“I am Ěl Shaddai

walk before Me and be perfect“Therefore, be perfect, as your Father in the heavens is perfect. Blessed are the perfect in the way, Who walk in the Torah of יהוה!  whoever guards His Word, truly the love of Elohim has been perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. And the one guarding His commands stays in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He stays in us, by the Spirit which He gave us Therefore, having left the word of the beginning of the Messiah, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of belief toward Elohim, answered him, “If anyone loves Me, he shall guard My Word. And My Father shall love him, and We shall come to him and make Our stay with him.  “He who does not love Me does not guard My Words. And the Word which you hear is not Mine but of the Father Who sent Me. “And we are His witnesses to these matters, and so also is the Set-apart Spirit whom Elohim has given to those who obey Him. Because the mind of the flesh is enmity towards Elohim, for it does not subject itself to the Torah of Elohim, neither indeed is it able, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who stays in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit. Because without Me you are able to do naught! You are of Elohim, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Everyone having been born of Elohim does not sin, because His seed stays in him, and he is powerless to sin, because he has been born of Elohim. We know that everyone having been born of Elohim does not sin, but the one having been born of Elohim guards himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. Everyone staying in Him does not sin. Everyone sinning has neither seen Him nor known Him The one who says, “I know Him,” and does not guard His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. Beloved ones, do not imitate the evil, but the good. The one who is doing good is of Elohim, but he who is doing evil has not seen Elohim. who have borne witness of your love before the assembly. If you send them forward worthily of Elohim, you shall do well, because they went out for the sake of the Name, receiving naught from the gentiles.  Therefore we ought to receive such, so that we become fellow workers for the truth.  I wrote to the assembly, but Diotrephes, who loves to be the first among them, does not receive us. So if I come, I shall call to mind his works which he does, babbling against us with wicked words. And not satisfied with that, he himself does not receive the brothers, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the assembly. Little children, let no one lead you astray. The one doing righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. The one who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in the darkness until now.  The one doing sin is of the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of Elohim was manifested: to destroy the works of the devil who gave Himself for us, to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for Himself a people, His own possession, ardent for good works. Everyone doing sin also does lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. Repent therefore and turn back, for the blotting out of your sins, in order that times of refreshing might come from the presence of the Master, To you first, Elohim, having raised up His Servant יהושע, sent Him to bless you, in turning away each one of you from your wicked ways, “Repent, and let each one of you be immersed in the Name of יהושע Messiah for the forgiveness of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Set-apart Spirit. “And she shall give birth to a Son, and you shall call His Name יהושע for He shall save His people from their sins. to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and the authority of Satan to Elohim, in order for them to receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are set-apart by belief in Me.’

“I, יהוה,

have called You in righteousness, and I take hold of Your hand and guard You, and give You for a covenant to a people, for a light to the gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house.

 “For look, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness the peoples. But יהוה arises over you, and His esteem is seen upon you. “And the gentiles shall come to your light, and sovereigns to the brightness of your rising. No longer is the sun your light by day, nor does the moon give light to you for brightness, but יהוה shall be to you an everlasting light, and your Elohim your comeliness.  “No longer does your sun go down, nor your moon withdraw itself, for יהוה shall be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended. And the city had no need of the sun, nor of the moon, to shine in it,

for the esteem of Elohim lightened it, and the Lamb is its lamp.

