Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Thanksgiving for Escaping Death
A psalm of David. A song for giving the Temple to the Lord.
30 I will praise you, Lord,
because you rescued me.
You did not let my enemies laugh at me.
2 Lord, my God, I prayed to you,
and you healed me.
3 You lifted me out of the grave;
you spared me from going down to the place of the dead.
4 Sing praises to the Lord, you who belong to him;
praise his holy name.
5 His anger lasts only a moment,
but his kindness lasts for a lifetime.
Crying may last for a night,
but joy comes in the morning.
6 When I felt safe, I said,
“I will never fear.”
7 Lord, in your kindness you made my mountain safe.
But when you turned away, I was frightened.
8 I called to you, Lord,
and asked you to have mercy on me.
9 I said, “What good will it do if I die
or if I go down to the grave?
Dust cannot praise you;
it cannot speak about your truth.
10 Lord, hear me and have mercy on me.
Lord, help me.”
11 You changed my sorrow into dancing.
You took away my clothes of sadness,
and clothed me in happiness.
12 I will sing to you and not be silent.
Lord, my God, I will praise you forever.
Rules for Cleansing from Skin Diseases
14 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “These are the teachings for the time at which people who had a harmful skin disease are made clean.
“The person shall be brought to the priest, 3 and the priest must go outside the camp and look at the one who had the skin disease. If the skin disease is healed, 4 the priest will command that two living, clean birds, a piece of cedar wood, a piece of red string, and a hyssop plant be brought for cleansing the person with the skin disease.
5 “The priest must order one bird to be killed in a clay bowl containing fresh water. 6 Then he will take the living bird, the piece of cedar wood, the red string, and the hyssop; all these he will dip into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. 7 The priest will sprinkle the blood seven times on the person being cleansed from the skin disease. He must announce that the person is clean and then go to an open field and let the living bird go free.
8 “The person to be cleansed must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe in water. Then he will be clean and may go into the camp, though he must stay outside his tent for the first seven days. 9 On the seventh day he must shave off all his hair—the hair from his head, his beard, his eyebrows, and the rest of his hair. He must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he will be clean.
10 “On the eighth day the person who had the skin disease must take two male lambs that have nothing wrong with them and a year-old female lamb that has nothing wrong with it. He must also take six quarts of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering and two-thirds of a pint of olive oil. 11 The priest who is to announce that the person is clean must bring him and his sacrifices before the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. 12 The priest will take one of the male lambs and offer it with the olive oil as a penalty offering; he will present them before the Lord as an offering. 13 Then he will kill the male lamb in the holy place, where the sin offering and the whole burnt offering are killed. The penalty offering is like the sin offering—it belongs to the priest and it is most holy.
14 “The priest will take some of the blood of the penalty offering and put it on the bottom of the right ear of the person to be made clean. He will also put some of it on the thumb of the person’s right hand and on the big toe of the person’s right foot. 15 Then the priest will take some of the oil and pour it into his own left hand. 16 He will dip a finger of his right hand into the oil that is in his left hand, and with his finger he will sprinkle some of the oil seven times before the Lord. 17 The priest will put some oil from his hand on the bottom of the right ear of the person to be made clean, some on the thumb of the person’s right hand, and some on the big toe of the person’s right foot. The oil will go on these places on top of the blood for the penalty offering. 18 He will put the rest of the oil that is in his left hand on the head of the person to be made clean. In this way the priest will make that person clean so he can belong to the Lord again.
19 “Next the priest will offer the sin offering to make that person clean so he can belong to the Lord again. After this the priest will kill the animal for the whole burnt offering, 20 and he will offer the burnt offering and grain offering on the altar. In this way he will make that person clean so he can belong to the Lord again.
The Sons of Sceva
11 God used Paul to do some very special miracles. 12 Some people took handkerchiefs and clothes that Paul had used and put them on the sick. When they did this, the sick were healed and evil spirits left them.
13 But some people also were traveling around and making evil spirits go out of people. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus to force the evil spirits out. They would say, “By the same Jesus that Paul talks about, I order you to come out!” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this.
15 But one time an evil spirit said to them, “I know Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”
16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them. Because he was so much stronger than all of them, they ran away from the house naked and hurt. 17 All the people in Ephesus—Jews and Greeks—learned about this and were filled with fear and gave great honor to the Lord Jesus. 18 Many of the believers began to confess openly and tell all the evil things they had done. 19 Some of them who had used magic brought their magic books and burned them before everyone. Those books were worth about fifty thousand silver coins.[a]
20 So in a powerful way the word of the Lord kept spreading and growing.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.