Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 111

Praise for the Lord’s Works

Cleansing of Contaminated Objects

³³ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: ³⁴ “When you enter the land of Canaan^(A) that I am giving you as a possession,^(B) and I place a mildew contamination in a house in the land you possess,^{[a] 35} the owner of the house is to come and tell the priest: Something like mildew contamination has appeared^[b] in my house. ³⁶ The priest must order them to clear the house before he enters to examine the contamination, so that nothing in the house becomes unclean. Afterward the priest will come to examine the house. ³⁷ He will examine it, and if the contamination in the walls of the house consists of green or red indentations^[c] that appear to be beneath the surface of the wall, ³⁸ the priest is to go outside the house to its doorway and quarantine the house for seven days. ³⁹ The priest is to return on the seventh day and examine it. If the contamination has spread on the walls of the house, ⁴⁰ the priest must order that the stones with the contamination be pulled out and thrown into an unclean place outside the city. ⁴¹ He is to have the inside of the house completely scraped, and have the plaster^[d] that is scraped off dumped in an unclean place outside the city. ⁴² Then they are to take different stones to replace the former ones and take additional plaster to replaster the house.

⁴³ “If the contamination reappears in the house after the stones have been pulled out, and after the house has been scraped and replastered, ⁴⁴ the priest is to come and examine it. If the contamination has spread in the house, it is harmful mildew; the house is unclean. ⁴⁵ It must be torn down with its stones, its beams, and all its plaster, and taken outside the city to an unclean place. ⁴⁶ Whoever enters the house during any of the days the priest quarantines it will be unclean until evening. ⁴⁷ Whoever lies down in the house is to wash his clothes, and whoever eats in it is to wash his clothes.

⁴⁸ “But when the priest comes and examines it, if the contamination has not spread in the house after it was replastered, he is to pronounce the house clean because the contamination has disappeared.^{[e] 49} He is to take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop to purify the house, ⁵⁰ and he is to slaughter one of the birds over a clay pot containing fresh water. ⁵¹ He will take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn, and the live bird, dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵² He will purify the house with the blood of the bird, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet yarn. ⁵³ Then he is to release the live bird into the open countryside^(C) outside the city. In this way he will make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.

Be Loyal to the Faith

¹³ Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching^(A) that you have heard from me,^(B) in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ Guard the good deposit through the Holy Spirit who lives in us. ¹⁵ You know that all those in the province of Asia^(C) have deserted me,^(D) including Phygelus and Hermogenes. ¹⁶ May the Lord grant mercy^(E) to the household of Onesiphorus,^(F) because he often refreshed me^(G) and was not ashamed of my chains.^{(H) 17} On the contrary, when he was in Rome,^(I) he diligently searched for me and found me. ¹⁸ May the Lord grant that he obtain mercy^(J) from him on that day. You know very well how much he ministered at Ephesus.^(K)