Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Thanksgiving for Escaping Death
A psalm of David. A song for ·giving the Temple to the Lord [L the dedication of the Temple; C perhaps written by David in anticipation of the dedication of the Temple under Solomon; the connection with healing is uncertain].
30 I will ·praise [L exalt] you, Lord,
because you ·rescued me [L brought me up].
You did not let my enemies ·laugh at [rejoice over] me.
2 Lord, my God, I ·prayed to you [cried to you for help],
and you healed me.
3 You lifted me out of ·the grave [or the underworld; L Sheol];
you spared me from going down to the ·place of the dead [L Pit; 16:10].
4 Sing praises to the Lord, you ·who belong to him [loyal ones; saints];
·praise [give thanks to] his holy name.
5 His anger lasts only a moment,
but his ·kindness [favor] lasts for a lifetime.
Crying may last for a night,
but joy comes in the morning.
6 When I ·felt safe [or was prosperous], I said,
“I will never ·fear [L be moved].”
7 Lord, in your ·kindness [favor] you made my mountain ·safe [L stand; C God made him prosperous and safe].
But when you ·turned away [L hid your face; C because he became self-reliant, v. 6], I was ·frightened [terrified; or discouraged].
8 I ·called [prayed] to you, Lord,
and ·asked you to have mercy on me [made supplication].
9 I said, “What ·good will it do if I die [profit is there for you in my blood]
or if I go down to ·the grave [corruption; destruction]?
·Dust cannot [L Will the dust…?; Gen. 2:7; Eccl. 12:7] ·praise [thank] you;
·it cannot [L will it…?] speak about your ·truth [faithfulness].
10 Lord, hear me and have mercy on me.
Lord, help me.”
11 You changed my ·sorrow [mourning] into dancing.
You took away my ·clothes of sadness [sackcloth],
and clothed me in ·happiness [joy].
12 I will sing to you and not be silent.
Lord, my God, I will ·praise you [give you thanks] forever.
Rules About Skin Diseases
13 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “Someone might have on ·his skin [L the skin of his body; C and so throughout the passage] a swelling or a ·rash [eruption] or a bright spot. If the sore looks like ·a harmful skin disease [T leprosy; the term does not refer to modern leprosy (Hansen’s disease), but to various skin disorders], the person must be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of Aaron’s sons, the priests. 3 The priest must ·look at [examine] the sore on the person’s skin. If the hair in the sore has become white, and the sore seems deeper than the person’s skin, it is a harmful skin disease [13:2]. When he has finished ·looking at [examining] the person, the priest must announce that the person is unclean [C in a ritual sense; the principle of “wholeness” was disturbed by running sores or by a skin disease that partially covered the body; see 13:12–13].
4 “If there is a white spot on a person’s skin, but the spot does not seem deeper than the skin, and if the hair from the spot has not turned white, the priest must ·separate [confine; quarantine] that person from other people for seven days. 5 On the seventh day the priest must ·look at [examine] the person again. If he sees that the sore has not changed and it has not spread on the skin, the priest must keep the person ·separated [confined; quarantined] for seven more days. 6 On the seventh day the priest must ·look at [examine] the person again. If the sore has faded and has not spread on the skin, the priest must announce that the person is clean [C in a ritual sense]. The sore is only a ·rash [eruption]. The person must wash his clothes, and he will become clean again.
7 “But if the ·rash [eruption] spreads again after the priest has announced him clean [C in a ritual sense], the person must come again to the priest. 8 The priest must ·look at [examine] him, and if the ·rash [eruption] has spread on the skin, the priest must announce that the person is unclean; it is a harmful skin disease [13:2].
9 “If a person has a harmful skin disease [13:2], he must be brought to the priest, 10 and the priest must ·look at [examine] him. If there is a white swelling in the skin, and the hair has become white, and the skin looks raw in the swelling, 11 it is a harmful skin disease [13:2]. It is one he has had for a long time. The priest must announce that the person is unclean [C in a ritual sense]. He will not need to ·separate [confine; quarantine] that person from other people, because everyone already knows that the person is unclean.
12 “If the skin disease [13:2] spreads all over a person’s body, covering his skin from his head to his feet, as far as the priest can see, the priest must ·look at [examine] the person’s whole body. 13 If the priest sees that the disease covers the whole body and has turned all of the person’s skin white, he must announce that the person is clean [C in a ritual sense; he was clean because he was whole, uniformly covered by skin disease; 13:3].
14 “But when the person has ·an open sore [raw flesh], he is unclean [C in a ritual sense; because there was a break in the surface of his body, he was no longer whole]. 15 When the priest sees the ·open sore [raw flesh], he must announce that the person is unclean. The open sore is not clean; it is a harmful skin disease [13:2]. 16 If the ·open sore [raw flesh] becomes white again, the person must come to the priest. 17 The priest must ·look at [examine] him, and if the ·sores have [raw flesh has] become white, the priest must announce that the person with the ·sores [raw flesh] is clean. Then he will be clean.
7 ·So hold on through your sufferings, because they are like a father’s discipline [L Persevere in discipline]. God is treating you as ·children [or sons]. ·All children are [L For what child/son is not…?] disciplined by their fathers. 8 If you are never disciplined (and every ·child [or son] must be disciplined), you are ·not true children [L illegitimate and not (true) children/sons]. 9 [Furthermore; Moreover] We have all had ·fathers [or parents] here on earth who disciplined us, and we respected them. So it is even more important that we accept discipline from ·the Father of our spirits [or our spiritual Father; or the Father of all spirit beings; 12:23; Num. 16:22] so we will have [C eternal or true spiritual] life. 10 ·Our fathers on earth [L They] disciplined us for a short time in the way they thought was best. But God disciplines us ·to help us [for our good/benefit], so we can ·become holy as he is [L share in his holiness]. 11 We do not enjoy being disciplined. It is painful at the time, but later, after we have ·learned from [been trained by] it, ·we have peace [L it produces/bears the fruit of peace], ·because we start living in the right way [or …and righteousness].
Be Careful How You Live
12 ·You have become weak, so make yourselves strong again [L Therefore, strengthen your drooping arms/hands and your weak/disabled knees; Is. 35:3]. 13 ·Keep on the right path [L Make straight/clear paths for your feet; Prov. 4:27], so the ·weak [lame] will not ·stumble [be disabled; put out of joint] but rather be ·strengthened [healed].
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