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Purification after Having Skin Diseases
14 The Lord gave Moses 2 (A)the following regulations about the ritual purification of those of you cured of a dreaded skin disease. On the day you are to be pronounced clean, you shall be brought to the priest, 3 and the priest shall take you outside the camp and examine you. If the disease is healed, 4 the priest shall order that two ritually clean birds be brought, along with a piece of cedar wood, a red cord, and a sprig of hyssop. 5 Then the priest shall order that one of the birds be killed over a clay bowl containing fresh spring water. 6 He shall take the other bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the red cord, and the hyssop, in the blood of the bird that was killed. 7 He shall sprinkle the blood seven times on the one of you who is to be purified from your skin disease, and then he shall pronounce you clean. He shall let the live bird fly away over the open fields. 8 You shall wash your clothes, shave off all your hair, and take a bath; you will then be ritually clean. You may enter the camp, but you must live outside your tent for seven days. 9 On the seventh day you shall again shave your head, your beard, your eyebrows, and all the rest of the hair on your body; you shall wash your clothes and take a bath, and then you will be ritually clean.
10 On the eighth day you shall bring two male lambs and one female lamb a year old that are without any defects, five pounds of flour mixed with olive oil, and half a pint of olive oil. 11 The priest shall take you and these offerings to the entrance of the Tent of the Lord's presence. 12 Then the priest shall take one of the male lambs and together with the half pint of oil he shall offer it as a repayment offering. He shall present them as a special gift to the Lord for the priest. 13 He shall kill the lamb in the holy place where the animals for the sin offerings and the burnt offerings are killed. He must do this because the repayment offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest and is very holy. 14 The priest shall take some of the blood of the lamb and put it on the lobe of the right ear, on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the right foot of the one of you to be declared ritually clean. 15 The priest shall take some of the olive oil and pour it in the palm of his own left hand, 16 dip a finger of his right hand in it, and sprinkle some of it seven times there in the Lord's presence. 17 He shall take some of the oil that is in the palm of his hand and some of the blood of the lamb and put them on the lobe of the right ear, on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the right foot of the one of you to be declared ritually clean. 18 He shall put the rest of the oil that is in the palm of his hand on your head. In this way he shall perform the ritual of purification.
19 Then the priest shall offer the sin offering and perform the ritual of purification. After that, he shall kill the animal for the burnt offering 20 and offer it with the grain offering on the altar. In this way the priest shall perform the ritual of purification, and you will be ritually clean.
21 If you are poor and cannot afford any more, you shall bring for your purification only one male lamb as your repayment offering, a special gift to the Lord for the priest. You shall bring only two pounds of flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering and half a pint of olive oil. 22 You shall also bring two doves or two pigeons, one for the sin offering and one for the burnt offering. 23 On the eighth day of your purification you shall bring them to the priest at the entrance of the Tent. 24 The priest shall take the lamb and the olive oil and present them as a special gift to the Lord for the priest. 25 He shall kill the lamb and take some of the blood and put it on the lobe of your right ear, on the thumb of your right hand, and on the big toe of your right foot. 26 The priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand 27 and with a finger of his right hand sprinkle some of it seven times there in the Lord's presence. 28 He shall put some of the oil on the same places he put the blood: on the lobe of your right ear, on the thumb of your right hand, and on the big toe of your right foot. 29 The rest of the oil that is in his palm he shall put on your head and in this way perform the ritual of purification. 30 Then he shall offer one of the doves or pigeons 31 as the sin offering and the other as the burnt offering with the grain offering. In this way the priest shall perform the ritual of purification. 32 This is the law for those who have a dreaded skin disease but who cannot afford the normal offerings required for his purification.
Mildew in Houses
33 The Lord gave Moses and Aaron 34-35 the following regulations about houses affected by spreading mildew. (These were to apply after the people of Israel entered the land of Canaan, which the Lord was going to give them as their possession.) If any of you find that the Lord has sent mildew on your house, then you must go and tell the priest about it. 36 The priest shall order everything to be moved out of the house before he goes to examine the mildew; otherwise everything in the house will be declared unclean. Then he shall go to the house 37 and examine the mildew. If there are greenish or reddish spots that appear to be eating into the wall, 38 he shall leave the house and lock it up for seven days. 39 On the seventh day he shall return and examine it again. If the mildew has spread, 40 he shall order that the stones on which the mildew is found be removed and thrown into some unclean place outside the city. 41 After that he must have all the interior walls scraped and the plaster dumped in an unclean place outside the city. 42 Then other stones are to be used to replace the stones that were removed, and new plaster will be used to cover the walls.
43 If the mildew breaks out again in the house after the stones have been removed and the house has been scraped and plastered, 44 the priest shall go and look. If it has spread, the house is unclean. 45 It must be torn down, and its stones, its wood, and all its plaster must be carried out of the city to an unclean place. 46 Any who enter the house while it is locked up will be unclean until evening. 47 Any who lie down or eat in the house must wash their clothes.
