Weekly Torah Readings: Aharei Mot
(from One New Man Bible translated by William Morford)
Aharei Mot
Day of Atonement Service
16.1. And the LORD* spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD* and died; 2. And the LORD* said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron your brother, so at all times he does not come into the Holy Place within the veil before the cover, which is on the Ark, so he does not die: for I shall appear in the cloud upon the cover. 3. Thus will Aaron come into the Holy Place with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4. He will put on the holy linen tunic and he will have the linen breeches upon his flesh and will be girded with a linen belt and he will be attired with the linen turban. These are holy garments, therefore he will immerse his flesh in water and so put them on. 5. And he will take from the congregation of the children of Israel two he goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. 6. And Aaron will offer his bull of the sin offering, which is for himself and make atonement for himself and for his house. 7. And he will take the two goats and present them before the LORD* at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 8. And Aaron will cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for the LORD* and the other lot for Azazel. 9. And Aaron will bring the goat upon which the LORD’s* lot fell and offer him for a sin offering. 10. But the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel will be presented alive before the LORD* to make atonement with him and to let him go for Azazel into the wilderness. 11. And Aaron will bring the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and will make atonement for himself and for his house, and will kill the bull of the sin offering which is for himself. 12. And he will take a fire-pan full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD* and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small and bring it within the veil, (Rev. 8:5) 13. and he will put the incense upon the fire before the LORD*, so the cloud of the incense may cover the cover that is over the Testimony, so he will not die 14. and he will take of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger upon the east side of the cover, and he will sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times in front of the cover. 15. Then he will kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull and sprinkle it on the cover and in front of the cover. 16. And he will make atonement for the Holy Place because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins, and so he will do for the Tent of Meeting, and because of the One Who remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17. And no one will be in the Tent of Meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his household and for the whole congregation of Israel. 18. And he will go out to the altar that is before the LORD* and make atonement for it and will take from the blood of the bull and of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. 19. And he will sprinkle some of the blood upon it with his finger seven times and cleanse it and sanctify it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
16:20. “And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the Tent of Meeting and the altar, he will bring the live goat, 21. and Aaron will lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat and will send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a fit man. 22. And the goat will bear upon itself all their iniquities to a land not inhabited, and he will let the goat go in the wilderness. 23. And Aaron will come into the Tent of Meeting and will put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the Holy Place, and will leave them there, 24. and he will immerse his flesh in water in a Holy Place and put on his garments and come out, and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. 25. And he will burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar. 26. And he who lets the goat for Azazel go will wash his clothes and immerse his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp. 27. And 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, will one carry forth outside the camp, and they will burn their skins and their flesh and their dung in fire. 28. And he who burns them will wash his clothes and immerse his flesh in water, and afterward he will come into the camp.
16:29. “And this will be a statute forever for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month you will afflict your souls and do no work at all, whether it is one of your own country or a stranger that lives among you, 30. for on that day the priest will make atonement for you, to cleanse you so you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD*. 31. It will be a Sabbath of rest for you and you will afflict your souls, by a statute forever. 32. And the priest whom he will anoint, and whom he will consecrate to minister in the priest’s office in his father’s stead, will make the atonement, and will put on the linen clothes, the holy garments, 33. and he will make atonement for the holy Sanctuary and he will make atonement for the Tent of Meeting and for the altar, and he will make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the congregation. 34. And this will be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year.”
And he, Aaron, did as the LORD* commanded Moses.
Instructions for Preparing Meat
17.1. And the LORD* spoke to Moses saying, 2. “Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the children of Israel and say to them, This is the thing which the LORD* has commanded saying,
17:3. “Any man whatsoever of the House of Israel who kills an ox or lamb or goat in the camp, or who kills it outside the camp 4. and does not bring it to the door of the Tent of Meeting to offer an offering to the LORD* before the Tabernacle of the LORD*; blood will be imputed to that man. He has shed blood and that man will be cut off from among his people 5. to the end that the children of Israel may bring their offerings, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them to the LORD*, to the door of the Tent of Meeting, to the priest and offer them for a peace offering to the LORD*. 6. And the priest will sprinkle the blood on the altar of the LORD* at the door of the Tent of Meeting, and burn the fat for a sweet savor to the LORD*. 7. And they will no longer offer their offerings to evil spirits, after whom they have gone astray. This will be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.
