CHUKAT (ORDINANCE OF)

Parashat Chukat

Red Heifer and Cleansing Water

19 Adonai spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, ² “This is the statute of the Torah which Adonai commanded saying: Speak to Bnei-Yisrael that they bring to you a flawless red heifer on which there is no blemish and on which has never been a yoke. ³ Give her to Eleazar the kohen. He will take her outside the camp and slaughter her in his presence. ⁴ Then Eleazar the kohen is to take some of the blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting.

⁵ “While watching, he is to burn the heifer, her hide, flesh, blood and refuse. ⁶ The kohen is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool, and cast them into the midst of the burning heifer.

⁷ “Afterward, the kohen is to wash his clothes and bathe his flesh with the water, and afterward he may come back into the camp. Still the kohen will be unclean until evening. ⁸ Also the one burning it is to wash his clothes and bathe his flesh with the water, and he will be unclean until evening.

⁹ “A clean man is to gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a clean place outside the camp. They are to be for the community of Bnei-Yisrael to use as water of purification from sin.

¹⁰ “The one who gathers the heifer’s ashes is also to wash his clothes as well as be unclean until evening. It will be a permanent statute for Bnei-Yisrael and for the outsider living among them.

¹¹ “Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days. ¹² He is to purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day. Then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. ¹³ Anyone touching the dead body of any man, who does not purify himself, defiles Adonai’s Tabernacle, and that person will be cut off from Israel. Because the cleansing water was not sprinkled on him, he is unclean and his uncleanness will remain on him.

¹⁴ “This is the Torah for whenever a person dies in a tent. Anyone entering the tent or anyone inside the tent will be unclean seven days. ¹⁵ Any open container not having a lid fastened on it will also be unclean. ¹⁶ Anyone out in the open field who touches a dead body, whether killed by a sword or was killed by a natural cause, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

¹⁷ “For the unclean one, they are to take some of the ash of the burnt purification offering, and pour some fresh water into a jar. ¹⁸ Then a clean person will take some hyssop, dip it into the water, and, sprinkle it on the tent, all of the furnishings, and the people who were there, as well as the one touching the bone, the one killed, the corpse or the grave.

¹⁹ The clean person will sprinkle the unclean one on the third and seventh days. He is to purify himself on the seventh day, and on the seventh day he is to wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he will be clean.

²⁰ However, that man who is unclean but does not purify himself will be cut off from the community. He has defiled the Sanctuary of Adonai, since the cleansing water was not sprinkled on him. He is unclean. ²¹ This will be a permanent ordinance for them. The one sprinkling the cleansing water is also to wash his clothes, and anyone touching the cleansing water will be unclean until evening. ²² Anything touched by an unclean person becomes unclean, and anyone touching it will be unclean until evening.”

Water from the Rock

20 In the first month, the entire community of Bnei-Yisrael arrived at the wilderness of Zin. The people stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

² Now there was no water for the community, so they assembled against Moses and Aaron. ³ The people quarreled with Moses saying, “If only we had died when our brothers died before Adonai! ⁴ Now why have you brought the community of Adonai into this wilderness, for us and our livestock to die here? ⁵ Why have you brought us from Egypt to bring us to this evil place—a place without grain, fig, grapevine or pomegranate—and there’s no water to drink!”

⁶ So Moses and Aaron went from before the assembly to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and fell on their faces.

Then the glory of Adonai appeared to them. ⁷ Adonai spoke to Moses saying, ⁸ “Take the staff and gather the assembly, you and your brother Aaron. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will give out its water.^[a] You will bring out water from the rock, and you will give the community something to drink, along with their livestock.”

⁹ So Moses took the staff from before the presence of Adonai, just as He had commanded him.

¹⁰ Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly in front of the rock. He said, “Listen now, you rebels! Must we bring you water from this rock?”

¹¹ Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with the staff. Water gushed out and the community and its livestock drank.

¹² But Adonai said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in Me so as to esteem Me as holy in the eyes of Bnei-Yisrael, therefore you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given to them.”

¹³ These are the waters of Meribah where Bnei-Yisrael contended with Moses, and where Adonai showed Himself holy among them.

