The Daily Audio Bible

Parashah 28: M’tzora (Person afflicted with tzara‘at) 14:1–15:33

[In regular years read with Parashah 27, in leap years read separately]

14 Adonai said to Moshe, ² “This is to be the law concerning the person afflicted with tzara‘at on the day of his purification. He is to be brought to the cohen, ³ and the cohen is to go outside the camp and examine him there. If he sees that the tzara‘at sores have been healed in the afflicted person, ⁴ then the cohen will order that two living clean birds be taken for the one to be purified, along with cedar-wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop leaves. ⁵ The cohen is to order one of the birds slaughtered in a clay pot over running water. ⁶ As for the live bird, he is to take it with the cedar-wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird slaughtered over running water, ⁷ and sprinkle the person to be purified from the tzara‘at seven times. Next he is to set the live bird free in an open field. ⁸ He who is to be purified must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair and bathe himself in water. Then he will be clean; and after that, he may enter the camp; but he must live outside his tent for seven days. ⁹ On the seventh day he is to shave all the hair off his head, also his beard and eyebrows — he must shave off all his hair; and he is to wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; and he will be clean.

¹⁰ “On the eighth day he is to take two male lambs without defect, one female lamb in its first year without defect and six-and-a-half quarts of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with olive oil, and two-thirds of a pint of olive oil. ¹¹ The cohen purifying him is to place the person being purified with these items before Adonai at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ¹² The cohen is to take one of the male lambs and offer it as a guilt offering with the two-thirds-pint of olive oil, then wave them as a wave offering before Adonai. (LY: ii) ¹³ He is to slaughter the male lamb at the place in the sanctuary for slaughtering sin offerings and burnt offerings, because the guilt offering belongs to the cohen, just like the sin offering; it is especially holy. ¹⁴ The cohen is to take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of the person being purified, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. ¹⁵ Next, the cohen is to take some of the two-thirds-pint of olive oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand, ¹⁶ dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand and sprinkle from the oil with his finger seven times before Adonai. ¹⁷ Then the cohen is to put some of the remaining oil in his hand on the tip of the right ear of the person being purified, on the thumb of his right hand, on the big toe of his right foot and on the blood of the guilt offering. ¹⁸ Finally, the cohen is to put the rest of the oil in his hand on the head of the person being purified; and the cohen will make atonement for him before Adonai. ¹⁹ The cohen is to offer the sin offering and make atonement for the person being purified because of his uncleanness; afterwards, he is to slaughter the burnt offering. ²⁰ The cohen is to offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar; thus the cohen will make atonement for him; and he will be clean.

(RY: v, LY: iii) ²¹ “If he is poor, so that he can’t afford to do otherwise, he is to take one male lamb as a guilt offering to be waved, to make atonement for him; two quarts of fine flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering; two-thirds of a pint of olive oil; ²² and two doves or two young pigeons, such as he can afford, the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. ²³ On the eighth day, he will bring them to the cohen for his purification, to the entrance of the tent of meeting before Adonai. ²⁴ The cohen is to take the lamb of the guilt offering and the two-thirds of a pint of olive oil and wave them as a wave offering before Adonai. ²⁵ He is to slaughter the lamb of the guilt offering; and the cohen is to take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of the person being purified, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁶ The cohen is to take some of the olive oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand, ²⁷ and sprinkle with his right hand some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before Adonai. ²⁸ The cohen is to put some of the oil in his hand on the tip of the right ear of the person being purified, on the thumb of his right hand, on the big toe of his right foot — in the same place as the blood of the guilt offering. ²⁹ Finally, the cohen is to put the rest of the oil in his hand on the head of the person being purified, to make atonement for him before Adonai. ³⁰ He is to offer one of the doves or young pigeons, such as the person can afford, ³¹ whatever his means suffice for — the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering — with the grain offering; thus the cohen will make atonement before Adonai for the person being purified. ³² Such is the law for the person who has tzara‘at sores if he cannot afford the usual elements used for his purification.”

