Old/New Testament
Rules for the people after a disease of the skin leaves them
14 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘These rules are for a person who has had a disease on his skin. They are rules about how to make him clean. When the disease leaves the person, you must bring him to the priest. 3 The priest must go outside the camp and he must look at the person. If the disease has gone away, 4 he must speak to the person. He must tell the person that he must bring two birds. They must be birds that are good for food. The birds must be alive. They must also bring wood from the cedar tree, red wool and some hyssop. 5 The priest will bring a pot with water in it. He will hold one of the birds over the pot and he will kill it. 6 The priest will take the other bird and the wood from the cedar tree. He will take the red wool and the hyssop. He will put all of them into the blood of the dead bird. 7 The priest will shake the blood over the person who had the disease. He will do this seven times. The priest will then say that the person is clean. The priest will let the live bird go. It will fly away.
8 The person who had the disease must wash his clothes. He must wash his body with water and he must cut off all his hair. Then he will be clean. He can go into the camp. But he must stay outside the home that he has made from animal skins for seven days. 9 On day seven, he must cut all the hair off his head and his face. He must wash his clothes and his body with water.
10 On the eighth day, the person must bring two young male sheep and one female sheep. The female sheep must be one year old. Both the animals must be perfect. He must also bring three tenths (3/10) of an ephah of flour (about six litres) mixed with oil. And he must bring a cup of olive oil. 11 The priest who is making him clean must be there. He must bring the person to the door of the Tent of Meeting. The person must bring with him his offerings to the Lord.
12 The priest must take one of the male sheep and the oil. He must lift them up to the Lord as a gift. 13 He must kill the sheep at the north side of the altar. That is where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering. The gift is holy. It is food for the priests. 14 The priest must put some of the blood on the lowest part of the person's right ear. He must put blood on the thumb of the person's right hand. And he must put blood on the big toe of the person's right foot. 15 The priest must pour some of the oil into his own left hand. 16 He must put a finger from his right hand into the oil. He must shake the oil seven times in front of the Lord's altar. 17 The priest must put oil on the lowest part of the person's right ear. He must put some of the oil on the thumb of the person's right hand. He must put some of the oil on the big toe of the person's right foot. He will put the oil on top of the offering's blood. 18 The priest must put the oil that he did not use on the person's head. This makes his atonement in front of the Lord.
19 Then the priest must offer the sin offering. That will make atonement for the man who will become clean. Then the priest must kill another sheep. It is a burnt offering. 20 The priest must sacrifice the dead animal. It is a burnt offering. The priest must offer it on the altar. He must burn the flour and the oil with it on the altar. All this will make atonement for the person. This makes the person who had the disease clean.
21 If the person is poor, he must bring one young male sheep. And he must bring a tenth of an ephah of flour (about 2 litres) mixed with oil. And he must give a cup of olive oil. The priest must lift them to the Lord. 22 The person must also bring two birds. They must be doves or pigeons. These will be his gift. One bird is for a sin offering and the other one is for a burnt offering.
23 On the eighth day, the person must bring his gifts to the Lord. He must bring them to the door of the Tent of Meeting. 24 The priest will take the young sheep and the oil and he will lift them up to the Lord. 25 He will kill the sheep. He will put some of its blood on the lowest part of the person's ear. He will put the blood on the thumb of the person's right hand. He will put the blood on the big toe of the person's right foot. 26 The priest will pour some of the oil into his own left hand. 27 He will put a finger from his right hand into the oil. He will shake it seven times in front of the Lord's altar. 28 He will put oil from his hand on the lowest part of the person's ear. He will also put oil on the thumb of the person's right hand. He will put oil on the big toe of the person's right foot. 29 The priest will put the oil that he did not use on the person's head. Then the Lord can see that he is clean. 30 The priest will kill the pigeons or doves. 31 One bird is for a sin offering. The priest will burn the other bird with the grain offering. This is how the priest will make atonement in front of the Lord. He will do it for the person who was not clean.
32 These are the rules for a person who had a disease in his skin. They are for a disease that he might give to other people. They are for people who are too poor to buy three sheep.’
Rules for a house that has a disease called mildew
33 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 34 ‘Canaan is my gift to you, to belong to you for ever. When you go into that land, I may put a disease called mildew[a] in a house there. 35 If a person finds mildew in his house, he must tell the priest. He must say, “I have found something like mildew in my house.” 36 The priest will tell the person what he should do. The person must take everything out of the house. If he does, those things will still be clean. Then the priest will go into the house. 37 He will look at the walls of the house. He will look for a green or red mark. If the mark goes into the wall, 38 the priest will leave the house. He will shut it up for seven days. 39 On the seventh day, the priest will return to the house. The mildew may be bigger. 40 The priest must say, “You must remove the stones that have mildew.” The person must put the stones outside the town. He must put them in a special place. 41 The person must cut the clay from inside the walls of the house. The person must put the clay from the walls outside the town. The person must put it in a place for things that are not clean. 42 The person who lives in the house must get some more stones. He must get some more clay. Then he can mend the wall.
