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Shabbat Shalom!
Welcome to Acharei Mot / After Death - this week’s Prophetic reading

Prophecy 79, 123, 149;
Leviticus 16:1-18:30;
Ezekiel 22:1-19;
John 7:1–10:21;



Ezekiel 22:1-19

1 The word of YAHUVEH came to me:
2 “Now, human being, are you prepared to judge? Are you prepared to judge the city drenched in blood? Then make her realize how disgusting all her practices are!
3 Say that YAHUVEH Elohim says, ‘City that sheds blood within yourself, thus speeding your own doom, and that makes idols for yourself that defile you:
4 you are guilty because of the blood you have shed, you are defiled by your idols that you have made. You have shortened your days, you have completed your years; therefore I have made you an object of scorn for the nations and a laughingstock for every country.
5 Those close by and those far off will taunt you, you who have such a defiled reputation and such great disorder.
6 “‘The leaders of Isra’el in you all use their power in order to shed blood.
7 In you, they make light of fathers and mothers, they oppress foreigners, they wrong orphans and widows.
8 You treat my holy things with contempt, you profane my shabbats.
9 In you, people gossip to the point of inciting bloodshed; in you are those who go to eat on the mountains; in you, they commit lewd acts;
10 in you, they commit incest; in you, they force themselves on women during their menstrual impurity.
11 In you, one commits an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another commits some lewd act defiling his daughter-in-law; still another humbles his sister, his own father’s daughter.
12 In you, people take bribes to shed blood; you demand and accept interest on loans; in greed you make profits off your neighbors by extorting them; and you have forgotten me,’ says YAHUVEH Elohim.
13 “‘Therefore, I am clapping my hands together because of your ill-gotten gains and the blood shed in you.
14 Can your courage last, can your strength continue during the days when I deal with you? I, YAHUVEH, have spoken it; and I will do it.
15 I will scatter you among the Goyim and disperse you throughout the countries; thus I will remove your defilement from you,
16 and you will cause yourselves to be profaned in full view of the Goyim. Then you will know that I am YAHUVEH.’”
17 The word of YAHUVEH came to me: 18 “Human being, the house of Isra’el has become an alloy of base metals for me; they are all copper, tin, iron and lead mixed together in the crucible, the dross left over from the silver. 19 Therefore YAHUVEH Elohim says this: ‘Because you have all become dross, I will collect all of you inside Yerushalayim.