Edom Denies Passage

¹⁴ Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom. “Thus says your brother, Israel:

‘You know all the hardship that came on us. ¹⁵ Our forefathers went down to Egypt, so we lived there for a very long time. The Egyptians mistreated us, and our fathers. ¹⁶ But we cried out to Adonai, He heard our cry, sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. See now, we are at Kadesh, a town on the frontier of your territory. ¹⁷ Permit us to pass through your territory. We will not cross through any field or vineyard or drink water of any well. But we will travel on the king’s highway. We will not deviate to the right or left until we will have passed through your territory.’”

¹⁸ But Edom said to him, “You may not pass through me—or I will march out against you with the sword.”

¹⁹ Bnei-Yisrael then said to him, “We will travel on the main road, and if we or our livestock even drink any of your water, we will pay its price. It’s nothing, just to pass through on foot!”

²⁰ He answered, “You may not pass through!” Yet Edom came out to oppose them with a large and well-armed people. ²¹ Since Edom refused to permit Israel to cross through her territory, Israel turned away from them.

Aaron Gathered To His People

²² The entirety of the community of Bnei-Yisrael set out from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor.

²³ Now at Mount Hor, near the Edomite border, Adonai said to Moses and Aaron, ²⁴ “Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land, which I have given to Bnei-Yisrael, because you rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵ Take Aaron and his son Eleazar, and take them up Mount Hor. ²⁶ Remove Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar, and Aaron will be gathered up and will die there.”

²⁷ Moses did as Adonai commanded. They ascended Mount Hor before the eyes of the whole community. ²⁸ Moses removed Aaron’s garments and placed them on Eleazar his son. Aaron died there at the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar descended the mountain.

²⁹ When they saw that Aaron had died, the entire community mourned Aaron 30 days.

Nehushtan: Snake on a Pole

21 When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked Israel and captured some of them. ² Then Israel vowed to Adonai and stated, “If you deliver this people into our hand, we will put their cities under the ban of destruction!” ³ Adonai listened to Israel’s plea and delivered up the Canaanites. They put them and their cities under the ban of destruction. So the name of the place was called Hormah.

⁴ They travelled from Mount Hor along the route to the Sea of Reeds in order to go around the land of Edom. The spirit of the people became impatient along the way.

⁵ The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you brought us from Egypt to die in the wilderness, because there is no bread, no water, and our very spirits detest the despicable food? ⁶ So Adonai sent poisonous serpents among the people,^[b] and they bit the people and many of the people of Israel died.

⁷ The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against Adonai and you! Pray to Adonai for us, that He may take away the snakes!” So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸ Adonai said to Moses, “Make yourself a fiery snake and put it on a pole. Whenever anyone who has been bitten will look at it, he will live.”^[c]

⁹ So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole, and it happened that whenever a snake bit anyone and he looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

Journey to Moab

¹⁰ Bnei-Yisrael moved on and encamped at Oboth. ¹¹ Then they set out from Oboth and camped in Ije-abarim, in the wilderness facing Moab toward the sunrise. ¹² From there they set out and camped in the Wadi Zered. ¹³ They set out from there and camped along the Arnon, which is in the wilderness extending into Amorite territory. The Arnon is also the border between Moab and the Amorites. ¹⁴ Therefore, it is said in the Book of the Wars of Adonai, “...Vaheb in Suphah and the wadis of the Arnon, ¹⁵ and the slope of the wadis that leads to the site of Ar and lie along the border of Moab—” ¹⁶ And from there—on to Beer.

This is the well where Adonai said to Moses, “Gather the people and I will give them water.”

¹⁷ Then Israel sang this song,

From the wilderness they went on to Mattanah. ¹⁹ From Mattanah they went on to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, ²⁰ and from Bamoth to the valley in the field of Moab where the peak of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.

Defeat of Sihon and Og

²¹ Israel sent messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites saying, ²² “Permit us to pass through your land. We will not turn aside into field or vineyard nor drink water from the wells. We will travel on the king’s highway until we will have passed through your territory.”

²³ But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. Instead, Sihon called out his entire army and marched out into the desert to oppose Israel. When he came to Jahaz, he fought against Israel. ²⁴ But Israel struck him by the sword’s edge and conquered his land from Arnon to Jabbok as far as the Ammonites, because the border of the sons of Ammon was fortified.

²⁵ Israel conquered all these cities and occupied all the Amorite cities, Heshbon and all its towns. ²⁶ Heshbon was the city of King Sihon of the Amorites, who had fought with the former king of Moab and had taken from his control all the land as far as the Arnon. ²⁷ Therefore the poets say,

³¹ So Israel was living in the land of the Amorites. ³² After Moses sent spies to Jazer, they captured her towns and drove out the Amorites who were there.

