b’ever haYarden, ba-midbar ba-Aravah mol Suf bein-Paran oo-vein-Tofel v’Lavan va-Chatserot v’Di Zahav (across the Jordan, in the wilderness on the plain opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-Zahab).

The Main Events include Moshe’s words reviewing the past: God’s command to enter the Land, appointment of judges, spies and disbelief, 38 years of desert wandering, victory over Sichon and ‘Og, land for tribes settling east of the Jordan, and encouragement for Y’hoshua.

Adonai our God spoke to us at Horeb saying: ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn, journey on, and enter the hill country of the Amorites and all their neighbors, in the Arabah, the hill country, the lowland, the Negev, and by the seashore—the land of the Canaanites and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the Euphrates. See, I have set the land before you. Enter and possess the land that Adonai swore to your fathers—to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob—to give to them and to their descendants after them.’
(Deuteronomy 1:6-8 TLV)

The Haftarah

Learn to do good, seek justice, relieve the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” “Come now, let us reason together,” says Adonai. “Though your sins be like scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they will become like wool. If you are willing and obey, you will eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured with the sword.” For the mouth of Adonai has spoken.
(Isaiah 1:17-20 TLV)

The Brit Chadasha

O you stiff-necked people! You uncircumcised of heart and ears! You always resist the Ruach ha-Kodesh; just as your fathers did, you do as well. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed the ones who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. Now you have become His betrayers and murderers— you who received the Torah by direction of angels and did not keep it!”
(Acts 7:51-53 TLV)

Torah Portion readings and the associated Haftarah readings generally follow the Stone Edition Chumash and/or the Complete Jewish Bible. Verse numbering generally follows the Hebrew tradition, and where modern Christian traditions differ those verse numbers are shown in parentheses (). Haftarah readings generally follow the Ashkenazi tradition. Where the Sephardic tradition differs, the Haftarah portions are designated as (A) and (S). Suggested New Testament readings are taken from various sources. Suggested Psalm readings are from the Messianic Siddur for Shabbat by Daniel Perek. The Key People, The Scenes, and The Main Events are taken from the Walk! series of Messianic Devotion Commentaries by Dr. Jeffrey Enoch Feinberg. Scripture taken from the Tree of Life Version (TLV) © 2015 by the Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society. Used by permission of the Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.