John 7:1–10:21

1 After this, YAHUSHUA traveled around in the Galil, intentionally avoiding Y’hudah because the Judeans were out to kill him.
2 But the festival of Sukkot in Y’hudah was near;
3 so his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go into Y’hudah, so that your talmidim can see the miracles you do;
4 for no one who wants to become known acts in secret. If you’re doing these things, show yourself to the world!”
5 (His brothers spoke this way because they had not put their trust in him.) 6 YAHUSHUA said to them, “My time has not yet come; but for you, any time is right.
7 The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me, because I keep telling it how wicked its ways are.
8 You, go on up to the festival; as for me, I am not going up to this festival now, because the right time for me has not yet come.”
9 Having said this, he stayed on in the Galil.
10 But after his brothers had gone up to the festival, he too went up, not publicly but in secret.
11 At the festival, the Judeans were looking for him. “Where is he?” they asked.
12 And among the crowds there was much whispering about him. Some said, “He’s a good man”; but others said, “No, he is deceiving the masses.”
13 However, no one spoke about him openly, for fear of the Judeans.
14 Not until the festival was half over did YAHUSHUA go up to the Temple courts and begin to teach.
15 The Judeans were surprised: “How does this man know so much without having studied?” they asked.
16 So YAHUSHUA gave them an answer: “My teaching is not my own, it comes from the One who sent me.
17 If anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether my teaching is from ELOHIM or I speak on my own.
18 A person who speaks on his own is trying to win praise for himself; but a person who tries to win praise for the one who sent him is honest, there is nothing false about him.
19 Didn’t Moshe give you the Torah? Yet not one of you obeys the Torah! Why are you out to kill me?”
20 “You have a demon!” the crowd answered. “Who’s out to kill you?”
21 YAHUSHUA answered them, “I did one thing; and because of this, all of you are amazed.
22 Moshe gave you b’rit-milah — not that it came from Moshe but from the Patriarchs — and you do a boy’s b’rit-milah on Shabbat.
23 If a boy is circumcised on Shabbat so that the Torah of Moshe will not be broken, why are you angry with me because I made a man’s whole body well on Shabbat?
24 Stop judging by surface appearances, and judge the right way!”
25 Some of the Yerushalayim people said, “Isn’t this the man they’re out to kill?
26 Yet here he is, speaking openly; and they don’t say anything to him. It couldn’t be, could it, that the authorities have actually concluded he’s the Messiah?
27 Surely not — we know where this man comes from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he comes from.”
28 Whereupon YAHUSHUA, continuing to teach in the Temple courts, cried out, “Indeed you do know me! And you know where I’m from! And I have not come on my own! The One who sent me is real. But him you don’t know!
29 I do know him, because I am with him, and he sent me!”
30 At this, they tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him; because his time had not yet come.
31 However, many in the crowd put their trust in him and said, “When the Messiah comes, will he do more miracles than this man has done?”
32 The P’rushim heard the crowd whispering these things about YAHUSHUA; so the head cohanim and the P’rushim sent some of the Temple guards to arrest him.
33 YAHUSHUA said, “I will be with you only a little while longer; then I will go away to the One who sent me.
34 You will look for me and not find me; indeed, where I am, you cannot come.”
35 The Judeans said to themselves, “Where is this man about to go, that we won’t find him? Does he intend to go to the Greek Diaspora and teach the Greek-speaking Jews?
36 And when he says, ‘You will look for me and not find me; indeed, where I am, you cannot come’ — what does he mean?”
37 Now on the last day of the festival, Hoshana Rabbah, YAHUSHUA stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him keep coming to me and drinking!
38 Whoever puts his trust in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being!”
39 (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who trusted in him were to receive later — the Spirit had not yet been given, because YAHUSHUA had not yet been glorified.)
40 On hearing his words, some people in the crowd said, “Surely this man is ‘the prophet’”;
41 others said, “This is the Messiah.” But others said, “How can the Messiah come from the Galil?
42 Doesn’t the Tanakh say that the Messiah is from the seed of David[a] and comes from Beit-Lechem,[b] the village where David lived?”
43 So the people were divided because of him.
44 Some wanted to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him.
45 The guards came back to the head cohanim and the P’rushim, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
46 The guards replied, “No one ever spoke the way this man speaks!”
47 “You mean you’ve been taken in as well?” the P’rushim retorted.
48 “Has any of the authorities trusted him? Or any of the P’rushim? No!
49 True, these ‘am-ha’aretz do, but they know nothing about the Torah, they are under a curse!”
50 Nakdimon, the man who had gone to YAHUSHUA before and was one of them, said to them,
51 “Our Torah doesn’t condemn a man — does it? — until after hearing from him and finding out what he’s doing.”
52 They replied, “You aren’t from the Galil too, are you? Study the Tanakh, and see for yourself that no prophet comes from the Galil!” [c]
53 Then they all left, each one to his own home.

