50 Ki Tavo כִּי־תָבוֹא

Parasha Excerpt

Deuteronomy 26:1–11 (CJB)

¹ “When you have come to the land Adonai your God is giving you as your inheritance, taken possession of it and settled there; ² you are to take the firstfruits of all the crops the ground yields, which you will harvest from your land that Adonai your God is giving you, put them in a basket and go to the place where Adonai your God will choose to have his name live. ³ You will approach the cohen holding office at the time and say to him, ‘Today I declare to Adonai your God that I have come to the land Adonai swore to our ancestors that he would give us.’ ⁴ The cohen will take the basket from your hand and put it down in front of the altar of Adonai your God.

⁵ “Then, in the presence of Adonai your God, you are to say, ‘My ancestor was a nomad from Aram. He went down into Egypt few in number and stayed. There he became a great, strong, populous nation. ⁶ But the Egyptians treated us badly; they oppressed us and imposed harsh slavery on us. ⁷ So we cried out to Adonai, the God of our ancestors. Adonai heard us and saw our misery, toil and oppression; ⁸ and Adonai brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and a stretched-out arm, with great terror, and with signs and wonders. ⁹ Now he has brought us to this place and given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ Therefore, as you see, I have now brought the firstfruits of the land which you, Adonai, have given me.’ You are then to put the basket down before Adonai your God, prostrate yourself before Adonai your God, ¹¹ and take joy in all the good that Adonai your God has given you, your household, the Levi and the foreigner living with you.

(ii) 

Stern, David H. Complete Jewish Bible: An English Version of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and B’rit Hadashah (New Testament). 1st ed. Clarksville, MD: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1998.

Scripture

Matthew 13:1–23 (CJB)

¹ That same day, Yeshua went out of the house and sat down by the lake; ² but such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there while the crowd stood on the shore. ³ He told them many things in parables:

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he sowed, some seed fell alongside the path; and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky patches where there was not much soil. It sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow; ⁶ but when the sun had risen, the young plants were scorched; and since their roots were not deep, they dried up. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ But others fell into rich soil and produced grain, a hundred or sixty or thirty times as much as had been sown. ⁹ Those who have ears, let them hear!”

¹⁰ Then the talmidim came and asked Yeshua, “Why are you speaking to them in parables?” ¹¹ He answered, “Because it has been given to you to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it has not been given to them. ¹² For anyone who has something will be given more, so that he will have plenty; but from anyone who has nothing, even what he does have will be taken away. ¹³ Here is why I speak to them in parables: they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding. ¹⁴ That is, in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Yesha‘yahu which says,

‘You will keep on hearing but never understand,

and keep on seeing but never perceive,

¹⁵  because the heart of this people has become dull—

with their ears they barely hear,

and their eyes they have closed,

so as not to see with their eyes,

hear with their ears,

understand with their heart,

and do t’shuvah,

so that I could heal them.’^g

¹⁶ But you, how blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear! ¹⁷ Yes indeed! I tell you that many a prophet and many a tzaddik longed to see the things you are seeing but did not see them, and to hear the things you are hearing but did not hear them.

¹⁸ “So listen to what the parable of the sower means. ¹⁹ Whoever hears the message about the Kingdom, but doesn’t understand it, is like the seed sown along the path—the Evil One comes and seizes what was sown in his heart. ²⁰ The seed sown on rocky ground is like a person who hears the message and accepts it with joy at once, ²¹ but has no root in himself. So he stays on for a while; but as soon as some trouble or persecution arises on account of the message, he immediately falls away. ²² Now the seed sown among thorns stands for someone who hears the message, but it is choked by the worries of the world and the deceitful glamor of wealth, so that it produces nothing. ²³ However, what was sown on rich soil is the one who hears the message and understands it; such a person will surely bear fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

^g  Isaiah 6:9–10

Stern, David H. Complete Jewish Bible: An English Version of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and B’rit Hadashah (New Testament). 1st ed. Clarksville, MD: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1998.