Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Prayer of Thanks

30 I will lift You up, O Lord, for You have lifted me up. You have not let those who hate me stand over me in joy. ² O Lord my God, I cried to You for help and You healed me. ³ O Lord, You have brought me up from the grave. You have kept me alive, so that I will not go down into the deep. ⁴ Sing praise to the Lord, all you who belong to Him. Give thanks to His holy name. ⁵ For His anger lasts only a short time. But His favor is for life. Crying may last for a night, but joy comes with the new day.

⁶ As for me, when all was going well, I said, “I will never be moved.” ⁷ O Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong. But when You hid Your face, I was troubled. ⁸ I cried to You, O Lord. I begged the Lord for loving-kindness. ⁹ What good will come from my blood, if I go down to the grave? Will the dust thank You? Will it tell how You are faithful?

¹⁰ Hear, O Lord. And show me loving-kindness. O Lord, be my Helper. ¹¹ You have turned my crying into dancing.You have taken off my clothes made from hair, and dressed me with joy. ¹² So my soul may sing praise to You, and not be quiet. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

Laws about a Bad Skin Disease

13 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ² “When a man has a sore spot on his skin, an open sore or a bright spot, and it becomes a bad skin disease, he should be brought to the religious leader, to Aaron or one of his sons. ³ The religious leader will look at the mark on his skin of the body. If the hair in the spot has become white and the disease looks deeper than his skin, it is a bad skin disease. The religious leader will look at him, and will say that he is unclean. ⁴ But the spot may be white on his skin, and not seem to be deeper than the skin, and the hair on it not white. Then the religious leader will keep the sick man away from other people for seven days. ⁵ The religious leader will look at him on the seventh day. If he finds that the disease has not changed and has not spread on the skin, the religious leader will keep him away from other people for seven more days. ⁶ The religious leader will look at him again on the seventh day. If the spot is not as bright and has not spread on the skin, the religious leader will say he is clean. It is only what is left of a sore. He will wash his clothes and be clean.

⁷ “But if what is left of the sore spreads farther on the skin, after he has been seen by the religious leader as being clean, he must show himself to the religious leader again. ⁸ And the religious leader will look, and if the sore has spread on the skin, the religious leader will say that he is unclean. It is a bad skin disease.

⁹ “When a man has a bad skin disease, he will be brought to the religious leader. ¹⁰ The religious leader will look at it. If there is a white sore on the skin that has made the hair white, and there are open sores growing on the flesh, ¹¹ it is an old and deep skin disease on his body. The religious leader will say he is unclean. He will not keep him away from others, for he already is unclean. ¹² But the disease may spread farther on the skin, and cover all the skin of him who has the disease from head to foot, everywhere the religious leader looks. ¹³ If the religious leader sees that the skin disease has covered all his body, he will say he is clean from the disease, because the skin has all become white and he is clean. ¹⁴ But when open sores in the flesh show on him, he will be unclean. ¹⁵ The religious leader will look at the open sores in the flesh, and he will say he is unclean. The open sores in the flesh are unclean. It is a bad skin disease. ¹⁶ If the flesh with open sores changes again and becomes white, he will come to the religious leader. ¹⁷ If the religious leader sees that the disease has become white, the religious leader will say that he who had the disease is clean; he is clean.

⁷ Do not give up when you are punished by God. Be willing to take it, knowing that God is teaching you as a son. Is there a father who does not punish his son sometimes? ⁸ If you are not punished as all sons are, it means that you are not a true son of God. You are not a part of His family and He is not your Father. ⁹ Remember that our fathers on earth punished us. We had respect for them. How much more should we obey our Father in heaven and live? ¹⁰ For a little while our fathers on earth punished us when they thought they should. But God punishes us for our good so we will be holy as He is holy. ¹¹ There is no joy while we are being punished. It is hard to take, but later we can see that good came from it. And it gives us the peace of being right with God.

¹² So lift up your hands that have been weak. Stand up on your weak legs. ¹³ Walk straight ahead so the weak leg will not be turned aside, but will be healed.