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11 The Eternal One addressed Moses and Aaron again.
Now that Aaron and his sons have been set aside as priests, it is time to instruct them on one of their major duties, that is, helping God’s covenant people understand the difference between purity and impurity. Impurity is a constant challenge and threat to holiness, and God has called His people to be holy. But many actions and circumstances in life put holiness in jeopardy. God knows that His people need help figuring these things out. That’s one of the reasons He sets aside Aaron’s family as priests and gives them these instructions.
It is important to note that purity and impurity, as understood here, are much more than what is sanitary or unsanitary. The ritual purity instructions encompass nearly every aspect of social and religious life in Israel.
Eternal One: 2 Go talk to the Israelites and explain to them which animals of the earth you may and may not eat. 3 You are allowed to eat any animals with split hooves divided into two parts or that chew the cud. 4 But from those animals with split hooves or that chew the cud, you are not allowed to eat camels. Because they only chew the cud and do not have split hooves, camels are impure to you. 5 In the same way, the rock badger chews the cud but does not have split hooves. Therefore, rock badgers are impure to you. 6 Also the hare chews the cud, but it does not have split hooves. Therefore, they are impure to you. 7 The pig has split hooves divided into two parts, but it does not chew the cud. Therefore pigs are impure to you. 8 Do not eat their meat or touch their dead bodies, for they are impure to you.
9 You are certainly allowed to eat these creatures of the water: any fish with fins and scales that swim in the seas or rivers. 10 But any finless or scaleless fish that comes from the abundance of water-life in the seas or rivers, and any other creatures living in the water, are detestable to you. 11 Recognize and treat them for what they are: detestable. You are not allowed to eat their meat, and their dead bodies are repulsive to you. 12 Any finless or scaleless fish or animal or insect in the seas or rivers is detestable to you.
13 Also among the creatures of the air, there are some you should detest as well. Do not eat the eagle, the bearded vulture, or the black vulture, 14 the kite and all kinds of buzzards, 15 any sort of crow, 16 the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, all kinds of hawks, 17 the little owl, the cormorant, the screech owl, 18 the white owl, the pelican, the carrion vulture, 19 the stork, all kinds of herons, the hoopoe, and the bat.
20 Also, any insect that can fly and move around on four legs is detestable. 21 But you are allowed to eat any flying, four-legged insect that has joints above its feet for jumping. 22 You may eat the following insects: locusts, destructive locusts, desert locusts, and grasshoppers. 23 But any other flying, four-legged insects are detestable.
Have you noticed how often faith and food come together? One of the most authentic expressions of our spiritual lives has to do with the table where we gather with family and friends to bless God for the goodness the earth provides. These regulations recorded here helped Israel to maintain its status as God’s chosen and holy people. Kosher laws, as they are called, are unique to Israel’s covenant with the Eternal One. They aren’t God’s laws for everyone; they serve as a cultural boundary-marker indicating what kinds of meat should be eaten.
Eternal One: 24 Also you will become impure until dusk if you touch the carcass of any creature. 25 A person who picks up any part of its carcass must wash his clothes and remain impure until dusk. 26 All animals that do not chew cud or have split hooves that are not in two parts are impure to you. Anyone who has contact with them becomes impure. 27 Also, any four-legged animals that walk on paws are impure to you. Anyone who has contact with their carcasses will be impure until dusk. 28 And anyone who carries their carcass is to wash his clothes and remain impure until dusk. They are impure to you as well.
29 These small creatures that scamper about the earth are impure to you: small rodents, great lizards, 30 geckos, monitor lizards, other lizards, sand reptiles, and chameleons. 31 These small creatures of the earth are impure to you. Anyone who touches their remains will be impure until dusk. 32 If one of the carcasses touches an object you intend to use—such as a piece of wood, an article of clothing, an animal hide, or a sack—then that item is impure and should soak in water until dusk. After that, it will be pure again. 33 If one of the carcasses falls into any container made of clay, the substance within the container will become impure and you should destroy the container. 34 If any food in the container that is ready to eat is touched by water, then the food becomes impure. Any drink from a contaminated container will become impure as well. 35 If any part of a dead body touches something—say, an oven or stove—then that oven or stove must be destroyed. They are impure and will always be impure to you. 36 However if a carcass falls into a spring or a container accumulating water, the water will be ritually pure because it is continually renewed. But the person who pulls the carcass out of the water will be ritually impure. 37 If any part of the dead body has contact with a seed that is to be planted, then the seed remains ritually pure because it is dry. 38 But if the seed becomes wet and any part of a dead body touches it, then the seed is ritually impure.
