The Weekly D'rash and the Scriptures that we will be reading this Shabbat for Vayera from Rabbi Howard Silverman:
TORAH ~ Genesis 18:1-22:24
HAFTARAH ~ 2 Kings 4:1-37 BRIT CHADASHA ~ Matthew 1:18-25
This week's Torah portion continues the unfolding of the promise of God to Abraham through the birth of Isaac. Usually when we think about Abraham, we think about the calling to be the father of the people of promise. After all, one of the main promises to Abraham was to have an heir who would inherit the land and push the promise of blessing to the nations forward. But according to the text from this week's portion, Abraham's calling was not only to father children, but also to inculcate a way of life into his children and future posterity. In Genesis 18:16–19 we read: "Then the men rose up from there and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off. The LORD said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him'".
The first thing to notice is that there is a reiteration of the calling that in Abraham all of the nations will be blessed. Notice that the text goes on to say that the way in which Abraham will fulfill this calling is to command his children to walk in the way of the Lord. The calling of Abraham, and therefore the calling on Israel, cannot be reduced to simply producing the Messiah. The calling of Abraham and Israel is to be a people that demonstrate the character of God and draw the nations into a relationship with the God of Israel. When the nation is at Mt. Sinai, God applies the calling of Abraham to the nation, calling them to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Their responsibility is to obey the voice of God and keep the covenant. In other words, the nation is to walk in the way of the Lord and to be faithful to the promise of God. The nation is called to be like Abraham.
When the Messiah came, He inaugurated the New Covenant so that Israel could be restored to her calling. In addition, He came so that anyone who calls upon His name can participate in the covenant blessings. Therefore, like Abraham, we are called to walk in the way of the Lord and to teach our children and grandchildren this calling and way of life. This is what it means to be the Messianic people. In Abraham's life, we see that when he learned of the imminent demise of Sodom he interceded on behalf of the righteous. According to Nahum Sarna:
Abraham is granted this singular privilege because he symbolizes the future Jewish nation, which is destined to become a source of blessing to other nations. As such, he cannot avoid direct involvement in the fortunes of humanity at large. At the same time, he is the repository of those eternal values of righteousness and justice that constitute "the way of the Lord". God relies upon him to transmit this heritage to his posterity, which is the indispensable precondition for the fulfillment of the divine promises. The lessons of Sodom and Gomorrah, the judgment of God, and the actions of Abraham exemplify the principles of justice and righteousness, divine and human. 1
In Yeshua, we live Israel's future today because of the pouring out of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit). Let us engage in the task of inculcating into our children and grandchildren the way of the Lord through our words and deeds; and may we be a blessing to the nations as we share the Good News of Yeshua and intercede before God for righteousness and justice.
- Howard
1 Sarna, Nahum M. Genesis. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1989. Print. The JPS Torah Commentary.
TORAH READING: GENESIS 18:1 – 22:24
18:1 Now the L-RD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.
2 When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth,
3 and said, "My L-rd, if now I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by.
4 "Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree;
5 and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant." And they said, "So do, as you have said."
6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Quickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it and make bread cakes."
7 Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it.
8 He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate.
9 Then they said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" And he said, "There, in the tent."
10 He said, "I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.
11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing.
12 Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my L-rd being old also?"
13 And the L-RD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?'
14 "Is anything too difficult for the L-RD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son."
15 Sarah denied it however, saying, "I did not laugh"; for she was afraid. And He said, "No, but you did laugh."
16 Then the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off.
17 The L-RD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,
18 since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed?
19 "For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the L-RD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the L-RD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him."
20 And the L-RD said, "The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.
21 "I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know."
22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the L-RD.
23 Abraham came near and said, "Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
24 "Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?
25 "Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?"
26 So the L-RD said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account."
27 And Abraham replied, "Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the L-rd, although I am but dust and ashes.
28 "Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?" And He said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there."
29 He spoke to Him yet again and said, "Suppose forty are found there?" And He said, "I will not do it on account of the forty."
30 Then he said, "Oh may the L-rd not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?" And He said, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."
31 And he said, "Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the L-rd; suppose twenty are found there?" And He said, "I will not destroy it on account of the twenty."
