Vaetchanan (And I Implored)
(Sefer Devarim) Deuteronomy 3:23 – 7:11

4:1- “And now, O Yisrael, hear the statutes and the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye
may live, and go in and possess the land which YHVH the Elohim of your fathers gives you.
2- Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that
ye may keep the commandments of YHVH your Elohim which I command you.
12- And YHVH spoke unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no
similitude; only ye heard a voice.
29- But if from thence thou shall seek YHVH thy Elohim, thou shall find Him, if thou seek Him with all
thy heart and with all thy soul.
30- When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou
turn to YHVH thy Elohim, and shall be obedient unto His voice.
33- Did ever a people hear the voice of Elohim speaking from the midst of the fire as you heard, and live?
36- Out of heaven He made thee to hear His voice, that He might instruct thee: and upon earth he
showed thee His great fire; and thou heard His words out of the midst of the fire.
37- And because He loved thy fathers, therefore He chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in
His sight with His mighty power out of Egypt.
5:1- And Moshe called all Yisrael, and said unto them, Hear, O Yisrael, the statutes and judgments which I
speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.
24- And ye said, Behold, YHVH Elohenu has showed us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His
voice from the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that Elohim does talk with man, and he lives.
25- Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the
YHVH our Elohim any more, then we shall die.
26- For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living Elohim speaking out of the midst
of the fire, as we have, and lived?
27- Go thou near, and hear all that YHVH our Elohim shall say: and speak thou unto us all that YHVH our
Elohim shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it.
6:3- Hear therefore, O Yisrael, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase
mightily, as YHVH the Elohim of thy fathers promised thee, in the land flowing with milk and honey.
4- Hear, O Yisrael: YHVH our Elohim, YHVH is one:
24- And YHVH commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear YHVH our Elohim, for our good always,
that He might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.”

“Behold, the days come, says Adonai YHVH, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of
bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of YHVH.”
(Amos 8:11)
“When all Yisrael is come to appear before YHVH thy Elohim in the place which He shall choose,
thou shall read this Torah before all Yisrael in their hearing.”
(Deuteronomy 31:11)
“O YHVH, there is none like thee, neither is there any Elohim beside thee, according to all that
we have heard with our ears.”
(1 Chronicles 17:20)
“Give ear, O My people, to My Torah: incline your ears to the words of My mouth. I will open My
mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old.”
(Psalms 78:1-2)
“And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye
turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.”
(Isaiah 30:21)
“And say thou unto them, Thus says Adonai YHVH of Yisrael; Cursed be the man that obeys not
the words of this covenant, Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them
forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey My voice, and do them,
according to all which I command you: so shall ye be My people, and I will be your Elohim.”
(Jeremiah 11:3-4)
“He that turns away his ear from hearing the Torah, even his prayer shall be abomination.”
(Proverbs 28:9)

Vaetchanan Summary:
1. Spoken Words to Be Heard:
Contrary to the thinking of modern man and his patronizingly agnostic heart, the Elohim of the
universe not only can be known but wants to be known. This notion that our Creator is so aloof and
that His instructions are ambiguous is but a farce. Engineered because of unwilling hearts, predisposed
to reject HaShem’s Eternal authority, an untoward generation has brought on its own deafness. Not
unlike our own efforts to bear our souls, the Holy One of Yisrael has spoken to be heard. In what is
considered the central prayer of Hebraic thought throughout the ages, the ‘Shema’ exhorts us plainly to
hear the Truth about YHVH. What may seem so elementary to those who profess faith in the Elohim
of Yisrael, to this day becomes the principal tenet for an encounter with Reality. It is paramount that we
accept the fact the HaShem is the Sovereign One, that it is He who rules throughout Eternity.
Sounding simple to our ears, we leave ourselves deficient if we fail to hear all that is true about Him.
And, while we have this information, we must not stop here. We must respond in obedience, living
lives that reflect hearing ears. In Zechariah 7:11-12, an example of stubbornness is given, namely:
“But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they
should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the
Torah, and the words which YHVH of hosts has sent in His spirit by the former prophets…”
Hear O Yisrael, HaShem is the one true Elohim and He changes not!
 

2. Out of the Fire, the Holy One Speaks:
Throughout Scripture, fire is frequently associated with judgment, yet for those who hear, it echoes as pure and holy a sound as do HaShem’s great mercies. Psalms 19:9 explains this paradox is this way:
“The fear of YHVH is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of YHVH are true, righteous altogether.”
While it is the fear of HaShem, that is the beginning of wisdom, it is His judgments, which become the voice of reason for a people who have deviated from so pure a foundation. As impossible it is for the creation to refashion the Creator, so too is it idolatrous to reject the words which the true Elohim speaks.
In parasha Vaetchanan, known as one of consolation, we are comforted with perhaps, one of the weightiest revelations of HaShem’s character; Deuteronomy 4:24 tells us plainly:
“For YHVH thy Elohim is a consuming fire, even a jealous Elohim.”
How then can we continue, knowing that we have oftentimes been far too casual before the Eternal? Likening our flippant responses to His nonnegotiable ways to that of children ‘playing with fire,’ will we not be burned? The answer is found in the Book of Lamentations, a scroll, which is read and heard annually on the 9th of Av, the doleful day which occurs prior to this Shabbat. Within this dirge, one that depicts the destruction of a city that failed to hear and obey, comes our solace; in Lamentations 3:22, the prophet Yirmeyahu understands the power of HaShem’s great love, as his heart, kindled with hope cries,
“It is of YHVH 's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.”
With this in mind, it becomes imperative that we acknowledge the purpose of fire. Used as a purifier, fire pronounces the evidence that HaShem means what He says and instructs the hearers to abandon their wayward patterns. Zechariah 13:9 removes the dross of our opinions so that Yisrael might be found tried and true before his Maker, as it is written:
“And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try
them as gold is tried: they shall call on My name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is My people:
and they shall say, YHVH is my Elohim.”