 And the gentiles, of those who are saved, shall walk in its light, and the sovereigns of the earth bring their esteem into it.  What, then, shall we say? Shall we continue in sin, to let favour increase? Let it not be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? For if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. For you have died, and your life has been hidden with Messiah in Elohim. who Himself bore our sins in His body on the timber, so that we, having died to sins, might live unto righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed. Therefore, since Messiah suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so that he no longer lives the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but according to the desire of Elohim.  Or do you not know that as many of us as were immersed into Messiah יהושע were immersed into His death?  We were therefore buried with Him through immersion into death, that as Messiah was raised from the dead by the esteem of the Father, so also we should walk in newness of life.  For if we have come to be grown together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also of the resurrection,  knowing this, that our old man was impaled with Him, so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, to serve sin no longer. For he who has died has been made right from sin.  And if we died with Messiah, we believe that we shall also live with Him,  knowing that Messiah, having been raised from the dead, dies no more – death no longer rules over Him. For in that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in that He lives, He lives to Elohim.  So you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to Elohim in Messiah יהושע our Master.  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, to obey it in its desires,  neither present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to Elohim as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to Elohim.  For sin shall not rule over you, for you are not under the law but under favour.  What then? Shall we sin because we are not under Torah but under favour? Let it not be!  Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves servants for obedience, you are servants of the one whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? But thanks to Elohim that you were servants of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of teaching to which you were entrusted. And having been set free from sin, you became servants of righteousness.  I speak as a man, because of the weakness of your flesh. For even as you did present your members as servants of uncleanness, and of lawlessness resulting in lawlessness, so now present your members as servants of righteousness resulting in set-apartness.  For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness.  What fruit, therefore, were you having then, over which you are now ashamed? For the end thereof is death.  But now, having been set free from sin, and having become servants of Elohim, you have your fruit resulting in set-apartness, and the end, everlasting life. And you were dead in trespasses and sins, That is why He says,

“Wake up, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Messiah shall shine on you.”

But יהושע said to him, “Follow Me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.” For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, But she who is living in luxury is dead while she lives. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. The one not loving his brother stays in death. “And to the messenger of the assembly in Sardis write, ‘He who has the seven Spirits of Elohim and the seven stars, says this, “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.  in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience,

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these the wrath of Elohim comes upon the sons of disobedience. so that we should no longer be children, tossed and borne about by every wind of teaching, by the trickery of men, in cleverness, unto the craftiness of leading astray, overthrowing reasonings and every high matter that exalts itself against the knowledge of Elohim, taking captive every thought to make it obedient to the Messiah, But I am afraid, lest, as the serpent deceived Ḥawwah by his trickery, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Messiah.  For, indeed, if he who is coming proclaims another יהושע, whom we have not proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different Good News which you have not accepted, you put up with it well enough! “For many shall come in My Name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and they shall lead many astray. “If anyone then says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe. “For false messiahs and false prophets shall arise, and they shall show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones. “I have come in My Father’s Name and you do not receive Me, if another comes in his own name, him you would receive For I reckon that I am not inferior to the most eminent emissaries.  But even if I am unskilled in word, yet not in knowledge. Indeed, in every way we have been manifested among you in all matters. and reckon the patience of our Master as deliverance, as also our beloved brother Sha’ul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him, as also in all his letters, speaking in them concerning these matters, in which some are hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the other Scriptures. For as the woman was from the man, even so the man also is through the woman. But all are from Elohim.  You, then, beloved ones, being forewarned, watch, lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the delusion of the lawless, Or did I commit sin in humbling myself in order to exalt you, because I brought good news, the Good News of Elohim to you without being paid?  Other assemblies I robbed, by receiving wages from them to serve you.  And when I was present with you, and in need, I was not a burden to anyone, for what was lacking to me the brothers who came from Makedonia supplied. And in every way I kept myself – and shall keep – from being a burden to you. It is a truth of Messiah in me, that this boasting in me shall not be stopped in the districts of Achaia. Why? Is it that I do not love you? Elohim knows!  And I shall go on doing as I do, in order to cut off the occasion from those desiring an occasion, so that in that which they boast, they might be found also as we are.  For such are false emissaries, deceptive workers, masquerading as emissaries of Messiah.  And no wonder! For Satan himself masquerades as a messenger of light! I marvel that you are so readily turning away from Him who called you in the favour of Messiah, to a different ‘Good News, which is not another, only there are some who are troubling you and wishing to pervert the Good News of Messiah. However, even if we, or a messenger out of heaven, bring a ‘Good News’ to you beside what we announced to you, let him be accursed.  As we have said before, and now I say again, if anyone brings a ‘Good News’ to you beside what you have received, let him be accursed.  But know this, that in the last days hard times shall come.  For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, thankless, wrong-doers, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, haters of good,  betrayers, reckless, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of Elohim,  having a form of reverence but denying its power. And turn away from these! But evil men and impostors shall go on to the worse, leading astray and being led astray For the earth has been defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the Torot, changed the law, broken the everlasting covenant. But the message of יהוה you no longer remember! For every man’s message is his own word, for you have changed the Words of the living Elohim, יהוה of hosts, our Elohim! I shall snatch away all from the face of the earth,” declares יהוה – “I snatch away man and beast, I snatch away the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks, with the wrong, when I shall cut off man from the face of the earth,” declares יהוה. “And I shall stretch out My hand against Yehuḏah, and against all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, and cut off every trace of