32 Then he said, "Oh may the L-rd not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?" And He said, "I will not destroy it on account of the ten."
33 As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham the L-RD departed, and Abraham returned to his place.
19:1 Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.
2 And he said, "Now behold, my L-rds, please turn aside into your servant's house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way." They said however, "No, but we shall spend the night in the square."
3 Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
4 Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter;
5 and they called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them."
6 But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him,
7 and said, "Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.
8 "Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof."
9 But they said, "Stand aside." Furthermore, they said, "This one came in as an alien, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them." So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door.
10 But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.
11 They struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.
12 Then the two men said to Lot, "Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place;
13 for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the L-RD that the L-RD has sent us to destroy it."
14 Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, "Up, get out of this place, for the L-RD will destroy the city." But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
15 When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city."
16 But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the L-RD was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city.
17 When they had brought them outside, one said, "Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away."
18 But Lot said to them, "Oh no, my L-rds!
19 "Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die;
20 now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) that my life may be saved."
21 He said to him, "Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken.
22 "Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there." Therefore the name of the town was called Zoar.
23 The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
24 Then the L-RD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the L-RD out of heaven,
25 and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
26 But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the L-RD;
28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace.
29 Thus it came about, when G-d destroyed the cities of the valley, that G-d remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.
30 Lot went up from Zoar, and stayed in the mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters.
31 Then the firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of the earth.
32 "Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve our family through our father."
33 So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
34 On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve our family through our father."
35 So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
36 Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father.
37 The firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day.
38 As for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day.
20:1Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev, and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in Gerar.
2 Abraham said of Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
3 But G-d came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, "Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married."
4 Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, "L-rd, will You slay a nation, even though blameless?
5 "Did he not himself say to me, 'She is my sister '? And she herself said, 'He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this."
6 Then G-d said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.
7 "Now therefore, restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours."
8 So Abimelech arose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were greatly frightened.
9 Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, "What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done."
10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, "What have you encountered, that you have done this thing?"
11 Abraham said, "Because I thought, surely there is no fear of G-d in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.
12 "Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife;
13 and it came about, when G-d caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, 'This is the kindness which you will show to me: everywhere we go, say of me, "He is my brother."'"
14 Abimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored his wife Sarah to him.
15 Abimelech said, "Behold, my land is before you; settle wherever you please."
16 To Sarah he said, "Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is your vindication before all who are with you, and before all men you are cleared."
17 Abraham prayed to G-d, and G-d healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, so that they bore children.
18 For the L-RD had closed fast all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.
21:1 Then the L-RD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the L-RD did for Sarah as He had promised.
2 So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which G-d had spoken to him.
3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.
4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as G-d had commanded him.
5 Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, "G-d has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me."
7 And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."
8 The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
9 Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.
10 Therefore she said to Abraham, "Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac."
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son.
12 But G-d said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.
13 "And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant."
14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was used up, she left the boy under one of the bushes.
16 Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, "Do not let me see the boy die." And she sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice and wept.
17 G-d heard the lad crying; and the angel of G-d called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for G-d has heard the voice of the lad where he is.
18 "Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him."
19 Then G-d opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the lad a drink.
20 G-d was with the lad, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer.
21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
22 Now it came about at that time that Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, "G-d is with you in all that you do;
23 now therefore, swear to me here by G-d that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall show to me and to the land in which you have sojourned."
24 Abraham said, "I swear it."
25 But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech had seized.
26 And Abimelech said, "I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it until today."
27 Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.
28 Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
29 Abimelech said to Abraham, "What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?"
30 He said, "You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a witness to me, that I dug this well."
31 Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because there the two of them took an oath.
32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines.
33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the L-RD, the Everlasting G-d.
34 And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines for many days.
22:1 Now it came about after these things, that G-d tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
2 He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which G-d had told him.
4 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.
5 Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you."
6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.
7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
8 Abraham said, "G-d will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together.
9 Then they came to the place of which G-d had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the angel of the L-RD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
12 He said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear G-d, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."
13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.
14 Abraham called the name of that place The L-RD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, "In the mount of the L-RD it will be provided."
15 Then the angel of the L-RD called to Abraham a second time from heaven,
16 and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the L-RD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.
