Parashah 29: Acharei Mot (After the death) 16:1–18:30

[In regular years read with Parashah 30, in leap years read separately]

16 Adonai spoke with Moshe after the death of Aharon’s two sons, when they tried to sacrifice before Adonai and died; ² Adonai said to Moshe, “Tell your brother Aharon not to come at just any time into the Holy Place beyond the curtain, in front of the ark-cover which is on the ark, so that he will not die; because I appear in the cloud over the ark-cover.

³ “Here is how Aharon is to enter the Holy Place: with a young bull as a sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering. ⁴ He is to put on the holy linen tunic, have the linen shorts next to his bare flesh, have the linen sash wrapped around him, and be wearing the linen turban — they are the holy garments. He is to bathe his body in water and put them on.

⁵ “He is to take from the community of the people of Isra’el two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. ⁶ Aharon is to present the bull for the sin offering which is for himself and make atonement for himself and his household. ⁷ He is to take the two goats and place them before Adonai at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁸ Then Aharon is to cast lots for the two goats, one lot for Adonai and the other for ‘Az’azel. ⁹ Aharon is to present the goat whose lot fell to Adonai and offer it as a sin offering. ¹⁰ But the goat whose lot fell to ‘Az’azel is to be presented alive to Adonai to be used for making atonement over it by sending it away into the desert for ‘Az’azel.

¹¹ “Aharon is to present the bull of the sin offering for himself; he will make atonement for himself and his household; he is to slaughter the bull of the sin offering which is for himself. ¹² He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before Adonai and, with his hands full of ground, fragrant incense, bring it inside the curtain. ¹³ He is to put the incense on the fire before Adonai, so that the cloud from the incense will cover the ark-cover which is over the testimony, in order that he not die. ¹⁴ He is to take some of the bull’s blood and sprinkle it with his finger on the ark-cover toward the east; and in front of the ark-cover he is to sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

¹⁵ “Next, he is to slaughter the goat of the sin offering which is for the people, bring its blood inside the curtain and do with its blood as he did with the bull’s blood, sprinkling it on the ark-cover and in front of the ark-cover. ¹⁶ He will make atonement for the Holy Place because of the uncleannesses of the people of Isra’el and because of their transgressions — all their sins; and he is to do the same for the tent of meeting which is there with them right in the middle of their uncleannesses. ¹⁷ No one is to be present in the tent of meeting from the time he enters the Holy Place to make atonement until the time he comes out, having made atonement for himself, for his household and for the entire community of Isra’el. (LY: ii) ¹⁸ Then he is to go out to the altar that is before Adonai and make atonement for it; he is to take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on all the horns of the altar. ¹⁹ He is to sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, thus purifying it and setting it apart from the uncleannesses of the people of Isra’el.

²⁰ “When he has finished atoning for the Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he is to present the live goat. ²¹ Aharon is to lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the transgressions, crimes and sins of the people of Isra’el; he is to put them on the head of the goat and then send it away into the desert with a man appointed for the purpose. ²² The goat will bear all their transgressions away to some isolated place, and he is to let the goat go in the desert.

²³ “Aharon is to go back into the tent of meeting, where he is to remove the linen garments he put on when he entered the Holy Place, and he is to leave them there. ²⁴ Then he is to bathe his body in water in a holy place, put on his other clothes, come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, thus making atonement for himself and for the people. (RY: ii, LY: iii) ²⁵ He is to make the fat of the sin offering go up in smoke on the altar.

²⁶ “The man who let go the goat for ‘Az’azel is to wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; afterwards, he may return to the camp.

²⁷ “The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, is to be carried outside the camp; there they are to burn up completely their hides, meat and dung. ²⁸ The person burning them is to wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; afterwards, he may return to the camp.

²⁹ “It is to be a permanent regulation for you that on the tenth day of the seventh month you are to deny yourselves and not do any kind of work, both the citizen and the foreigner living with you. ³⁰ For on this day, atonement will be made for you to purify you; you will be clean before Adonai from all your sins. ³¹ It is a Shabbat of complete rest for you, and you are to deny yourselves.

“This is a permanent regulation. ³² The cohen anointed and consecrated to be cohen in his father’s place will make the atonement; he will put on the linen garments, the holy garments; ³³ he will make atonement for the Especially Holy Place; he will make atonement for the tent of meeting and the altar; and he will make atonement for the cohanim and for all the people of the community. ³⁴ This is a permanent regulation for you, to make atonement for the people of Isra’el because of all their sins once a year.” Moshe did as Adonai had ordered him.

17 (LY: iv) Adonai said to Moshe, ² “Speak to Aharon and his sons and to all the people of Isra’el. Tell them that this is what Adonai has ordered: ³ ‘When someone from the community of Isra’el slaughters an ox, lamb or goat inside or outside the camp ⁴ without bringing it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to present it as an offering to Adonai before the tabernacle of Adonai, he is to be charged with blood — he has shed blood, and that person is to be cut off from his people. ⁵ The reason for this is so that the people of Isra’el will bring their sacrifices that they sacrifice out in the field — so that they will bring them to Adonai, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, to the cohen, and sacrifice them as peace offerings to Adonai. ⁶ The cohen will splash the blood against the altar of Adonai at the entrance to the tent of meeting and make the fat go up in smoke as a pleasing aroma for Adonai. ⁷ No longer will they offer sacrifices to the goat-demons, before whom they prostitute themselves! This is a permanent regulation for them through all their generations.’

