The Ritual for Cleansing Healed Lepers^(A)

14 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “This shall be the law of the ^[a]leper for the day of his cleansing: He ^(B)shall be brought to the priest. ³ And the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall examine him; and indeed, if the ^[b]leprosy is healed in the leper, ⁴ then the priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living and clean birds, ^(C)cedar wood, ^(D)scarlet, and ^(E)hyssop. ⁵ And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. ⁶ As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. ⁷ And he shall ^(F)sprinkle it ^(G)seven times on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose in the open field. ⁸ He who is to be cleansed ^(H)shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and ^(I)wash himself in water, that he may be clean. After that he shall come into the camp, and ^(J)shall stay outside his tent seven days. ⁹ But on the ^(K)seventh day he shall shave all the hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows—all his hair he shall shave off. He shall wash his clothes and wash his body in water, and he shall be clean.

¹⁰ “And on the eighth day ^(L)he shall take two male lambs without blemish, one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as ^(M)a grain offering, and one log of oil. ¹¹ Then the priest who makes him clean shall present the man who is to be made clean, and those things, before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ¹² And the priest shall take one male lamb and ^(N)offer it as a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and ^(O)wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. ¹³ Then he shall kill the lamb ^(P)in the place where he kills the sin offering and the burnt offering, in a holy place; for ^(Q)as the sin offering is the priest’s, so is the trespass offering. ^(R)It is most holy. ¹⁴ The priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it ^(S)on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ¹⁵ And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. ¹⁶ Then the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall ^(T)sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before the Lord. ¹⁷ And of the rest of the oil in his hand, the priest shall put some on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the blood of the trespass offering. ¹⁸ The rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed. ^(U)So the priest shall make ^[c]atonement for him before the Lord.

¹⁹ “Then the priest shall offer ^(V)the sin offering, and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Afterward he shall kill the burnt offering. ²⁰ And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. So the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be ^(W)clean.

²¹ “But ^(X)if he is poor and cannot afford it, then he shall take one male lamb as a trespass offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, ^[d]one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, a log of oil, ^22 (Y)and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, such as he is able to afford: one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. ^23 (Z)He shall bring them to the priest on the eighth day for his cleansing, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, before the Lord. ^24 (AA)And the priest shall take the lamb of the trespass offering and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. ²⁵ Then he shall kill the lamb of the trespass offering, ^(AB)and the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁶ And the priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand. ²⁷ Then the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the Lord. ²⁸ And the priest shall put some of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the trespass offering. ²⁹ The rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before the Lord. ³⁰ And he shall offer one of ^(AC)the turtledoves or young pigeons, such as he can afford— ³¹ such as he is able to afford, the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, with the grain offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him who is to be cleansed before the Lord. ³² This is the law for one who had a leprous sore, who cannot afford ^(AD)the usual cleansing.”

The Law Concerning Leprous Houses

³³ And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ^34 (AE)“When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give you as a possession, and ^(AF)I put the ^[e]leprous plague in a house in the land of your possession, ³⁵ and he who owns the house comes and tells the priest, saying, ‘It seems to me that there is ^(AG)some plague in the house,’ ³⁶ then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest goes into it to examine the plague, that all that is in the house may not be made unclean; and afterward the priest shall go in to examine the house. ³⁷ And he shall examine the plague; and indeed if the plague is on the walls of the house with ingrained streaks, greenish or reddish, which appear to be ^[f]deep in the wall, ³⁸ then the priest shall go out of the house, to the door of the house, and ^[g]shut up the house seven days. ³⁹ And the priest shall come again on the seventh day and look; and indeed if the plague has spread on the walls of the house, ⁴⁰ then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which is the plague, and they shall cast them into an unclean place outside the city. ⁴¹ And he shall cause the house to be scraped inside, all around, and the dust that they scrape off they shall pour out in an unclean place outside the city. ⁴² Then they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other mortar and plaster the house.

⁴³ “Now if the plague comes back and breaks out in the house, after he has taken away the stones, after he has scraped the house, and after it is plastered, ⁴⁴ then the priest shall come and look; and indeed if the plague has spread in the house, it is ^(AH)an active leprosy in the house. It is unclean. ⁴⁵ And he shall break down the house, its stones, its timber, and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them outside the city to an unclean place. ⁴⁶ Moreover he who goes into the house at all while it is shut up shall be ^[h]unclean ^(AI)until evening. ⁴⁷ And he who lies down in the house shall ^(AJ)wash his clothes, and he who eats in the house shall wash his clothes.

⁴⁸ “But if the priest comes in and examines it, and indeed the plague has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. ⁴⁹ And ^(AK)he shall take, to cleanse the house, two birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. ⁵⁰ Then he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water; ⁵¹ and he shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵² And he shall ^[i]cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and the running water and the living bird, with the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet. ⁵³ Then he shall let the living bird loose outside the city in the open field, and ^(AL)make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.

⁵⁴ “This is the law for any ^(AM)leprous sore and scale, ⁵⁵ for the ^(AN)leprosy of a garment ^(AO)and of a house, ^56 (AP)for a swelling and a scab and a bright spot, ⁵⁷ to ^(AQ)teach when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law of leprosy.”

The Law Concerning Bodily Discharges

15 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ^(AR)‘When any man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean. ³ And this shall be his uncleanness in regard to his discharge—whether his body runs with his discharge, or his body is stopped up by his discharge, it is his uncleanness. ⁴ Every bed is ^[j]unclean on which he who has the discharge lies, and everything on which he sits shall be unclean. ⁵ And whoever ^(AS)touches his bed shall ^(AT)wash his clothes and ^(AU)bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ⁶ He who sits on anything on which he who has the ^(AV)discharge sat shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ⁷ And he who touches the body of him who has the discharge shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ⁸ If he who has the discharge ^(AW)spits on him who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ⁹ Any saddle on which he who has the discharge rides shall be unclean. ¹⁰ Whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until evening. He who carries any of those things shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ¹¹ And whomever the one who has the discharge touches, and has not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ¹² The ^(AX)vessel of earth that he who has the discharge touches shall be broken, and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.