17:8. “And you will say to them, Whatever man there is of the House of Israel or of the strangers that sojourn among you that offers a burnt offering or feast offering, 9. and does not bring it to the door of the Tent of Meeting to offer it to the LORD*, even that man will be cut off from among his people.
17:10. “And whatever man there is of the House of Israel or of the strangers that sojourn among you, who eats any manner of blood, I shall even set My face against that one (Acts 15:20) who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. 11. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for your lives on the altar, for it is the blood that makes atonement for a life. (Heb. 9:7) 12. Therefore I said to the children of Israel, No one of you will eat blood, neither will any stranger that lives among you eat blood.
17:13. “And whatever man there is of the children of Israel or of the strangers that sojourn among you, who hunts and catches any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he will even pour out its blood and cover it with dust. 14. For it is the life of all flesh; its blood is for its life. Therefore I said to the children of Israel, You will eat the blood of no manner of flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood: whoever eats it will be cut off. 15. And everyone who eats that which died of itself, or that which was torn by beasts, whether it is one of your own country or a stranger, he will both wash his clothes and immerse himself in water and be unclean until the evening, then he will be clean. 16. But if he does not wash them or immerse his flesh, then he will bear his iniquity.”
Do Not Stray!
18.1. And the LORD* spoke to Moses, saying, 2. “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them,
“I am the LORD* your God. 3. You will not do after the doings of the land of Egypt in which you dwelled, and after the doings of the land of Canaan where I bring you, you will not do. Neither will you walk in their ordinances. 4. You will do My judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them, I AM the LORD* your God. 5. You will therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does he will live in them. I AM the LORD*. (Rom. 10:5, Gal. 3:12)
18:6. “None of you will approach anyone that is near of kin to him, to uncover nakedness. I AM the LORD*!
18:7. “The nakedness of your father or the nakedness of your mother, you will not uncover. She is your mother, you will not uncover her nakedness.
18:8. “The nakedness of your father’s wife you will not uncover. It is your father’s nakedness. (Gen. 9:22)
18:9. “The nakedness of your sister, the daughter of your father, or daughter of your mother, whether she is born at home or born abroad, their nakedness you will not uncover.
18:l0. “The nakedness of your son’s daughter or of your daughter’s daughter, their nakedness you will not uncover, for theirs is your own nakedness.
18:11. “The nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, begotten of your father, she is your sister, you will not uncover her nakedness.
18:12. “You will not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister: she is your father’s near kinswoman.
18:13. “You will not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s near kinswoman.
18:14. “You will not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother, you will not approach his wife: she is your aunt.
18:15. “You will not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law: she is your son’s wife, you will not uncover her nakedness.
18:16. “You will not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife: it is your brother’s nakedness.
18:17. “You will not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither will you take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness, for they are her near kinswomen: it is incest.
18:18. “Neither will you take a wife together with her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her lifetime.
18:19. “Also you will not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness.
18:20. “Moreover you will not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife, to defile yourself with her. 21. And you will not let any of your seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither will you profane the name of your God. I AM the LORD*!
18:22. “You will not lie with a male as with a woman: it is an abomination.
18:23. “Neither will you lie with any beast to defile yourself with it. Neither will any woman stand before a beast to lie down with it: it is perversion.
18:24. “Do not defile yourselves in any of these things, for the nations that I cast out before you are defiled in all these, 25. and the land is defiled: therefore I visit its iniquity upon it and the land itself vomits out its inhabitants. 26. You will therefore keep My statutes and My judgments and neither your home born nor any stranger that lives among you will commit any of these abominations. 27. For all these abominations the men of the land that were before you have done and the land has become defiled. 28. So the land will not vomit you out also, when you defile it, like it vomited out the nations that were before you. 29. For whoever will commit any of these abominations, even those who commit them will be cut off from among their people. 30. Therefore you will keep My ordinance, so you will not commit any of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them. I AM the LORD* your God!”
Next week’s Torah readings: K’doshim