*~ John Chapter 8 ~*

1 But YAHUSHUA went to the Mount of Olives.
2 At daybreak, he appeared again in the Temple Court, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.
3 The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery and made her stand in the center of the group.
4 Then they said to him, “Rabbi, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.
5 Now in our Torah, Moshe commanded that such a woman be stoned to death. What do you say about it?”
6 They said this to trap him, so that they might have ground for bringing charges against him; but YAHUSHUA bent down and began writing in the dust with his finger.
7 When they kept questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “The one of you who is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
8 Then he bent down and wrote in the dust again.
9 On hearing this, they began to leave, one by one, the older ones first, until he was left alone, with the woman still there.
10 Standing up, YAHUSHUA said to her, “Where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, sir.” YAHUSHUA said, “Neither do I condemn you. Now go, and don’t sin any more.”
12 YAHUSHUA spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light which gives life.”
13 So the P’rushim said to him, “Now you’re testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.”
14 YAHUSHUA answered them, “Even if I do testify on my own behalf, my testimony is indeed valid; because I know where I came from and where I’m going; but you do not know where I came from or where I’m going.
15 You judge by merely human standards. As for me, I pass judgment on no one;
16 but if I were indeed to pass judgment, my judgment would be valid; because it is not I alone who judge, but I and the One who sent me.
17 And even in your Torah it is written that the testimony of two people is valid.
18 I myself testify on my own behalf, and so does the Father who sent me.”
19 They said to him, “Where is this ‘father’ of yours?” YAHUSHUA answered, “You know neither me nor my Father; if you knew me, you would know my Father too.”
20 He said these things when he was teaching in the Temple treasury room; yet no one arrested him, because his time had not yet come.
21 Again he told them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin — where I am going, you cannot come.”
22 The Judeans said, “Is he going to commit suicide? Is that what he means when he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”
23 YAHUSHUA said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.
24 This is why I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not trust that I AM [who I say I am], you will die in your sins.”
25 At this, they said to him, “You? Who are you?” YAHUSHUA answered, “Just what I’ve been telling you from the start.
26 There are many things I could say about you, and many judgments I could make. However, the One who sent me is true; so I say in the world only what I have heard from him.”
27 They did not understand that he was talking to them about the Father.
28 So YAHUSHUA said, “When you lift up the Son of GOD, then you will know that I AM [who I say I am], and that of myself I do nothing, but say only what the Father has taught me.
29 Also, the One who sent me is still with me; he did not leave me to myself, because I always do what pleases him.”
30 Many people who heard him say these things trusted in him.
31 So YAHUSHUA said to the Judeans who had trusted him, “If you obey what I say, then you are really my talmidim,
32 you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They answered, “We are the seed of Avraham and have never been slaves to anyone; so what do you mean by saying, ‘You will be set free’?”
34 YAHUSHUA answered them, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin.
35 Now a slave does not remain with a family forever, but a son does remain with it forever.
36 So if the Son frees you, you will really be free!
37 I know you are the seed of Avraham. Yet you are out to kill me, because what I am saying makes no headway in you.
38 I say what my Father has shown me; you do what your father has told you!”
39 They answered him, “Our father is Avraham.” YAHUSHUA replied, “If you are children of Avraham, then do the things Avraham did!
40 As it is, you are out to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from ELOHIM. Avraham did nothing like that!
41 You are doing the things your father does.” “We’re not illegitimate children!” they said to him. “We have only one Father — ELOHIM!”
42 YAHUSHUA replied to them, “If ELOHIM were your Father, you would love me; because I came out from ELOHIM; and now I have arrived here. I did not come on my own; he sent me.
43 Why don’t you understand what I’m saying? Because you can’t bear to listen to my message.
44 You belong to your father, Satan, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. From the start he was a murderer, and he has never stood by the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is speaking in character; because he is a liar — indeed, the inventor of the lie!
45 But as for me, because I tell the truth you don’t believe me.
46 Which one of you can show me where I’m wrong? If I’m telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?
47 Whoever belongs to ELOHIM listens to what ELOHIM says; the reason you don’t listen is that you don’t belong to ELOHIM.”
48 The Judeans answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying you are from Shomron and have a demon?”
49 YAHUSHUA replied, “Me? I have no demon. I am honoring my Father. But you dishonor me.
50 I am not seeking praise for myself. There is One who is seeking it, and he is the judge.
51 Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever obeys my teaching will never see death.”
52 The Judeans said to him, “Now we know for sure that you have a demon! Avraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, ‘Whoever obeys my teaching will never taste death.’
53 Avraham avinu died; you aren’t greater than he, are you? And the prophets also died. Who do you think you are?”
54 YAHUSHUA answered, “If I praise myself, my praise counts for nothing. The One who is praising me is my Father, the very one about whom you keep saying, ‘He is our ELOHIM.’
55 Now you have not known him, but I do know him; indeed, if I were to say that I don’t know him, I would be a liar like you! But I do know him, and I obey his word. 56 Avraham, your father, was glad that he would see my day; then he saw it and was overjoyed.”
57 “Why, you’re not yet fifty years old,” the Judeans replied, “and you have seen Avraham?”
58 YAHUSHUA said to them, “Yes, indeed! Before Avraham came into being, I AM!”
59 At this, they picked up stones to throw at him; but YAHUSHUA was hidden and left the Temple grounds.