³³ Then they turned and went up the road to the Bashan. Og, king of the Bashan, went out to confront them, he and all his people, in battle at Edrei.

³⁴ Adonai said to Moses, “Do not fear him. I have given him with all his people and his land into your hand. You are to do to him just as you did to Sihon, the Amorite king who was living in Heshbon.”

³⁵ So they struck him and his sons and his entire army until no survivor was left to him, and they possessed his land.

A Donkey Rebukes Balaam

22 Then Bnei-Yisrael set out and camped in the plains of Moab alongside the Jordan across from Jericho.

Jephthah’s Valor and Vow

11 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor^[a], but he was son of a prostitute, while Gilead was Jephthah’s father. ² But Gilead’s wife bore him sons, and when the wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You won’t inherit in our father’s house, for you are a son of another woman.” ³ Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Some worthless fellows joined with Jephthah and went out with him.

⁴ Now it came about after a while that the children of Ammon fought with Israel. ⁵ When the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah from the land of Tob. ⁶ They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our chief, so we may fight the children of Ammon.”

⁷ Jephthah then said to the elders of Gilead, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me out of my father’s house? So why are you coming to me now that you’re in trouble?”

⁸ “Here is why we’re now turning to you,” the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah. “Come with us, fight the children of Ammon, and then you will become head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

⁹ So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back home to fight the children of Ammon, and Adonai gives them over to me, I should become your head!”

¹⁰ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Let Adonai be witness between us if we don’t do as you say.” ¹¹ Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them, after Jephthah repeated all his terms before Adonai at Mizpah.

¹² Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon saying, “What have you to do with me, that you have come to me to make war on my land?”

¹³ The king of the children of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land, when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon to the Jabbok as far as the Jordan. Now therefore, return them peaceably.”

¹⁴ But Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the children of Ammon, ¹⁵ and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah, ‘Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the children of Ammon. ¹⁶ For upon departing from Egypt, Israel traveled through the wilderness to the Sea of Reeds and came to Kadesh, ¹⁷ then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom saying, “Please, let me pass through your land,” but the king of Edom would not consent. Similarly he sent word to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel, after staying at Kadesh, ¹⁸ traveled through the wilderness, around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, came to the east side of the land of Moab and they camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. ¹⁹ Then Israel sent messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, “Please, let us pass through your land to my place.” ²⁰ But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his troops, camped in Jahaz and fought against Israel. ²¹ But Adonai God of Israel gave Sihon and all his troops into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. ²² Thus they possessed all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan. ²³ So now Adonai God of Israel dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel. So should you possess their land? ²⁴ Don’t you possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? Likewise, whatever Adonai our God has dispossessed from before us, this we will possess. ²⁵ Besides, are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them? ²⁶ While Israel was living in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities on both sides of the Arnon for 300 years, why didn’t you try to recover them all that time? ²⁷ So I myself have not transgressed against you, yet you are doing me harm by waging war against me. May Adonai, the Judge, judge today between Bnei-Yisrael and the children of Ammon.’”

²⁸ However, the king of the children of Ammon paid no attention to the words of Jephthah that he sent him. ²⁹ Then the Ruach Adonai came upon Jephthah, so he marched through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he crossed over to the children of Ammon. ³⁰ Then Jephthah vowed a vow to Adonai and said, “If You will indeed give the children of Ammon into my hand, ³¹ then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from the children of Ammon, it will be Adonai’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

³² So Jephthah crossed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them, and Adonai gave them into his hand. ³³ So he utterly defeated them from Aroer until you come to Minnith—20 towns—and as far as Abel-cheramim. So the children of Ammon were subdued before Bnei-Yisrael.

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¹⁰ Yeshua answered him, “You’re a teacher of Israel and you do not understand these things? ¹¹ Amen, amen I tell you, We speak about what We know and testify about what We have seen. Yet you all do not receive Our testimony! ¹² If you do not believe the earthly things I told you, how will you believe when I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has gone up into heaven except the One who came down from heaven—the Son of Man. ¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,^[a] so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life!

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸ The one who believes in Him is not condemned; but whoever does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not put his trust in the name of the one and only Ben-Elohim.

¹⁹ “Now this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world and men loved the darkness instead of the light,^[b] because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. ²¹ But whoever practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be made known that his deeds have been accomplished in God.”

