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.”

Feeding the Five Thousand^(A)

^30 (B)Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. ^31 (C)And He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For ^(D)there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. ^32 (E)So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves.

³³ But ^[a]the multitudes saw them departing, and many ^(F)knew Him and ran there on foot from all the cities. They arrived before them and came together to Him. ^34 (G)And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like ^(H)sheep not having a shepherd. So ^(I)He began to teach them many things. ^35 (J)When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, “This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late. ³⁶ Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves ^[b]bread; for they have nothing to eat.”

³⁷ But He answered and said to them, “You give them something to eat.”

And they said to Him, ^(K)“Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?”

³⁸ But He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”

And when they found out they said, ^(L)“Five, and two fish.”

³⁹ Then He ^(M)commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties. ⁴¹ And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He ^(N)looked up to heaven, ^(O)blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. ⁴² So they all ate and were filled. ⁴³ And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish. ⁴⁴ Now those who had eaten the loaves were ^[c]about five thousand men.

Jesus Walks on the Sea^(P)

^45 (Q)Immediately He ^[d]made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away. ⁴⁶ And when He had sent them away, He ^(R)departed to the mountain to pray. ⁴⁷ Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land. ⁴⁸ Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and ^(S)would have passed them by. ⁴⁹ And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ^(T)ghost, and cried out; ⁵⁰ for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, ^(U)“Be^[e] of good cheer! It is I; do not be ^(V)afraid.” ⁵¹ Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ^(W)ceased. And they were greatly ^(X)amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled. ⁵² For ^(Y)they had not understood about the loaves, because their ^(Z)heart was hardened.

Many Touch Him and Are Made Well^(AA)

^53 (AB)When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret and anchored there. ⁵⁴ And when they came out of the boat, immediately ^[f]the people recognized Him, ⁵⁵ ran through that whole surrounding region, and began to carry about on beds those who were sick to wherever they heard He was. ⁵⁶ Wherever He entered, into villages, cities, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Him that ^(AC)they might just touch the ^(AD)hem of His garment. And as many as touched Him were made well.

Faith Persevering in Trial^(A)

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.