(RY: iii, LY: v) ⁸ “Also tell them, ‘When someone from the community of Isra’el or one of the foreigners living with you offers a burnt offering or sacrifice ⁹ without bringing it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to sacrifice it to Adonai, that person is to be cut off from his people. ¹⁰ When someone from the community of Isra’el or one of the foreigners living with you eats any kind of blood, I will set myself against that person who eats blood and cut him off from his people. ¹¹ For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for yourselves; for it is the blood that makes atonement because of the life.’ ¹² This is why I told the people of Isra’el, ‘None of you is to eat blood, nor is any foreigner living with you to eat blood.’

¹³ “When someone from the community of Isra’el or one of the foreigners living with you hunts and catches game, whether animal or bird that may be eaten, he is to pour out its blood and cover it with earth. ¹⁴ For the life of every creature — its blood is its life. Therefore I said to the people of Isra’el, ‘You are not to eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it will be cut off.’

¹⁵ “Anyone eating an animal that dies naturally or is torn to death by wild animals, whether he is a citizen or a foreigner, is to wash his clothes and bathe himself in water; he will be unclean until evening; then he will be clean. ¹⁶ But if he doesn’t wash them or bathe his body, he will bear the consequences of his wrongdoing.”

18 Adonai said to Moshe, ² “Speak to the people of Isra’el; tell them, ‘I am Adonai your God. ³ You are not to engage in the activities found in the land of Egypt, where you used to live; and you are not to engage in the activities found in the land of Kena‘an, where I am bringing you; nor are you to live by their laws. ⁴ You are to obey my rulings and laws and live accordingly; I am Adonai your God. ⁵ You are to observe my laws and rulings; if a person does them, he will have life through them; I am Adonai.

(LY: vi) ⁶ “‘None of you is to approach anyone who is a close relative in order to have sexual relations; I am Adonai. ⁷ You are not to have sexual relations with your father, and you are not to have sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother — do not have sexual relations with her. ⁸ You are not to have sexual relations with your father’s wife; that is your father’s prerogative. ⁹ You are not to have sexual relations with your sister, the daughter of your father or the daughter of your mother, whether born at home or elsewhere. Do not have sexual relations with them. ¹⁰ You are not to have sexual relations with your son’s daughter or with your daughter’s daughter. Do not have sexual relations with them, because their sexual disgrace will be your own. ¹¹ You are not to have sexual relations with your father’s wife’s daughter, born to your father, because she is your sister; do not have sexual relations with her. ¹² You are not to have sexual relations with your father’s sister, because she is your father’s close relative. ¹³ You are not to have sexual relations with your mother’s sister, because she is your mother’s close relative. ¹⁴ You are not to disgrace your father’s brother by having sexual relations with his wife, because she is your aunt. ¹⁵ You are not to have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law; because she is your son’s wife. Do not have sexual relations with her. ¹⁶ You are not to have sexual relations with your brother’s wife, because this is your brother’s prerogative.

¹⁷ “‘You are not to have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter, nor are you to have sexual relations with her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter; they are close relatives of hers, and it would be shameful. ¹⁸ You are not to take a woman to be a rival with her sister and have sexual relations with her while her sister is still alive. ¹⁹ You are not to approach a woman in order to have sexual relations with her when she is unclean from her time of niddah. ²⁰ You are not to go to bed with your neighbor’s wife and thus become unclean with her.

²¹ “‘You are not to let any of your children be sacrificed to Molekh, thereby profaning the name of your God; I am Adonai.

(RY: iv, LY: vii) ²² “‘You are not to go to bed with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.

²³ “‘You are not to have sexual relations with any kind of animal and thus become unclean with it; nor is any woman to present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; it is perversion.

²⁴ “‘Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, because all the nations which I am expelling ahead of you are defiled with them. ²⁵ The land has become unclean, and this is why I am punishing it — the land itself will vomit out its inhabitants. ²⁶ But you are to keep my laws and rulings and not engage in any of these disgusting practices, neither the citizen nor the foreigner living with you; (LY: Maftir) ²⁷ for the people of the land have committed all these abominations, and the land is now defiled. ²⁸ If you make the land unclean, it will vomit you out too, just as it is vomiting out the nation that was there before you. ²⁹ For those who engage in any of these disgusting practices, whoever they may be, will be cut off from their people. ³⁰ So keep my charge not to follow any of these abominable customs that others before you have followed and thus defile yourselves by doing them. I am Adonai your God.’”

Haftarah Acharei Mot: Yechezk’el (Ezekiel) 22:1–19 (A); 22:1–16 (S)

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Acharei Mot: Romans 3:19–28; 9:30 –10:13; 1 Corinthians 5:1–13 with 2 Corinthians 2:1–11; Galatians 3:10–14; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 7:23–10:25