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Lazarus Is Dead

11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Miriam and her sister Martha. ² This was the same Miriam who anointed the Master with perfume and wiped His feet with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick. ³ So the sisters sent a word to Yeshua, saying, “Master, the one you love is sick!”

⁴ When Yeshua heard this, He said, “This sickness will not end in death. It is for God’s glory, so that Ben-Elohim may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Now Yeshua loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ However, when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was for two more days.

⁷ Then after this, He said to His disciples, “Let’s go up to Judea again.”

⁸ “Rabbi,” the disciples say to Him, “just now the Judean leaders were trying to stone You! And You’re going back there again?”

⁹ Yeshua answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours in the day? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of the world. ¹⁰ But if a man should walk around at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

¹¹ After He said this, He tells them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m going there to wake him up.”

¹² So the disciples said to Him, “Master, if he has fallen asleep, he will get better.” ¹³ Now Yeshua had spoken about his death, but they thought He was talking about ordinary sleep.

¹⁴ Then Yeshua told them clearly, “Lazarus is dead! ¹⁵ I’m glad for your sake I wasn’t there, so that you may believe. Anyway, let’s go to him!”

¹⁶ Then Thomas called the Twin^[a] said to the other disciples, “Let’s go too, so that we may die with Him!”

Comforting the Mourners

¹⁷ So when Yeshua arrived, He discovered that Lazarus had been in the tomb already for four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was less than two miles^[b] from Jerusalem, ¹⁹ and many of the Judeans had come to Martha and Miriam to console them about their brother.

²⁰ When Martha heard that Yeshua was coming, she went out to meet Him; but Miriam sat in the house. ²¹ Martha said to Yeshua, “Master, if You had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died! ²² But I know, even now, that whatever You may ask of God, He will give You.”

²³ Yeshua said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴ Martha said to Him, “I know, he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

²⁵ Yeshua said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life! Whoever believes in Me, even if he dies, shall live. ²⁶ And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷ She says to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, Ben-Elohim who has come into the world.” ²⁸ After she said this, she left and secretly told her sister Miriam, “The Teacher is here, and He’s calling for you.” ²⁹ As soon as Miriam heard, she quickly got up and was coming to Him. ³⁰ Now Yeshua had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met Him. ³¹ The Judeans, who were with Miriam in the house and comforting her, seeing how quickly she got up and went out, followed her. They thought she was going to the tomb to weep there.

³² So when Miriam came to where Yeshua was, she saw Him and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Master, if You had been here, my brother would not have died!”

³³ When Yeshua saw her weeping, and the Judeans who came with her weeping, He was deeply troubled in spirit and Himself agitated. ³⁴ “Where have you laid him?” He asked.

“Come and see, Master,” they tell Him.

³⁵ Yeshua wept. ³⁶ So the Judeans said, “See how He loved him!”

³⁷ But some of them said, “Couldn’t this One, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have also kept this man from dying?”

Yeshua’s Word Raises the Dead

³⁸ So Yeshua, again deeply troubled within Himself, comes to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹ Yeshua says, “Roll away the stone!”

Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to Him, “Master, by this time he stinks! He’s been dead for four days!”

⁴⁰ Yeshua says to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

⁴¹ So they rolled away the stone. Yeshua lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard Me. ⁴² I knew that You always hear Me; but because of this crowd standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”

⁴³ And when He had said this, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ He who had been dead came out, wrapped in burial clothes binding his hands and feet, with a cloth over his face. And Yeshua tells them, “Cut him loose, and let him go!”

Better that One Man Die

⁴⁵ Therefore many of the Judeans, who had come to Miriam and had seen what Yeshua had done, put their trust in Him. ⁴⁶ But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Yeshua had done.

⁴⁷ So the ruling kohanim and Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we doing?” they asked. “This Man is performing many signs! ⁴⁸ If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our holy place and our nation.”

⁴⁹ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was kohen gadol that year, said to them, “You know nothing! ⁵⁰ You don’t take into account that it is better for you that one man die for the people rather than for the whole nation to be destroyed.”

⁵¹ Now he did not say this by himself; but as the kohen gadol that year, he prophesied that Yeshua would die for the nation. ^{[c] 52} And not for the nation only, but also so that He might gather together into one the scattered children of God.^[d]

⁵³ So from that day on, they plotted to kill Him. ⁵⁴ Therefore Yeshua no longer walked openly among the Judeans, but went from there to the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim. He stayed there with His disciples.

