Laws of Purification

19 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ² “This is the ^[a]ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without ^[b]blemish, in which there is no ^(A)defect ^(B)and on which a yoke has never come. ³ You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it ^(C)outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him; ⁴ and Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and ^(D)sprinkle some of its blood seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁵ Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: ^(E)its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned. ⁶ And the priest shall take ^(F)cedar wood and ^(G)hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer. ^7 (H)Then the priest shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp; the priest shall be unclean until evening. ⁸ And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be unclean until evening. ⁹ Then a man who is clean shall gather up ^(I)the ashes of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel ^(J)for the water of ^[c]purification; it is for purifying from sin. ¹⁰ And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the stranger who dwells among them.

^11 (K)‘He who touches the dead ^[d]body of anyone shall be unclean seven days. ^12 (L)He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. ¹³ Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, and ^(M)does not purify himself, ^(N)defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, because ^(O)the water of purification was not sprinkled on him; ^(P)his uncleanness is still on him.

¹⁴ ‘This is the law when a man dies in a tent: All who come into the tent and all who are in the tent shall be unclean seven days; ¹⁵ and every ^(Q)open vessel, which has no cover fastened on it, is unclean. ^16 (R)Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain by a sword or who has died, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

¹⁷ ‘And for an unclean person they shall take some of the ^(S)ashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin, and ^[e]running water shall be put on them in a vessel. ¹⁸ A clean person shall take ^(T)hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave. ¹⁹ The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; ^(U)and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, wash his clothes, and bathe in water; and at evening he shall be clean.

²⁰ ‘But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has ^(V)defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean. ²¹ It shall be a perpetual statute for them. He who sprinkles the water of purification shall wash his clothes; and he who touches the water of purification shall be unclean until evening. ^22 (W)Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and ^(X)the person who touches it shall be unclean until evening.’ ”

Ten Lepers Cleansed

¹¹ Now it happened ^(A)as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. ¹² Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, ^(B)who stood afar off. ¹³ And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

¹⁴ So when He saw them, He said to them, ^(C)“Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.

¹⁵ And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice ^(D)glorified God, ¹⁶ and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a ^(E)Samaritan.

¹⁷ So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? ¹⁸ Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” ^19 (F)And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

The Coming of the Kingdom^(G)

²⁰ Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; ^21 (H)nor will they say, ^[a]‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, ^(I)the kingdom of God is ^[b]within you.”

²² Then He said to the disciples, ^(J)“The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. ^23 (K)And they will say to you, ^[c]‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them. ^24 (L)For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. ^25 (M)But first He must suffer many things and be ^(N)rejected by this generation. ^26 (O)And as it ^(P)was in the ^(Q)days of ^(R)Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: ²⁷ They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the ^(S)day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and ^(T)destroyed them all. ^28 (U)Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; ²⁹ but on ^(V)the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. ³⁰ Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man ^(W)is revealed.

³¹ “In that day, he ^(X)who is on the housetop, and his ^[d]goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. ^32 (Y)Remember Lot’s wife. ^33 (Z)Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. ^34 (AA)I tell you, in that night there will be two ^[e]men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. ^35 (AB)Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. ^36 [f]Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.”

³⁷ And they answered and said to Him, ^(AC)“Where, Lord?”

So He said to them, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”