Baʽal

Ba'al (baʕal;Arabic,بعل; Hebrew: בעל) (ordinarily spelled Baal in English) is a Northwest Semitic title and honorific meaning "master" or "lord" that is used for various gods who were patrons of cities in the Levant, cognate to Assyrian Bēlu.

A Baalist means a worshipper of Baal.

"Ba'al" can refer to any god and even to human officials; in some texts it is used as a substitute for Hadad, a god of the rain, thunder, fertility and agriculture, and the lord of Heaven. Since only priests were allowed to utter his divine name Hadad, Ba'al was used commonly. Nevertheless, few if any Biblical uses of "Ba'al" refer to Hadad, the lord over the assembly of gods on the holy mount of Heaven, but rather refer to any number of local spirit-deities worshipped as cult images, each called ba'al and regarded in that context as a false god.

 from this place, the names of the idolatrous priests, with the priests, and those bowing down to the host of the heavens on the house-tops, and those bowing themselves, swearing by יהוה and swearing by Malkam; and those who turn away from following יהוה, and who have not sought יהוה or inquired of Him.” Hush! in the presence of the Master יהוה. For the day of יהוה is near, for יהוה has prepared a slaughter, He has set apart His invited ones.  “And it shall be, in the day of the slaughter of יהוה, that I shall punish the rulers and the sons of the sovereign, and all such as are clad in foreign garments.  “And I shall punish on that day all who leap over the threshold, who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.  “And on that day there shall be,” declares יהוה, “the sound of a cry from the Fish Gate, and of a howling from the Second Quarter, and of a great crashing from the hills.

“Howl, you inhabitants of Maḵtĕsh,

Maktesh

Meaning: mortar

a place in or near Jerusalem inhabited by silver merchants (Zeph. 1:11)

“Howl, you inhabitants of Maḵtĕsh, for all the merchant people shall be silenced, all those weighing out silver shall be cut off.

YHWH's day is at hand; the punishment of presumptuous sinners is a sacrifice to the justice of YHWH. The trading people and the rich merchants are called to account. Secure and careless people are reckoned with. They are secure and easy; they say in their heart, the Messiah will not do good, neither will he do evil; that is, they deny his dispensing rewards and punishments. But in the day of the Messiah's judgment, it will clearly appear that those who perish, fall a sacrifice to Divine justice for breaking  YHWH's  law, and because they have no interest by faith in the Redeemer's atoning sacrifice.

It has been conjectured that it was the "Phoenician quarter" of the city, where the traders of that nation resided, after the Oriental custom.

 for all the merchant people shall be silenced, all those weighing out silver shall be cut off.  “And at that time it shall be, that I search Yerushalayim with lamps and punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, ‘יהוה does no good, nor does He evil.’  “And their wealth shall become plunder, and their houses laid waste. And they shall build houses but not inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards but not drink their wine.” Near is the great day of יהוה, near and hurrying greatly, the noise of the day of יהוה. Let the mighty man then bitterly cry out!That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and trouble, a day of waste and ruin, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,  a day of ram’s horn and alarm – against the walled cities and against the corner towers. “And I shall bring distress on men, and they shall walk like blind men – because they have sinned against יהוה, and their blood shall be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung.” Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of יהוה. And by the fire of His jealousy all the earth shall be consumed, for He makes a sudden end of all those who dwell in the earth. Therefore a curse shall consume the earth, and those who dwell in it be punished. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth shall be burned, and few men shall be left. “And because of the increase in lawlessness, the love of many shall become cold. slanderers, haters of Elohim, insolent, proud, boasters, devisers of evils, disobedient to parents, without discernment, covenant breakers, unloving, unforgiving, ruthless;