39 If a clean animal dies naturally, whoever touches the carcass will be impure until dusk. 40 And if anyone eats some of its meat, then that person is to wash his clothes and remain impure until dusk. Anyone who touches the dead body is to wash his clothes and remain impure until dusk.
41 Any swarming creature that scurries along the ground is detestable to you and must not be eaten. Do not consume any of them! 42 Also do not eat any creature that moves on its belly, walks on four legs, or has multiple pairs of feet, for they are detestable to you. 43 Do not defile yourselves by having contact with any of the swarming creatures. Do not become impure by having contact with any of them. 44 For I am the Eternal One, your God. You are to consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am holy.[a] Do not cause yourselves to become impure by having contact with any swarming creature that crawls along the ground. 45 I am the Eternal One who led you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. Therefore, you are to be holy, for I am holy.[b]
46 So this is God’s instruction concerning animals, birds, creatures that live in the waters, and small creatures that move along the ground, 47 so that the people will be able to distinguish between what animals are ritually acceptable and ritually unacceptable, and what is to be eaten and what is not to be eaten.
12 The Eternal One addressed Moses.
Eternal One: 2 Go, talk with the Israelites, and tell them, “If a woman conceives and gives birth to a boy, then she will be ritually unclean for seven days, just like she is unclean when she is menstruating. 3 When the eighth day arrives, the boy will be circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 4 A woman who gives birth to a boy must not have contact with any holy thing or go into the sanctuary for 33 days. She must wait until her purification is complete and her bleeding from childbirth ends. 5 But if the woman gives birth to a girl she will be ritually unclean for 14 days—just like she is unclean when she is menstruating. She must wait 66 days for her purification from bleeding to be complete.
6 After her days of purification are over—regardless of whether she had a boy or a girl—she will bring several things to the priest at the entrance of the congregation tent: a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or turtledove for a purification offering. 7 Then the priest will present it to Me and cover the woman’s blood impurity, and she will be ritually clean from her flowing of blood. This is My instruction for any woman who gives birth to a child, either a boy or a girl. 8 If the woman cannot afford a lamb, then she may instead present two turtledoves or two young pigeons[c]—one for a burnt offering and the other for a purification offering. The priest will offer them to cover her blood impurity, and she will be ritually clean.
This is the only time in the Gospels when Jesus seems to listen to the pleading of a demon or a demon-possessed person. The demons immediately acknowledge Jesus as all-powerful; the possessed man’s first reaction on seeing Jesus is to fall at His feet and call Him the “Son of the Most High.” Although we can’t know why Jesus listens to their pleading, the effect is clear: the people in that region see firsthand the power of evil and its ultimate destiny, namely, destruction.
Instead of being pleased that they are now free from the terror of the demon-possessed man, the people in the town ask Jesus to leave. After all, the local economy takes a pretty big hit when 2,000 of their choicest pigs rush into the sea.
21 After Jesus returned across the sea, a large crowd quickly found Him, so He stayed by the sea. 22 One of the leaders of the synagogue—a man named Jairus—came and fell at Jesus’ feet, 23 begging Him to heal his daughter.
Jairus: My daughter is dying, and she’s only 12 years old. Please come to my house. Just place Your hands on her. I know that if You do, she will live.
24 Jesus began traveling with Jairus toward his home.
In the crowd pressing around Jesus, 25 there was a woman who had suffered continuous bleeding for 12 years, bleeding that made her ritually unclean and an outcast according to the purity laws. 26 She had suffered greatly; and although she spent all her money on her medical care, she had only gotten worse. 27 She had heard of this Miracle-Man, Jesus, so she snuck up behind Him in the crowd and reached out her hand to touch His cloak.
Woman (to herself): 28 Even if all I touch are His clothes, I know I will be healed.
29 As soon as her fingers brushed His cloak, the bleeding stopped. She could feel that she was whole again.
30 Lots of people were pressed against Jesus at that moment, but He immediately felt her touch; He felt healing power flow out of Him.
He stopped. Everyone stopped. He looked around.
Jesus: Who just touched My robe?
31 His disciples broke the uneasy silence.
Disciples: Jesus, the crowd is so thick that everyone is touching You. Why do You ask, “Who touched Me?”
32 But Jesus waited. His gaze swept across the crowd to see who had done it. 33 At last, the woman—knowing He was talking about her—pushed forward and dropped to her knees. She was shaking with fear and amazement.
