Rosh Hashanah

This translation was taken from the JPS Tanakh

Day 1

Genesis 21:1-34 & Numbers 29:1-6

Chapter 21
¹ The Lord took note of Sarah as He had promised, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. ²Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken. ³ Abraham gave his newborn son, whom Sarah had borne him, the name of Isaac. ⁴ And when his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. ⁵ Now Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” ⁷ And she added,
“Who would have said to Abraham
That Sarah would suckle children!
Yet I have borne a son in his old age.”

⁸ The child grew up and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

⁹ Sarah saw the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham playing. ¹⁰ She said to Abraham, “Cast out that slave-woman and her son, for the son of that slave shall not share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” ¹¹ The matter distressed Abraham greatly, for it concerned a son of his. ¹² But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed over the boy or your slave; whatever Sarah tells you, do as she says, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be continued for you. ¹³ As for the son of the slave-woman, I will make a nation of him, too, for he is your seed.”

¹⁴ Early next morning Abraham took some bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar. He placed them over her shoulder, together with the child, and sent her away. And she wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. ¹⁵ When the water was gone from the skin, she left the child under one of the bushes, ¹⁶ and went and sat down at a distance, a bowshot away; for she thought, “Let me not look on as the child dies.” And sitting thus afar, she burst into tears.

¹⁷ God heard the cry of the boy, and an angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heeded the cry of the boy where he is. ¹⁸ Come, lift up the boy and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water, and let the boy drink. ²⁰God was with the boy and he grew up; he dwelt in the wilderness and became a bowman. ²¹ He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

²² At that time Abimelech and Phicol, chief of his troops, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything that you do. ²³ Therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my kith and kin, but will deal with me and with the land in which you have sojourned as loyally as I have dealt with you.” ²⁴ And Abraham said, “I swear it.”

²⁵ Then Abraham reproached Abimelech for the well of water which the servants of Abimelech had seized. ²⁶ But Abimelech said, “I do not know who did this; you did not tell me, nor have I heard of it until today.” ²⁷ Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a pact. ²⁸ Abraham then set seven ewes of the flock by themselves, ²⁹ and Abimelech said to Abraham, “What mean these seven ewes which you have set apart?” ³⁰ He replied, “You are to accept these seven ewes from me as proof that I dug this well.” ³¹ Hence that place was called Beer-sheba, for there the two of them swore an oath. ³² When they had concluded the pact at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, chief of his troops, departed and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³[Abraham] planted a tamarisk at Beer-sheba, and invoked there the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. ³⁴ And Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines a long time.

Numbers 29
¹ In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations. You shall observe it as a day when the horn is sounded. ² You shall present a burnt offering of pleasing odor to the Lord: one bull of the herd, one ram, and seven yearling lambs, without blemish. 3 The meal offering with them — choice flour with oil mixed in — shall be: three-tenths of a measure for a bull, two-tenths for a ram, ⁴ and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs. ⁵ And there shall be one goat for a sin offering, to make expiation in your behalf — ⁶ in addition to the burnt offering of the new moon with its meal offering and the regular burnt offering with its meal offering, each with its libation as prescribed, offerings by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord.

Day 2

Genesis 22:1-24 & Numbers 29:1-6

Chapter 22
¹ Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test. He said to him, “Abraham,” and he answered, “Here I am.” ² And He said, “Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the heights that I will point out to you.” ³ So early next morning, Abraham saddled his ass and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and he set out for the place of which God had told him. ⁴ On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place from afar. ⁵ Then Abraham said to his servants, “You stay here with the ass. The boy and I will go up there; we will worship and we will return to you.”

⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. He himself took the firestone and the knife; and the two walked off together. ⁷ Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he answered, “Yes, my son.” And he said, “Here are the firestone and the wood; but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” ⁸ And Abraham said, “God will see to the sheep for His burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together.

⁹ They arrived at the place of which God had told him. Abraham built an altar there; he laid out the wood; he bound his son Isaac; he laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ And Abraham picked up the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ Then an angel of the Lord called to him from heaven: “Abraham! Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.” ¹² And he said, “Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your favored one, from Me.” ¹³ When Abraham looked up, his eye fell upon a ram, caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son. ¹⁴ And Abraham named that site Adonai-yireh, whence the present saying, “On the mount of the Lord there is vision.”

¹⁵ The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, ¹⁶ and said, “By Myself I swear, the Lord declares: Because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your favored one, ¹⁷ I will bestow My blessing upon you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands on the seashore; and your descendants shall seize the gates of their foes. ¹⁸All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed My command.” ¹⁹ Abraham then returned to his servants, and they departed together for Beer-sheba; and Abraham stayed in Beer-sheba.

²⁰ Some time later, Abraham was told, “Milcah too has borne children to your brother Nahor: ²¹ Uz the first-born, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram; ²² and Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel” — ²³ Bethuel being the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore children: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Numbers 29
¹ In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations. You shall observe it as a day when the horn is sounded. ² You shall present a burnt offering of pleasing odor to the Lord: one bull of the herd, one ram, and seven yearling lambs, without blemish. ³ The meal offering with them — choice flour with oil mixed in — shall be: three-tenths of a measure for a bull, two-tenths for a ram, ⁴ and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs. ⁵ And there shall be one goat for a sin offering, to make expiation in your behalf — ⁶ in addition to the burnt offering of the new moon with its meal offering and the regular burnt offering with its meal offering, each with its libation as prescribed, offerings by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord.

Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
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