Laws for Cleansing Lepers

14 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “This shall be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. ^(A)He shall be brought to the priest, ³ and the priest shall go ^(B)out of the camp, and the priest shall look. Then, if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person, ⁴ the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live^[a] clean birds and ^(C)cedarwood and ^(D)scarlet yarn and ^(E)hyssop. ⁵ And the priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh^[b] water. ⁶ He shall take the live bird with the cedarwood and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. ⁷ And he shall ^(F)sprinkle it ^(G)seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and shall ^(H)let the living bird go ^(I)into the open field. ⁸ And he who is to be cleansed ^(J)shall wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe himself in water, and he shall be clean. And after that he may come into the camp, but ^(K)live outside his tent seven days. ⁹ And ^(L)on the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair from his head, his beard, and his eyebrows. He shall shave off all his hair, and then he ^(M)shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he shall be clean.

¹⁰ “And on the eighth day he ^(N)shall take two male lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish, and a ^(O)grain offering of three tenths of an ephah^[c] of fine flour mixed with oil, and one log^[d] of oil. ¹¹ And the priest who cleanses him shall set the man who is to be cleansed and these things before the Lord, at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ¹² And the priest shall take one of the male lambs and ^(P)offer it for a guilt offering, along with the log of oil, and ^(Q)wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. ¹³ And he shall kill the lamb ^(R)in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the place of the sanctuary. For ^(S)the guilt offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest; ^(T)it is most holy. ¹⁴ The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it ^(U)on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. ¹⁵ Then the priest shall take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand ¹⁶ and dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand and sprinkle some oil with his finger seven times before the Lord. ¹⁷ And some of the oil that remains in his hand the priest shall put on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering.

Moab Rebels Against Israel

3 ^(A)In the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twelve years. ² He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, though not like his father and mother, for he put away the ^(B)pillar of Baal ^(C)that his father had made. ³ Nevertheless, he clung to ^(D)the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^(E)which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it.

⁴ Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, ^(F)and he had to deliver to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. ⁵ But ^(G)when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. ⁶ So King Jehoram marched out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel. ⁷ And he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to battle against Moab?” And he said, “I will go. ^(H)I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” ⁸ Then he said, “By which way shall we march?” Jehoram answered, “By the way of the wilderness of Edom.”

⁹ So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and ^(I)the king of Edom. And when they had made a circuitous march of seven days, there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them. ¹⁰ Then the king of Israel said, “Alas! ^(J)The Lord has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” ^11 (K)And Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord?” Then one of the king of Israel's servants answered, ^(L)“Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, ^(M)who poured water on the hands of Elijah.” ¹² And Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

¹³ And Elisha said to the king of Israel, ^(N)“What have I to do with you? Go to ^(O)the prophets of your father and to ^(P)the prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No; it is ^(Q)the Lord who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” ¹⁴ And Elisha said, ^(R)“As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you. ¹⁵ But now ^(S)bring me a musician.” And when the musician played, ^(T)the hand of the Lord came upon him. ¹⁶ And he said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘I will make this dry streambed full of pools.’ ¹⁷ For thus says the Lord, ‘You shall not see wind or rain, but that streambed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals.’ ¹⁸ This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will also give the Moabites into your hand, ¹⁹ and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water ^(U)and ruin every good piece of land with stones.” ²⁰ The next morning, about the time of ^(V)offering the sacrifice, behold, water came from the direction of Edom, till the country was filled with water.

²¹ When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to put on armor, from the youngest to the oldest, were called out and were drawn up at the border. ²² And when they rose early in the morning and the sun shone on the water, the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. ²³ And they said, “This is blood; the kings have surely fought together and struck one another down. Now then, Moab, to the spoil!” ²⁴ But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose and struck the Moabites, till they fled before them. And they went forward, striking the Moabites as they went.^{[a] 25} And they overthrew the cities, and ^(W)on every good piece of land every man threw a stone until it was covered. They stopped every spring of water and felled all the good trees, till only its stones were left in ^(X)Kir-hareseth, and the slingers surrounded and attacked it. ²⁶ When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him 700 ^(Y)swordsmen to break through, opposite the king of Edom, but they could not. ²⁷ Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place ^(Z)and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.

The Day of the Wrath of the Lord

7 The word of the Lord came to me: ² “And you, ^(A)O son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel: ^(B)An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.^{[a] 3} Now ^(C)the end is upon you, and ^(D)I will send my anger upon you; ^(E)I will judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. ^4 (F)And my eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity, but ^(G)I will punish you for your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. ^(H)Then you will know that I am the Lord.

⁵ “Thus says the Lord God: Disaster ^(I)after disaster!^[b] Behold, it comes. ^6 (J)An end has come; the end has come; it has awakened against you. Behold, it comes. ^7 (K)Your doom^[c] has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. ^(L)The time has come; the day is near, a day of tumult, and not ^(M)of joyful shouting on the mountains. ⁸ Now I will soon ^(N)pour out my wrath upon you, and ^(O)spend my anger against you, ^(P)and judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. ^9 (Q)And my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. ^(R)Then you will know that I am the Lord, who strikes.

^10 (S)“Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! ^(T)Your doom has come; ^(U)the rod has blossomed; pride has budded. ^11 (V)Violence has grown up into ^(W)a rod of wickedness. ^(X)None of them shall remain, nor their abundance, nor their wealth; neither shall there be preeminence among them.^{[d] 12 (Y)}The time has come; the day has arrived. Let not ^(Z)the buyer rejoice, nor ^(AA)the seller mourn, ^(AB)for wrath is upon all their multitude.^{[e] 13} For ^(AC)the seller shall not return to what he has sold, while they live. ^(AD)For the vision concerns all their multitude; it shall not turn back; and because of his iniquity, none can maintain his life.^[f]

My Refuge and My Fortress

The Beatitudes

²⁰ And ^(A)he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, ^(B)and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor, for ^(C)yours is the kingdom of God.

^21 (D)“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

^(E)“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

²² “Blessed are you when ^(F)people hate you and when they ^(G)exclude you and revile you and ^(H)spurn your name as evil, ^(I)on account of the Son of Man! ^23 (J)Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for ^(K)so their fathers did to the prophets.

Jesus Pronounces Woes

^24 (L)“But woe to you who are rich, ^(M)for you ^(N)have received your consolation.

²⁵ “Woe to you who are full now, for ^(O)you shall be hungry.

“Woe to ^(P)you who laugh now, ^(Q)for you shall mourn and weep.

²⁶ “Woe to you, ^(R)when all people speak well of you, for ^(S)so their fathers did to ^(T)the false prophets.

The Resurrection of the Dead

¹² Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, ^(A)how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ But if there is no resurrection of the dead, ^(B)then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ¹⁵ We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that ^(C)he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and ^(D)you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who ^(E)have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If in Christ we have hope^[a] in this life only, ^(F)we are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰ But in fact ^(G)Christ has been raised from the dead, ^(H)the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For as ^(I)by a man came death, ^(J)by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.