Let no one deceive you in any way,

 because the falling away is to come first, and the man of lawlessness is to be revealed, the son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called Elohim or that is worshipped, so that he sits as Elohim in the Dwelling Place of Elohim, showing himself that he is Elohim. Do you not remember that I told you this while I was still with you? And now you know what restrains, for him to be revealed in his time. For the secret of lawlessness is already at work – only until he who now restrains comes out of the midst. And then the lawless one shall be revealed, whom the Master shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth and bring to naught with the manifestation of His coming.  The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power and signs and wonders of falsehood,  and with all deceit of unrighteousness in those perishing, because they did not receive the love of the truth, in order for them to be saved. And for this reason Elohim sends them a working of delusion, for them to believe the falsehood, “And I also gave them up to laws that were not good, and right-rulings by which they would not live “So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, To walk in their own counsels. and His breath shall be as an overflowing stream, which reaches up to the neck, to sift the nations with a sieve of falsehood, and a misleading bridle on the jaws of the peoples. For look, I am commanding, and I shall sift the house of Yisra’ĕl among all the gentiles, as one sifts with a sieve, yet not a grain falls to the ground. “So Elohim turned and gave them up to worship the host of the heaven, as it has been written in the book of the Prophets, ‘Did you bring slaughtered beasts and offerings unto Me during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Yisra’ĕl? Therefore Elohim gave them up to uncleanness in the lust of their hearts, to disrespect their bodies among themselves,  who changed the truth of Elohim into the falsehood, and worshipped and served what was created rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amĕn. Because of this Elohim gave them over to degrading passions. For even their women exchanged natural relations for what is against nature, and likewise, the men also, having left natural relations with woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing indecency, and receiving back the reward which was due for their straying.  And even as they did not think it worth- while to possess the knowledge of Elohim, Elohim gave them over to a worthless mind, to do what is improper, And יהושע said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those not seeing might see, and those seeing might become blind.” He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they should not see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and turn, and I should heal them. For I gave you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. For among them are those who creep into households and captivate silly women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And as Yoḥane and Mamrĕ opposed Mosheh, so do these also oppose the truth – men of corrupt minds, found worthless concerning the belief;  among whom also we all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, as also the rest.  But Elohim, who is rich in compassion, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Messiah – by favour you have been saved –  and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Messiah יהושע,  in order to show in the coming ages the exceeding riches of His favour in kindness toward us in Messiah יהושע.  For by favour you have been saved, through belief, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of Elohim, it is not by works, so that no one should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah יהושע unto good works, which Elohim prepared beforehand that we should walk in them Everyone having been born of Elohim does not sin, because His seed stays in him, and he is powerless to sin, because he has been born of Elohim.  and those who are in the flesh are unable to please Elohim.  But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of Elohim dwells in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Messiah, this one is not His. And if Messiah is in you, the body is truly dead on account of sin, but the Spirit is life on account of righteousness.  And if the Spirit of Him who raised יהושע from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Messiah from the dead shall also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit dwelling in you.  “And I give My covenant between Me and you, and shall greatly increase you.” “As for Me, look, My covenant is with you, and you shall become a father of many nations.  “And no longer is your name called Aḇram, but your name shall be Aḇraham, because I shall make you a father of many nations. “And I shall make you bear fruit exceedingly, and make nations of you, and sovereigns shall come from you. “And I shall establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be Elohim to you and your seed after you.  “And I shall give to you and your seed after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Kenaʽan, as an everlasting possession. And I shall be their Elohim.”  And Elohim said to Aḇ