*~ John Chapter 9 ~*

1 As YAHUSHUA passed along, he saw a man blind from birth.
2 His talmidim asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned — this man or his parents — to cause him to be born blind?”
3 YAHUSHUA answered, “His blindness is due neither to his sin nor to that of his parents; it happened so that ELOHIM’s power might be seen at work in him.
4 As long as it is day, we must keep doing the work of the One who sent me; the night is coming, when no one can work.
5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, put the mud on the man’s eyes,
7 and said to him, “Go, wash off in the Pool of Shiloach!” (The name means “sent.”) So he went and washed and came away seeing.
8 His neighbors and those who previously had seen him begging said, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?”
9 Some said, “Yes, he’s the one”; while others said, “No, but he looks like him.” However, he himself said, “I’m the one.”
10 “How were your eyes opened?” they asked him.
11 He answered, “The man called YAHUSHUA made mud, put it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Shiloach and wash!’ So I went; and as soon as I had washed, I could see.”
12 They said to him, “Where is he?” and he replied, “I don’t know.”
13 They took the man who had been blind to the P’rushim.
14 Now the day on which YAHUSHUA had made the mud and opened his eyes was Shabbat.
15 So the P’rushim asked him again how he had become able to see; and he told them, “He put mud on my eyes, then I washed, and now I can see.”
16 At this, some of the P’rushim said, “This man is not from ELOHIM, because he doesn’t keep Shabbat.” But others said, “How could a man who is a sinner do miracles like these?” And there was a split among them.
17 So once more they spoke to the blind man: “Since you’re the one whose eyes he opened, what do you say about him?” He replied: “He is a prophet.”
18 The Judeans, however, were unwilling to believe that he had formerly been blind, but now could see, until they had summoned the man’s parents.
19 They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind;
21 but how it is that he can see now, we don’t know; nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him — he’s old enough, he can speak for himself!”
22 The parents said this because they were afraid of the Judeans, for the Judeans had already agreed that anyone who acknowledged YAHUSHUA as the Messiah would be banned from the synagogue.
23 This is why his parents said, “He’s old enough, ask him.”
24 So a second time they called the man who had been blind; and they said to him, “Swear to ELOHIM that you will tell the truth! We know that this man is a sinner.”
25 He answered, “Whether he’s a sinner or not I don’t know. One thing I do know: I was blind, now I see.”
26 So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 “I already told you,” he answered, “and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Maybe you too want to become his talmidim?”
28 Then they railed at him. “You may be his talmid,” they said, “but we are talmidim of Moshe!
29 We know that ELOHIM has spoken to Moshe, but as for this fellow — we don’t know where he’s from!”
30 “What a strange thing,” the man answered, “that you don’t know where he’s from — considering that he opened my eyes!
31 We know that ELOHIM doesn’t listen to sinners; but if anyone fears ELOHIM and does his will, ELOHIM does listen to him.
32 In all history no one has ever heard of someone’s opening the eyes of a man born blind.
33 If this man were not from ELOHIM, he couldn’t do a thing!”
34 “Why, you mamzer!” they retorted, “Are you lecturing us?” And they threw him out.
35 YAHUSHUA heard that they had thrown the man out. He found him and said, “Do you trust in the Son of GOD?”
36 “Sir,” he answered, “tell me who he is, so that I can trust in him.”
37 YAHUSHUA said to him, “You have seen him. In fact, he’s the one speaking with you now.”
38 “Lord, I trust!” he said, and he kneeled down in front of him.
39 YAHUSHUA said, “It is to judge that I came into this world, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.”
40 Some of the P’rushim nearby heard this and said to him, “So we’re blind too, are we?”
41 YAHUSHUA answered them, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But since you still say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

*~ John Chapter 10 ~*

1 “Yes, indeed! I tell you, the person who doesn’t enter the sheep-pen through the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.
2 But the one who goes in through the gate is the sheep’s own shepherd.
3 This is the one the gate-keeper admits, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep, each one by name, and leads them out.
4 After taking out all that are his own, he goes on ahead of them; and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice.
5 They never follow a stranger but will run away from him, because strangers’ voices are unfamiliar to them.”
6 YAHUSHUA used this indirect manner of speaking with them, but they didn’t understand what he was talking to them about.
7 So YAHUSHUA said to them again, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that I am the gate for the sheep.
8 All those who have come before me have been thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them.
9 I am the gate; if someone enters through me, he will be safe and will go in and out and find pasture.
10 The thief comes only in order to steal, kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, life in its fullest measure.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
12 The hired hand, since he isn’t a shepherd and the sheep aren’t his own, sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf drags them off and scatters them.
13 The hired worker behaves like this because that’s all he is, a hired worker; so it doesn’t matter to him what happens to the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd; I know my own, and my own know me —
15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father — and I lay down my life on behalf of the sheep.
16 Also I have other sheep which are not from this pen; I need to bring them, and they will hear my voice; and there will be one flock, one shepherd.
17 “This is why the Father loves me: because I lay down my life — in order to take it up again!
18 No one takes it away from me; on the contrary, I lay it down of my own free will. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again. This is what my Father commanded me to do.”
19 Again there was a split among the Judeans because of what he said.
20 Many of them said, “He has a demon!” and “He’s meshugga! Why do you listen to him?”
21 Others said, “These are not the deeds of a man who is demonized — how can a demon open blind people’s eyes?”