18 "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.
20 Now it came about after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, "Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor:
21 Uz his firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram
22 and Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel."
23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah; these eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother.
24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.
HAFTARAH READING: 2 KINGS 4:1-37
4:1 Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the L-RD; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves."
2 Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" And she said, "Your maidservant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil."
3 Then he said, "Go, borrow vessels at large for yourself from all your neighbors, even empty vessels; do not get a few.
4 "And you shall go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour out into all these vessels, and you shall set aside what is full."
5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons; they were bringing the vessels to her and she poured.
6 When the vessels were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another vessel." And he said to her, "There is not one vessel more." And the oil stopped.
7 Then she came and told the man of G-d. And he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons can live on the rest."
8Now there came a day when Elisha passed over to Shunem, where there was a prominent woman, and she persuaded him to eat food. And so it was, as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat food.
9 She said to her husband, "Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of G-d passing by us continually.
10 "Please, let us make a little walled upper chamber and let us set a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; and it shall be, when he comes to us, that he can turn in there."
11 One day he came there and turned in to the upper chamber and rested.
12 Then he said to Gehazi his servant, "Call this Shunammite." And when he had called her, she stood before him.
13 He said to him, "Say now to her, 'Behold, you have been careful for us with all this care; what can I do for you? Would you be spoken for to the king or to the captain of the army?'" And she answered, "I live among my own people."
14 So he said, "What then is to be done for her?" And Gehazi answered, "Truly she has no son and her husband is old."
15 He said, "Call her." When he had called her, she stood in the doorway.
16 Then he said, "At this season next year you will embrace a son." And she said, "No, my L-rd, O man of G-d, do not lie to your maidservant."
17 The woman conceived and bore a son at that season the next year, as Elisha had said to her.
18 When the child was grown, the day came that he went out to his father to the reapers.
19 He said to his father, "My head, my head." And he said to his servant, "Carry him to his mother."
20 When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her lap until noon, and then died.
21 She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of G-d, and shut the door behind him and went out.
22 Then she called to her husband and said, "Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of G-d and return."
23 He said, "Why will you go to him today? It is neither new moon nor sabbath." And she said, "It will be well."
24 Then she saddled a donkey and said to her servant, "Drive and go forward; do not slow down the pace for me unless I tell you."
25 So she went and came to the man of G-d to Mount Carmel. When the man of G-d saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, "Behold, there is the Shunammite.
26 "Please run now to meet her and say to her, 'Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?'" And she answered, "It is well."
27 When she came to the man of G-d to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came near to push her away; but the man of G-d said, "Let her alone, for her soul is troubled within her; and the L-RD has hidden it from me and has not told me."
28 Then she said, "Did I ask for a son from my L-rd? Did I not say, 'Do not deceive me'?"
29 Then he said to Gehazi, "Gird up your loins and take my staff in your hand, and go your way; if you meet any man, do not salute him, and if anyone salutes you, do not answer him; and lay my staff on the lad's face."
30 The mother of the lad said, "As the L-RD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." And he arose and followed her.
31 Then Gehazi passed on before them and laid the staff on the lad's face, but there was no sound or response. So he returned to meet him and told him, "The lad has not awakened."
32 When Elisha came into the house, behold the lad was dead and laid on his bed.
33 So he entered and shut the door behind them both and prayed to the L-RD.
34 And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth and his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands, and he stretched himself on him; and the flesh of the child became warm.
35 Then he returned and walked in the house once back and forth, and went up and stretched himself on him; and the lad sneezed seven times and the lad opened his eyes.
36 He called Gehazi and said, "Call this Shunammite." So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, "Take up your son."
37 Then she went in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground, and she took up her son and went out.
B’RIT CHADASHAH READING: MATTHEW 1:18-25
1:18 Now the birth of Yeshua Messiah was as follows: when His mother Miriam had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.
19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.
20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the L-rd appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Miriam as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
21 "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Yeshua, for He will save His people from their sins."
22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the L-rd through the prophet:
23 "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "G-D WITH US."
24 And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the L-rd commanded him, and took Miriam as his wife,
25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Yeshua.