Parashat Vayeira

Torah: Genesis 18:1-22:24 , Haftorah: II Kings 4:1-37 (Sephardic II Kings 4:1-23)

Parashat Vayeira

> 18:1 And the LORD appeared unto him by the terebinths of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 18:2 and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood over against him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed down to the earth, 18:3 and said: 'My lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. 18:4 Let now a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and recline yourselves under the tree. 18:5 And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and stay ye your heart; after that ye shall pass on; forasmuch as ye are come to your servant.' And they said: 'So do, as thou hast said.' 18:6 And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said: 'Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.' 18:7 And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto the servant; and he hastened to dress it. 18:8 And he took curd, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. 18:9 And they said unto him: 'Where is Sarah thy wife?' And he said: 'Behold, in the tent.' 18:10 And He said: 'I will certainly return unto thee when the season cometh round; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.' And Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.-- 18:11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, and well stricken in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.-- 18:12 And Sarah laughed within herself, saying: 'After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?' 18:13 And the LORD said unto Abraham: 'Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying: Shall I of a surety bear a child, who am old? 18:14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD. At the set time I will return unto thee, when the season cometh round, and Sarah shall have a son.' 18:15 Then Sarah denied, saying: 'I laughed not'; for she was afraid. And He said: 'Nay; but thou didst laugh.'
> 18:16 And the men rose up from thence, and looked out toward Sodom; and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. 18:17 And the LORD said: 'Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am doing; 18:18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 18:19 For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him.' 18:20 And the LORD said: 'Verily, the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and, verily, their sin is exceeding grievous. 18:21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto Me; and if not, I will know.' 18:22 And the men turned from thence, and went toward Sodom; but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. 18:23 And Abraham drew near, and said: 'Wilt Thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 18:24 Peradventure there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt Thou indeed sweep away and not forgive the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? 18:25 That be far from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from Thee; shall not the judge of all the earth do justly?' 18:26 And the LORD said: 'If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will forgive all the place for their sake.' 18:27 And Abraham answered and said: 'Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes. 18:28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous; wilt Thou destroy all the city for lack of five?' And He said: 'I will not destroy it, if I find there forty and five.' 18:29 And he spoke unto Him yet again, and said: 'Peradventure there shall be forty found there.' And He said: 'I will not do it for the forty's sake.' 18:30 And he said: 'Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Peradventure there shall thirty be found there.' And He said: 'I will not do it, if I find thirty there.' 18:31 And he said: 'Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord. Peradventure there shall be twenty found there.' And He said: 'I will not destroy it for the twenty's sake.' 18:32 And he said: 'Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once. Peradventure ten shall be found there.' And He said: 'I will not destroy it for the ten's sake.' 18:33 And the LORD went His way, as soon as He had left off speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned unto his place.

> 19:1 And the two angels came to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom; and Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them; and he fell down on his face to the earth; 19:2 and he said: 'Behold now, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your way.' And they said: 'Nay; but we will abide in the broad place all night.' 19:3 And he urged them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. 19:4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. 19:5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him: 'Where are the men that came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.' 19:6 And Lot went out unto them to the door, and shut the door after him. 19:7 And he said: 'I pray you, my brethren, do not so wickedly. 19:8 Behold now, I have two daughters that have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes; only unto these men do nothing; forasmuch as they are come under the shadow of my roof.' 19:9 And they said: 'Stand back.' And they said: 'This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs play the judge; now will we deal worse with thee, than with them.' And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and drew near to break the door. 19:10 But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and the door they shut. 19:11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great; so that they wearied themselves to find the door. 19:12 And the men said unto Lot: 'Hast thou here any besides? son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whomsoever thou hast in the city; bring them out of the place; 19:13 for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxed great before the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.' 19:14 And Lot went out, and spoke unto his sons-in-law, who married his daughters, and said: 'Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy the city.' But he seemed unto his sons-in-law as one that jested. 19:15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying: 'Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters that are here; lest thou be swept away in the iniquity of the city.' 19:16 But he lingered; and the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him. And they brought him forth, and set him without the city. 19:17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said: 'Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the Plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be swept away.' 19:18 And Lot said unto them: 'Oh, not so, my lord; 19:19 behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shown unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest the evil overtake me, and I die. 19:20 Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one; oh, let me escape thither--is it not a little one? --and my soul shall live.' 19:21 And he said unto him: 'See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken. 19:22 Hasten thou, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither.' --Therefore the name of the city was called (f19) Zoar.-- (Footnote s: That is, Little, see verse 20) 19:23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot came unto Zoar. 19:24 Then the LORD caused to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 19:25 and He overthrow those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. 19:26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 19:27 And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD. 19:28 And he looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the Plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.
> 19:29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.
> 19:30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar; and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. 19:31 And the first-born said unto the younger: 'Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth. 19:32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.' 19:33 And they made their father drink wine that night. And the first-born went in, and lay with her father; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose. 19:34 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the first-born said unto the younger: 'Behold, I lay yesternight with my father. Let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.' 19:35 And they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose, and lay with him; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose. 19:36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. 19:37 And the first-born bore a son, and called his name Moab--the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. 19:38 And the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi--the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