⁵⁵ Now the Jewish Passover was near; and many people went up out of the regions to Jerusalem before Passover, to purify themselves. ⁵⁶ So they were searching for Yeshua, saying to one another as they stood in the Temple, “What do you think? Won’t He come to the feast at all?” ⁵⁷ Now the ruling kohanim and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it so that they might arrest Him.

Miriam Anoints the Messiah

12 Six days before Passover, Yeshua came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Yeshua had raised from the dead. ² So they prepared a dinner there for Yeshua. Martha was serving, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. ³ Then Miriam took a pound^[e] of very expensive oil of pure nard and anointed Yeshua’s feet, and she wiped His feet dry with her hair. Now the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

⁴ But Judah from Kriot, one of His disciples, the one who was about to betray Him, said, ⁵ “Why wasn’t this oil sold for three hundred denarii^[f] and the money given to the poor?” ⁶ Now he said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. Since he had the moneybox, he used to steal from what was put in it.

⁷ Therefore Yeshua said, “Leave her alone! She set it aside for the day of My burial. ⁸ You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me.”

⁹ Now a large crowd of Judeans knew He was there and came, not only for Yeshua but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. ¹⁰ So the ruling kohanim made plans to kill Lazarus also, ¹¹ because on account of him many of the Jewish people were going and putting their trust in Yeshua.

Israel’s King Has Come

¹² The next day, the huge crowd that had come up for the feast heard that Yeshua was coming to Jerusalem. ¹³ So they took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting,

¹⁴ Finding a young donkey, Yeshua sat on it, as it is written,

¹⁶ His disciples did not understand these things at first. But when Yeshua was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that the crowd had done these things for Him.

¹⁷ So the crowd, which had been with Yeshua when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, kept on telling everyone about it. ¹⁸ It was also for this reason that the crowd came out to meet Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to each other, “You see that you can’t do anything. Look, the whole world has taken off after Him!”

Fallen Seed Produces a Harvest

²⁰ Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast. ²¹ These came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in the Galilee. “Sir,” they said, “we want to see Yeshua.” ²² Philip comes and tells Andrew; Andrew and Philip come and tell Yeshua.

²³ Yeshua answers them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified! ²⁴ Amen, amen I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much fruit. ²⁵ He who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it forever. ²⁶ If any man serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there also will My servant be. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

²⁷ “Now My soul is troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But it was for this reason I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify Your name!”

Then a voice came out of heaven, “I have glorified it, and again I will glorify it!”

²⁹ Therefore the crowd that was standing there and heard it was saying that it had thundered. Others were saying, “An angel has spoken to Him.”

³⁰ Yeshua responded, “This voice hasn’t come for My sake, but for yours. ³¹ Now is the judgment of this world! Now the prince of this world will be driven out! ³² And as I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to Myself.” ³³ He said this to show the kind of death He was about to die.

³⁴ The crowd answered Him, “We’ve heard from Scripture^[i] that the Messiah remains forever. How can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”

Choose Either the Light or the Darkness

³⁵ Therefore Yeshua said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness will not overtake you. The one who walks in darkness doesn’t know where he is going. ³⁶ While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may become sons of light.” Yeshua spoke these things, then left and hid Himself from them.

³⁷ But even though He had performed so many signs before them, they weren’t trusting in Him. ³⁸ This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet, who said,

³⁹ For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah also said,

⁴¹ Isaiah said these things because he saw His glory and spoke of Him.

⁴² Nevertheless many, even among the leaders, put their trust in Him. But because of the Pharisees, they were not confessing Yeshua,^[l] so they would not be thrown out of the synagogue; ^{[m] 43} for they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God.

⁴⁴ Yeshua cried out, “Whoever puts trust in Me believes not in Me but in the One who sent Me! ⁴⁵ And whoever beholds Me beholds the One who sent Me. ⁴⁶ As light I have come into the world, so that everyone who trusts in Me should not remain in darkness.

⁴⁷ “If anyone hears My words but doesn’t keep them, I do not judge him; for I came to save the world, not to judge the world. ⁴⁸ The one who rejects Me and doesn’t receive My words has a judge; the word I spoke will judge him on the last day. ⁴⁹ For I did not speak on My own, but the Father Himself who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and speak. ⁵⁰ And I know that His commandment is life everlasting. Therefore what I say, I say just as the Father has told Me.”