Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

This One Was Born in Zion

Psalm 87

Naaman’s Tza’arat

5 Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man in his master’s sight and highly esteemed, because through him Adonai had given victory to Aram. Though the man was a mighty man of valor, he had tza’arat.

² Aram had gone out in bands, and had taken captive a young girl from the land of Israel. So she served Naaman’s wife. ³ Then she said to her mistress, “If only my lord went before the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his tza’arat.”

⁴ So Naaman went in and told his master, saying, “Thus and thus spoke the girl who is from the land of Israel.” ⁵ The king of Aram said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, 6,000 pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothes.

⁶ He brought the letter to the king of Israel saying, “When this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent my servant Naaman to you, so you may cure him of his tza’arat.”

⁷ Now when the king of Israel read the letter, he ripped his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man is sending to me to cure a man of his tza’arat? But please consider, and see how he is seeking a pretext against me.”

⁸ Now when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, he sent word to the king saying, “Why have you rent your clothes? Please, let him come to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

⁹ So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots, and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha. ¹⁰ So Elisha sent him a messenger, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be clean.”

¹¹ But Naaman was angered and walked away, saying, “I thought he would surely come out to me, stand and call on the Name of Adonai his God, and wave his hand over the spot and cure the tza’arat. ¹² Aren’t Amanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.

¹³ But his servants approached him and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he told you only to ‘Wash and be clean’?” ¹⁴ So, he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God. Then his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Jerusalem Council Rules on Circumcision

15 Now some men coming down from Judea were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” ² When Paul and Barnabas had a big argument and debate with them, the brothers appointed Paul and Barnabas with some others from among them to go up to Jerusalem to the emissaries and elders about this issue.

³ So they were sent on their way by the Antioch community. They were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and they were bringing great joy to all the brothers and sisters. ⁴ When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the community and the emissaries and the elders. They reported all that God had done in helping them.

⁵ But some belonging to the party of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the Torah of Moses.”

⁶ The emissaries and elders were gathered together to examine this issue. ⁷ After much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God chose from among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the message of the Good News and believe. ⁸ And God, who knows the heart, testified to them by giving them the Ruach ha-Kodesh—just as He also did for us. ⁹ He made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts through faith. ¹⁰ Why then do you put God to the test by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples—which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? ¹¹ But instead, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Yeshua, in the same way as they are.”

¹² Then the whole group became silent and were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were describing in detail all the signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. ¹³ After they finished speaking, Jacob answered, “Brothers, listen to me. ¹⁴ Simon has described how God first showed His concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for His Name. ¹⁵ The words of the Prophets agree, as it is written:

¹⁹ Therefore, I judge not to trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God— ²⁰ but to write to them to abstain from the contamination of idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what is strangled, and from blood. ^{[c] 21} For Moses from ancient generations has had in every city those who proclaim him, since he is read in all the synagogues every Shabbat.”