(RY: vi, LY: iv) ³³ Adonai said to Moshe and Aharon, ³⁴ “When you have entered the land of Kena‘an which I am giving you as a possession, and I put an infection of tzara‘at in a house in the land that you possess, ³⁵ then the owner of the house is to come and tell the cohen, ‘It seems to me that there may be an infection in the house.’ ³⁶ The cohen is to order the house emptied before he goes in to inspect the infection, so that everything in the house won’t be made unclean; afterwards, the cohen is to enter and inspect the house. ³⁷ He will examine the infection; and if he sees that the infection is in the walls of the house, with greenish or reddish depressions that seem to go in deeper than the surface of the wall, ³⁸ he is to go out of the house to its door and seal up the house for seven days. ³⁹ The cohen will come again on the seventh day and examine the house; if he sees that the infection has spread over its walls, ⁴⁰ he is to order them to remove the infected stones and throw them into some unclean place outside the city. ⁴¹ Next, he is to have the inside of the house thoroughly scraped, and the scraped-off plaster is to be discarded outside the city in an unclean place. ⁴² Finally, other stones must be set in the place of the first stones and other plaster used to replaster the house. ⁴³ If the infection returns and breaks out in the house after the stones have been removed and the house scraped and plastered; ⁴⁴ then the cohen is to enter and examine it. If he sees that the infection has spread in the house, it is a contagious tzara‘at in the house; it is unclean. ⁴⁵ He must break down the house and take its stones, timber and plaster out of the city to an unclean place. ⁴⁶ Moreover, whoever enters the house at any time while it is sealed up will be unclean until evening. ⁴⁷ Whoever lies down or eats in the house must wash his clothes. ⁴⁸ If the cohen enters, examines and sees that the infection has not spread in the house since it was plastered; then he is to declare the house clean; because the infection is cured.

⁴⁹ “To purify the house, he is to take two birds, cedar-wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop leaves. ⁵⁰ He is to slaughter one of the birds in a clay pot over running water. ⁵¹ He is to take the cedar-wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn and the live bird and dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵² He will purify the house with the blood of the bird, the running water, the live bird, the cedar-wood, the hyssop and the scarlet yarn. ⁵³ But he is to set the live bird free outside the city in an open field; thus will he make atonement for the house; and it will be clean.

(LY: v) ⁵⁴ “Such is the law for all kinds of tzara‘at sores, for a crusted area, ⁵⁵ for tzara‘at in a garment, for a house, ⁵⁶ for a swelling, for a scab and for a bright spot, ⁵⁷ to determine when it is clean and when it is unclean. This is the law concerning tzara‘at.”

³⁰ Those who had been sent out rejoined Yeshua and reported to him all they had done and taught. ³¹ There were so many people coming and going that they couldn’t even take time to eat, so he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a place where we can be alone, and you can get some rest.” ³² They went off by themselves to an isolated spot; ³³ but many people, seeing them leave and recognizing them, ran ahead on foot from all the towns and got there first. ³⁴ When Yeshua came ashore, he saw a huge crowd. Filled with compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, he began teaching them many things.

³⁵ By this time, the hour was late. The talmidim came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s getting late. ³⁶ Send the people away, so that they can go and buy food for themselves in the farms and towns around here.” ³⁷ But he answered them, “Give them something to eat, yourselves!” They replied, “We are to go and spend thousands on bread, and give it to them to eat?” ³⁸ He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and check.” When they had found out, they said, “Five. And two fish.” ³⁹ Then he ordered all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ They sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred. ⁴¹ Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, and, looking up toward heaven, made a b’rakhah. Next he broke up the loaves and began giving them to the talmidim to distribute. He also divided up the two fish among them all. ⁴² They all ate as much as they wanted, ⁴³ and they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces and fish. ⁴⁴ Those who ate the loaves numbered five thousand men.

⁴⁵ Immediately Yeshua had his talmidim get in the boat and go on ahead of him toward the other side of the lake, toward Beit-Tzaidah, while he sent the crowds away. ⁴⁶ After he had left them, he went into the hills to pray. ⁴⁷ When night came, the boat was out on the lake, and he was by himself on land. ⁴⁸ He saw that they were having difficulty rowing, because the wind was against them; so at around four o’clock in the morning he came toward them, walking on the lake! He meant to come alongside them; ⁴⁹ but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought it was a ghost and let out a shriek; ⁵⁰ for they had all seen him and were terrified. However, he spoke to them. “Courage,” he said, “it is I. Stop being afraid!” ⁵¹ He got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. They were completely astounded, ⁵² for they did not understand about the loaves; on the contrary, their hearts had been made stone-like.

⁵³ After they had made the crossing, they landed at Ginosar and anchored. ⁵⁴ As soon as they got out of the boat, the people recognized him ⁵⁵ and began running around throughout that whole region and bringing sick people on their stretchers to any place where they heard he was. ⁵⁶ Wherever he went, in towns, cities or country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the tzitzit on his robe, and all who touched it were healed.