> 20:1 And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the land of the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar. 20:2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife: 'She is my sister.' And Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. 20:3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him: 'Behold, thou shalt die, because of the woman whom thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife.' 20:4 Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said: 'Lord, wilt Thou slay even a righteous nation? 20:5 Said he not himself unto me: She is my sister? and she, even she herself said: He is my brother. In the simplicity of my heart and the innocency of my hands have I done this.' 20:6 And God said unto him in the dream: 'Yea, I know that in the simplicity of thy heart thou hast done this, and I also withheld thee from sinning against Me. Therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. 20:7 Now therefore restore the man's wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live; and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.' 20:8 And Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears; and the men were sore afraid. 20:9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him: 'What hast thou done unto us? and wherein have I sinned against thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.' 20:10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham: 'What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?' 20:11 And Abraham said: 'Because I thought: Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake. 20:12 And moreover she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and so she became my wife. 20:13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her: This is thy kindness which thou shalt show unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me: He is my brother.' 20:14 And Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and men-servants and women-servants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. 20:15 And Abimelech said: 'Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee.' 20:16 And unto Sarah he said: 'Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is for thee a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee; and before all men thou art righted.' 20:17 And Abraham prayed unto God; and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maid-servants; and they bore children. 20:18 For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.

> 21:1 And the LORD remembered Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as He had spoken. 21:2 And Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 21:3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. 21:4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 21:5 And Abraham was a hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. 21:6 And Sarah said: 'God hath made laughter for me; every one that heareth will laugh on account of me.' 21:7 And she said: 'Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should give children suck? for I have borne him a son in his old age.'
> 21:8 And the child grew, and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 21:9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne unto Abraham, making sport. 21:10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham: 'Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.' 21:11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight on account of his son. 21:12 And God said unto Abraham: 'Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah saith unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall seed be called to thee. 21:13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.' 21:14 And Abraham arose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away; and she departed, and strayed in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. 21:15 And the water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 21:16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bow-shot; for she said: 'Let me not look upon the death of the child.' And she sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. 21:17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her: 'What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. 21:18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him fast by thy hand; for I will make him a great nation.' 21:19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. 21:20 And God was with the lad, and he grew; and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. 21:21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
> 21:22 And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his host spoke unto Abraham, saying: 'God is with thee in all that thou doest. 21:23 Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son; but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned.' 21:24 And Abraham said: 'I will swear.' 21:25 And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of the well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. 21:26 And Abimelech said: 'I know not who hath done this thing; neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it, but to-day.' 21:27 And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and they two made a covenant. 21:28 And Abraham set seven ewe-lambs of the flock by themselves. 21:29 And Abimelech said unto Abraham: 'What mean these seven ewe-lambs which thou hast set by themselves?' 21:30 And he said: 'Verily, these seven ewe-lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that it may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well.' 21:31 Wherefore that place was called Beer-sheba; because there they swore both of them. 21:32 So they made a covenant at Beer-sheba; and Abimelech rose up, and Phicol the captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. 21:33 And Abraham planted a tamarisk-tree in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God. 21:34 And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.

> 22:1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and said unto him: 'Abraham'; and he said: 'Here am I.' 22:2 And He said: 'Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.' 22:3 And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he cleaved the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 22:4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 22:5 And Abraham said unto his young men: 'Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come back to you.' 22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife; and they went both of them together. 22:7 And Isaac spoke unto Abraham his father, and said: 'My father.' And he said: 'Here am I, my son.' And he said: 'Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?' 22:8 And Abraham said: 'God will (f20) provide Himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son.' So they went both of them together. (Footnote 20: Hebrew: jireh; That is, see for Himself) 22:9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 22:10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 22:11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said: 'Abraham, Abraham.' And he said: 'Here am I.' 22:12 And he said: 'Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him; for now I know that thou art a God-fearing man, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me.' 22:13 And Abraham lifted up 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 stead of his son. 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place (f21) Adonai-jireh; as it is said to this day: 'In the mount where the LORD is seen.' (Footnote 21: That is, The Lord seeth) 22:15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham a second time out of heaven, 22:16 and said: 'By Myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, 22:17 that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 22:18 and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast hearkened to My voice.' 22:19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.
> 22:20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying: 'Behold, Milcah, she also hath borne children unto thy brother Nahor: 22:21 Uz his first-born, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram; 22:22 and Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.' 22:23 And Bethuel begot Rebekah; these eight did Milcah bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother. 22:24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she also bore Tebah, and Gaham, and Tahash, and Maacah.