43 A person might find mildew on the wall that he has mended. He must tell the priest. 44 The priest will look at the house. If the mildew is on more of the mended wall, the house is not clean. 45 The person must break the house into pieces. The person who lives in the house must put the stones outside the town. He must put the wood and the clay outside the town. He must put them in the place for things that are not clean.
46 A person may go into the house while it is shut up. If he does, he will not become clean until evening. 47 Any person who sleeps in a house with mildew must wash his clothes. And any person who eats in a house with mildew must wash his clothes.
48 If a person mends his house, the priest must look at it. There may not be any mildew. The priest will then say that it is clean. 49 The person must take two birds and some wood from the cedar tree. He must take red wool and hyssop. 50 The priest will bring a pot with water in it. He will hold one of the birds over the pot and he will kill it. 51 The priest will take the other bird and the wood from the cedar tree. He will take the red wool and the hyssop. He will put all of them into the blood of the dead bird. He will shake the blood and water over the house seven times. This will make the house clean. 52 The priest will use the birds and the wood from the cedar tree. And he will use the wool and the hyssop to make the house clean. 53 Then the priest will take the living bird outside the town. He will let the bird fly away. That will make atonement for the house. The person may then live in the house again.’
Moses tells the people what these rules are for
54 These are the rules for a disease in a person's skin. 55 These are the rules for mildew in clothes or in a house. 56 These are the rules for a mark on or under the skin. 57 These rules decide when a person has a disease. And they decide when he is clean. They show when a house has a disease. They are the rules for diseases in the skin and for mildew.
51 Then one of Jesus' disciples took hold of his sword. He hit the servant of the leader of the priests with it and he cut off the servant's ear.
52 Then Jesus said to the disciple, ‘Put your sword back in its place. People who use a sword to kill others will themselves die in the same way. Someone will kill them with a sword. 53 You should know that I could ask my Father God to help me. He would immediately send more than 12 large groups of angels to fight for me. 54 They would save me. But then the things that God has said in the Bible about this would not happen. So it must happen in this way.’
55 At that time, Jesus said to the crowd, ‘You have come out here with swords and heavy sticks to take hold of me. Do you really believe that I am leading people to fight against our country's rulers? No! I was teaching people every day in the yard of the temple. But you did not try to take hold of me then. 56 The prophets wrote long ago that all this would happen to me. Now it has become true.’
Then all of Jesus' disciples ran away and left him.
Jesus stands in front of all the important rulers
57 Then those men who had taken hold of Jesus took him to Caiaphas's house. Caiaphas was the most important priest. The teachers of God's Law and the important Jews were meeting there together with Caiaphas.[a]
58 Peter followed Jesus into the yard of Caiaphas' house. But he did not go near Jesus. He sat down in the yard with the police who worked in the temple. He wanted to see what would happen.
59 The leaders of the priests and all the Jewish leaders wanted to punish Jesus with death. So they tried to find some people who would say things against Jesus that were not true. 60 Many people did come. And they said things against Jesus that were not true. But still the Jewish leaders could not find a reason to kill Jesus.[b]
Then two men stood up and they said, 61 ‘We heard this man say, “I can destroy the temple and in three days I can build it again.” ’
62 Then Caiaphas stood up. He said to Jesus, ‘You must reply now to what these men have said against you. Are the things that they say true?’ 63 But Jesus did not say anything.
So Caiaphas said to him, ‘I use the authority of the God who lives. You must promise to tell us what is true. Are you the Messiah? Are you the Son of God?’
64 ‘You have said it,’ Jesus replied. ‘And I tell all of you, soon you will see the Son of Man. He will be sitting in the most important place at the right side of the Most Powerful God. You will also see him coming to earth. He will be riding on the clouds in the sky.’
65 Then Caiaphas tore his clothes to show that he was angry.[c] He said, ‘Jesus has spoken bad words against God. We do not need anyone else to speak against him. You have heard him speak bad words against God. 66 Do you think that he is guilty?’
They replied, ‘He is guilty and he deserves to die.’
67 Then some of them spat into Jesus' face. They also hit him with their fists. 68 When they hit him, they said, ‘Messiah! Show us that you are a prophet. Tell us who hit you!’
Peter says three times that he does not know Jesus
69 While all these things were happening, Peter was sitting outside in the yard. One of the girls who worked there went to him and she said, ‘You were also a friend of Jesus, the man from Galilee.’
70 Peter said in front of everyone who was there, ‘That is not true. I do not know what you are talking about.’
71 Peter then went out to the gate, and another servant girl saw him. This girl said to the people who were standing there, ‘This man was a friend of Jesus, the man from Nazareth.’
72 Peter answered again very strongly. He said, ‘I promise you, I really do not know that man!’
73 After a little time, other people who were standing at the gate spoke to Peter. They said, ‘We are sure that you too are one of that man's friends. We know this because you speak like people who live in Galilee.’
74 Peter said to them very strongly, ‘I tell you that I do not know that man. God will surely punish me if this is not true!’
Immediately after Peter said this, the cockerel sang. 75 Then Peter remembered that Jesus had said to him, ‘Tonight you will say three times that you do not know me. You will do it before the cockerel sings.’ So Peter went out of the yard. He began to weep a lot because he was very upset.
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