Woman: I touched You.
Then she told Him the reason why. 34 Jesus listened to her story.
Jesus: Daughter, you are well because you dared to believe. Go in peace, and stay well.
Jesus occasionally instigates His own miracles: He goes up to someone, such as a paralyzed man, and offers to heal him. More often, as in the case of Jairus’s daughter, people come to Jesus and ask for healings. But the woman in this story is unique because she receives her healing without asking for it—simply by touching Jesus in faith. He is surrounded by crowds pressing in on every side, but Jesus feels that one person’s touch is different, in a way that only He can perceive: one woman is touching Him deliberately, in hope and faith, knowing He has the power to heal her.
35 While He was speaking, some members of Jairus’s household pushed through the crowd.
Jairus’s Servants (to Jairus): Your daughter is dead. There’s no need to drag the Teacher any farther.
36 Jesus overheard their words. Then He turned to look at Jairus.
Jesus: It’s all right. Don’t be afraid; just believe.
37-38 Jesus asked everyone but Peter, James, and John (James’s brother) to remain outside when they reached Jairus’s home. Inside the synagogue leader’s house, the mourning had already begun; the weeping and wailing carried out into the street.
39 Jesus and His three disciples went inside.
Jesus: Why are you making all this sorrowful noise? The child isn’t dead. She’s just sleeping.
40 The mourners laughed a horrible, bitter laugh and went back to their wailing. Jesus cleared the house so that only His three disciples, Jairus, and Jairus’s wife were left inside with Him. They all went to where the child lay. 41 Then He took the child’s hand.
Jesus: Little girl, it’s time to wake up.
42 Immediately the 12-year-old girl opened her eyes, arose, and began to walk. Her parents could not believe their eyes.
Jesus (to the parents): 43 Don’t tell anybody what you’ve just seen. Why don’t you give her something to eat? I know she is hungry.
Psalm 38
A song of David for remembering.
This is one of a group of psalms known in later tradition as the penitential psalms, namely, psalms that confess sins and express confidence in God’s mercy. In this psalm a serious illness threatens the life of the worshiper.
1 O Eternal One, please do not scold me in Your anger;
though Your wrath is just, do not correct me in Your fury.
2 The arrows from Your bow have penetrated my flesh;
Your hand has come down hard on me.
3 Because Your anger has infected the depths of my being and stolen my health,
my flesh is ill.
My bones are no longer sound
because of all the sins I have committed.
4 My guilt has covered me; it’s more than I can handle;
this burden is too heavy for me to carry.
5 Now sores cover me—infected and putrid sores,
because of all the foolish things I have done.
6 I am bent down, cowering in fear, prostrate on the ground;
I spend the day in mourning, guilty tears stinging and burning my eyes.
7 My back aches. I’m full of fever;
my body is no longer whole, no longer well.
8 I am completely numb, totally spent, hopelessly crushed.
The agitation of my heart makes me groan.
9 O Lord, You know all my desires;
nothing escapes You; You hear my every moan.
10 My heart pounds against my chest; my vigor is completely drained;
my eyes were once bright, but now the brightness is all gone.
11 Even my friends and loved ones turn away when they see this marked man;
those closest to me are no longer close at all.
12 Those who want me dead lay traps upon my path;
those who desire my downfall threaten—my end is near—
they spend their days plotting against me.
13 Like one who is deaf, my ears do not hear.
Like one who is mute, my tongue cannot speak.
14 The truth is this: I am like one who cannot hear;
I cannot even protest against them.
15 Still I wait expectantly for You, O Eternal One—
knowing You will answer me in some way, O Lord, my True God.
16 I only asked, “When I stumble on the narrow path,
don’t let them boast or celebrate my failure.”
17 I am prepared for what may come; my time must be short;
my pain and suffering a constant companion.
18 I confess, “I have sinned,”
and I regret the wrong I have done.
19 My enemies are alive and well,
they are powerful and on the increase,
and for no reason, they hate me.
20 When I do good, my opponents reward me with evil;
though I pursue what is right, they stand against me.
21 Eternal One, do not leave me to their mercy;
my True God, don’t be far from me when they are near.
22 I need Your help now—not later.
O Lord, be my Rescuer.
8 The wise at heart will gladly obey direction,
but one who fills the air with meaningless talk will fall into ruin.
9 The path of integrity is always safe,
but a person who follows a crooked way will be exposed.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.