Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 30

A Psalm; a Song at the Dedication of the Temple. [A Psalm] of David.

¹ I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me.

² O Lord my God, I cried to You and You have healed me.

³ O Lord, You have brought my life up from Sheol (the place of the dead); You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit (the grave).

⁴ Sing to the Lord, O you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.

⁵ For His anger is but for a moment, but His favor is for a lifetime or in His favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.^(A)

⁶ As for me, in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.

⁷ By Your favor, O Lord, You have established me as a strong mountain; You hid Your face, and I was troubled.

⁸ I cried to You, O Lord, and to the Lord I made supplication.

⁹ What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit (the grave)? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth and faithfulness to men?

¹⁰ Hear, O Lord, have mercy and be gracious to me! O Lord, be my helper!

¹¹ You have turned my mourning into dancing for me; You have put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,

¹² To the end that my tongue and my heart and everything glorious within me may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

13 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

² When a man has a swelling on his skin, a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes the disease of ^[a]leprosy in his skin, then he shall be brought to the priest, to Aaron or one of his sons.

³ The priest shall look at the diseased spot on his skin, and if the hair in it has turned white and the disease appears depressed and deeper than his skin, it is a leprous disease; and the priest shall examine him, and pronounce him unclean.

⁴ If the bright spot is white on his skin, not depressed, and the hair on it not turned white, the priest shall quarantine the person or bind up the spot for seven days.

⁵ And the priest shall examine him on the seventh day, and if the disease in his estimation is at a standstill and has not spread in the skin, then the priest shall quarantine the person or bind up the spot seven more days.

⁶ And the priest shall examine him again the seventh day, and if the diseased part has a more normal color and the disease has not spread in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is only an eruption or a scab; and he shall wash his clothes and be clean.

⁷ But if the eruption or scab spreads farther in the skin after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen by the priest again.

⁸ If the priest sees that the eruption or scab is spreading in the skin, then he shall pronounce him unclean; it is leprosy.

⁹ When the disease of leprosy is in a man, he shall be brought to the priest;

¹⁰ And the priest shall examine him, and if there is a white swelling in the skin and the hair on it has turned white and there is quick raw flesh in the swelling,

¹¹ It is a chronic leprosy in the skin of his body, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean; he shall not bind the spot up, for he is unclean.

¹² But if [supposed] leprosy breaks out in the skin, and it covers all the skin of him who has the disease from head to foot, wherever the priest looks,

¹³ The priest shall examine him; if the [supposed] leprosy covers all his body, he shall pronounce him clean of the disease; it is all turned white, and he is clean.

¹⁴ But when the raw flesh appears on him, he shall be unclean.

¹⁵ And the priest shall examine the raw flesh and pronounce him unclean; for the raw flesh is unclean; it is leprosy.

¹⁶ But if the raw flesh turns again and becomes white, he shall come to the priest,

¹⁷ And the priest shall examine him, and if the diseased part is turned to white again, then the priest shall pronounce him clean who had the disease; he is clean.

⁷ You must submit to and endure [correction] for discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not [thus] train and correct and discipline?

⁸ Now if you are exempt from correction and left without discipline in which all [of God’s children] share, then you are illegitimate offspring and not true sons [at all].^(A)

⁹ Moreover, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we yielded [to them] and respected [them for training us]. Shall we not much more cheerfully submit to the Father of spirits and so [truly] live?

¹⁰ For [our earthly fathers] disciplined us for only a short period of time and chastised us as seemed proper and good to them; but He disciplines us for our certain good, that we may become sharers in His own holiness.

¹¹ For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness—in conformity to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God].

¹² So then, brace up and reinvigorate and set right your slackened and weakened and drooping hands and strengthen your feeble and palsied and tottering knees,^(B)

¹³ And cut through and make firm and plain and smooth, straight paths for your feet [yes, make them safe and upright and happy paths that go in the right direction], so that the lame and halting [limbs] may not be put out of joint, but rather may be cured.