¹³ ‘And when he who has a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, then ^(AY)he shall count for himself seven days for his cleansing, wash his clothes, and bathe his body in running water; then he shall be clean. ¹⁴ On the eighth day he shall take for himself ^(AZ)two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and come before the Lord, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and give them to the priest. ¹⁵ Then the priest shall offer them, ^(BA)the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. ^(BB)So the priest shall make ^[k]atonement for him before the Lord because of his discharge.

^16 (BC)‘If any man has an emission of semen, then he shall wash all his body in water, and be unclean until evening. ¹⁷ And any garment and any leather on which there is semen, it shall be washed with water, and be unclean until evening. ¹⁸ Also, when a woman lies with a man, and there is an emission of semen, they shall bathe in water, and ^(BD)be unclean until evening.

^19 (BE)‘If a woman has a discharge, and the discharge from her body is blood, she shall be ^[l]set apart seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. ²⁰ Everything that she lies on during her impurity shall be unclean; also everything that she sits on shall be unclean. ²¹ Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ²² And whoever touches anything that she sat on shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ²³ If anything is on her bed or on anything on which she sits, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until evening. ²⁴ And ^(BF)if any man lies with her at all, so that her impurity is on him, he shall be ^[m]unclean seven days; and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.

²⁵ ‘If ^(BG)a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, other than at the time of her customary impurity, or if it runs beyond her usual time of impurity, all the days of her unclean discharge shall be as the days of her customary impurity. She shall be unclean. ²⁶ Every bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her as the bed of her impurity; and whatever she sits on shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her impurity. ²⁷ Whoever touches those things shall be unclean; he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

²⁸ ‘But ^(BH)if she is cleansed of her discharge, then she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. ²⁹ And on the eighth day she shall take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and bring them to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ³⁰ Then the priest shall offer the one as a sin offering and the other as a ^(BI)burnt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for her before the Lord for the discharge of her uncleanness.

³¹ ‘Thus you shall ^(BJ)separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness when they ^(BK)defile My tabernacle that is among them. ^32 (BL)This is the law for one who has a discharge, ^(BM)and for him who emits semen and is unclean thereby, ^33 (BN)and for her who is indisposed because of her customary impurity, and for one who has a discharge, either man ^(BO)or woman, ^(BP)and for him who lies with her who is unclean.’ ”

The Syrians Flee

³ Now there were four leprous men ^(A)at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? ⁴ If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the ^(B)army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die.” ⁵ And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there. ⁶ For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians ^(C)to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us ^(D)the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!” ⁷ Therefore they ^(E)arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact—their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—and they fled for their lives. ⁸ And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they came back and entered another tent, and carried some from there also, and went and hid it.

⁹ Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some ^[a]punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” ¹⁰ So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, saying, “We went to the Syrian camp, and surprisingly no one was there, not a human sound—only horses and donkeys tied, and the tents intact.” ¹¹ And the gatekeepers called out, and they told it to the king’s household inside.

¹² So the king arose in the night and said to his servants, “Let me now tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are ^(F)hungry; therefore they have gone out of the camp to ^[b]hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city.’ ”

¹³ And one of his servants answered and said, “Please, let several men take five of the remaining horses which are left in the city. Look, they may either become like all the multitude of Israel that are left in it; or indeed, I say, they may become like all the multitude of Israel left from those who are consumed; so let us send them and see.” ¹⁴ Therefore they took two chariots with horses; and the king sent them in the direction of the Syrian army, saying, “Go and see.” ¹⁵ And they went after them to the Jordan; and indeed all the road was full of garments and weapons which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned and told the king. ¹⁶ Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, ^(G)according to the word of the Lord.

¹⁷ Now the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. But the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just ^(H)as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. ¹⁸ So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, ^(I)“Two seahs of barley for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, shall be sold tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria.”

¹⁹ Then that officer had answered the man of God, and said, “Now look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?”

And he had said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” ²⁰ And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.

¹⁶ “Woe to you, ^(A)blind guides, who say, ^(B)‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ ¹⁷ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold ^(C)or the temple that ^[a]sanctifies the gold? ¹⁸ And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ ¹⁹ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift ^(D)or the altar that sanctifies the gift? ²⁰ Therefore he who ^[b]swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. ²¹ He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by ^(E)Him who ^[c]dwells in it. ²² And he who swears by heaven, swears by ^(F)the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

²³ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ^(G)For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and ^(H)have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. ²⁴ Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

²⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ^(I)For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and ^[d]self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ^(J)For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸ Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

^29 (K)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and ^[e]adorn the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰ and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

³¹ “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that ^(L)you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ^32 (M)Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. ³³ Serpents, ^(N)brood^[f] of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? ^34 (O)Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: ^(P)some of them you will kill and crucify, and ^(Q)some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, ^35 (R)that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, ^(S)from the blood of righteous Abel to ^(T)the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Jesus Laments over Jerusalem^(U)

^37 (V)“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets ^(W)and stones those who are sent to her! How often ^(X)I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks ^(Y)under her wings, but you were not willing! ³⁸ See! Your house is left to you desolate; ³⁹ for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ^(Z)‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”

Jesus Predicts the Destruction of the Temple^(AA)

24 Then ^(AB)Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. ² And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, ^(AC)not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

^30 (A)Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, ^(B)and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ^31 (C)And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His ^[a]elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.