48 If, when the priest comes to look, the mildew has not reappeared after the house has been replastered, he shall pronounce the house ritually clean, because the mildew has been completely removed. 49 To purify the house, he shall take two birds, some cedar wood, a red cord, and a sprig of hyssop. 50 He shall kill one of the birds over a clay bowl containing fresh spring water. 51 Then he shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the red cord, and the live bird and shall dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed and in the fresh water. And he shall sprinkle the house seven times. 52 In this way he shall purify the house with the bird's blood, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the red cord. 53 Then he shall let the live bird fly away outside the city over the open fields. In this way he shall perform the ritual of purification for the house, and it will be ritually clean.
54 These are the laws about dreaded skin diseases; 55-56 sores, boils, or inflammations; and about mildew in clothes or houses. 57 These laws determine when something is unclean and when it is clean.
Jesus Feeds Five Thousand(A)
30 The apostles returned and met with Jesus, and told him all they had done and taught. 31 There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his disciples didn't even have time to eat. So he said to them, “Let us go off by ourselves to some place where we will be alone and you can rest a while.” 32 So they started out in a boat by themselves to a lonely place.
33 Many people, however, saw them leave and knew at once who they were; so they went from all the towns and ran ahead by land and arrived at the place ahead of Jesus and his disciples. 34 (B)When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw this large crowd, and his heart was filled with pity for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things. 35 When it was getting late, his disciples came to him and said, “It is already very late, and this is a lonely place. 36 Send the people away, and let them go to the nearby farms and villages in order to buy themselves something to eat.”
37 “You yourselves give them something to eat,” Jesus answered.
They asked, “Do you want us to go and spend two hundred silver coins[a] on bread in order to feed them?”
38 So Jesus asked them, “How much bread do you have? Go and see.”
When they found out, they told him, “Five loaves and also two fish.”
39 Jesus then told his disciples to make all the people divide into groups and sit down on the green grass. 40 So the people sat down in rows, in groups of a hundred and groups of fifty. 41 Then Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and gave thanks to God. He broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 Everyone ate and had enough. 43 Then the disciples took up twelve baskets full of what was left of the bread and the fish. 44 The number of men who were fed was five thousand.
Jesus Walks on the Water(C)
45 At once Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to Bethsaida, on the other side of the lake, while he sent the crowd away. 46 After saying good-bye to the people, he went away to a hill to pray. 47 When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, while Jesus was alone on land. 48 He saw that his disciples were straining at the oars, because they were rowing against the wind; so sometime between three and six o'clock in the morning, he came to them, walking on the water. He was going to pass them by,[b] 49 but they saw him walking on the water. “It's a ghost!” they thought, and screamed. 50 They were all terrified when they saw him.
Jesus spoke to them at once, “Courage!” he said. “It is I. Don't be afraid!” 51 Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind died down. The disciples were completely amazed, 52 because they had not understood the real meaning of the feeding of the five thousand; their minds could not grasp it.
Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret(D)
53 They crossed the lake and came to land at Gennesaret, where they tied up the boat. 54 As they left the boat, people recognized Jesus at once. 55 So they ran throughout the whole region; and wherever they heard he was, they brought to him the sick lying on their mats. 56 And everywhere Jesus went, to villages, towns, or farms, people would take their sick to the marketplaces and beg him to let the sick at least touch the edge of his cloak. And all who touched it were made well.
A Song of Praise[a]
40 I waited patiently for the Lord's help;
then he listened to me and heard my cry.
2 He pulled me out of a dangerous pit,
out of the deadly quicksand.
He set me safely on a rock
and made me secure.
3 He taught me to sing a new song,
a song of praise to our God.
Many who see this will take warning
and will put their trust in the Lord.
4 Happy are those who trust the Lord,
who do not turn to idols
or join those who worship false gods.
5 You have done many things for us, O Lord our God;
there is no one like you!
You have made many wonderful plans for us.
I could never speak of them all—
their number is so great!
6 (A)You do not want sacrifices and offerings;
you do not ask for animals burned whole on the altar
or for sacrifices to take away sins.
Instead, you have given me ears to hear you,
7 and so I answered, “Here I am;
your instructions for me are in the book of the Law.[b]
8 How I love to do your will, my God!
I keep your teaching in my heart.”
9 In the assembly of all your people, Lord,
I told the good news that you save us.
You know that I will never stop telling it.
10 I have not kept the news of salvation to myself;
I have always spoken of your faithfulness and help.
In the assembly of all your people I have not been silent
about your loyalty and constant love.
11 A good person's words are a fountain of life, but a wicked person's words hide a violent nature.
12 (A)Hate stirs up trouble, but love forgives all offenses.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.