Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Rules for Mildew in a House

³³ The Lord also said to Moses and Aaron, ³⁴ “I am giving the land of Canaan to your people. Your people will enter that land. At that time I might cause mildew to grow in someone’s house. ³⁵ The person who owns that house must come and tell the priest, ‘I see something like mildew in my house.’

³⁶ “Then the priest must order the people to take everything out of the house before he goes in to look at the mildew. Then the priest will not have to say everything in the house is unclean. After the people have taken everything out of the house, the priest will go in to look at the house. ³⁷ He will look at the mildew. If the mildew on the walls of the house has holes that are a green or red color, and if the mildew goes into the wall’s surface, ³⁸ he must go out of the house and lock the house for seven days.

³⁹ “On the seventh day the priest must come back and check the house. If the mildew has spread on the walls of the house, ⁴⁰ then he must order the people to tear out the stones with the mildew on them and throw them away. They must put these stones at a special unclean place outside the city. ⁴¹ Then the priest must have the entire house scraped inside. The people must throw away the plaster that was scraped off the walls. They must put that plaster at a special unclean place outside the city. ⁴² Then new stones must be put in the walls, and the walls must be covered with new plaster.

⁴³ “Maybe someone took away the old stones and plaster and put in new stones and plaster. And maybe mildew again appears in that house. ⁴⁴ Then the priest must come in and check the house. If the infection has spread in the house, it is a disease that spreads quickly to other places. So the house is unclean. ⁴⁵ The house must be torn down. All the stones, plaster, and pieces of wood must be taken to the special unclean place outside the city. ⁴⁶ Anyone who goes into that house will be unclean until evening. ⁴⁷ Anyone who eats in that house or lies down in there must wash their clothes.

⁴⁸ “After new stones and plaster are put in a house, the priest must check the house. If the mildew has not spread through the house, the priest will announce that the house is clean, because the mildew is gone.

⁴⁹ “Then, to make the house clean, the priest must take two birds, a piece of cedar wood, a piece of red cloth, and a hyssop plant. ⁵⁰ He will kill one bird in a clay bowl over running water. ⁵¹ Then he will take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the piece of red cloth, and the living bird and dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed over running water. Then he will sprinkle that blood on the house seven times. ⁵² In this way he will use these things to make the house clean. ⁵³ He will go to an open field outside the city and let the living bird go free. In this way the priest will make the house pure. The house will be clean.”

¹³ What you heard me teach is an example of what you should teach. Follow that model of right teaching with the faith and love we have in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ This teaching is a treasure that you have been trusted with. Protect it with the help of the Holy Spirit, who lives inside us.

¹⁵ You know that everyone in Asia has left me. Even Phygelus and Hermogenes have left me. ¹⁶ I pray that the Lord will show mercy to the family of Onesiphorus. Many times Onesiphorus encouraged me. He was not ashamed that I was in prison. ¹⁷ No, he was not ashamed. When he came to Rome, he looked and looked for me until he found me. ¹⁸ I pray that the Lord Jesus will make sure Onesiphorus receives mercy from the Lord God on that Day. You know how many ways this brother helped me in Ephesus.