Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Making Things “Clean” From Mold

³³ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron. He told them to say to the people, ³⁴ “You will enter the land of Canaan. I am giving it to you as your own. When you enter it, suppose I put mold in one of your houses. And suppose the mold spreads. ³⁵ Then the owner of that house must go and speak to the priest. He must say, ‘I’ve seen something that looks like mold in my house.’ ³⁶ The priest must order everything to be taken out of the house. It must be done before he goes in to look carefully at the mold. If it is not done, the priest must announce that everything in the house is ‘unclean.’ After the house is empty the priest must go in and check it. ³⁷ He must look carefully at the mold on the walls. Suppose it looks as if it has green or red dents in it. And suppose the dents look as if they are behind the surface of the wall. ³⁸ Then the priest must go out the door. He must close the house up for seven days. ³⁹ On the seventh day the priest will return to check the house. Suppose the mold on the walls has spread. ⁴⁰ Then he must order someone to tear out the stones that have mold on them. He must have them thrown into an ‘unclean’ place outside the town. ⁴¹ He must have all the inside walls of the house scraped. Everything scraped off must be dumped into an ‘unclean’ place outside the town. ⁴² Then other stones must be put in the place of the stones that had mold on them. The inside walls of the house must be coated with new clay.

⁴³ “Suppose the stones have been torn out. The house has been scraped. And the walls have been coated with new clay. But the mold appears again. ⁴⁴ Then the priest must go and look things over carefully. Suppose the mold has spread in the house. Then it is the kind of mold that destroys things. The house is not ‘clean.’ ⁴⁵ It must be torn down. The stones, the wood and all the clay coating must be torn out. All of it must be taken out of the town to an ‘unclean’ place.

⁴⁶ “Suppose someone goes into the house while it is closed up. Then they will be ‘unclean’ until evening. ⁴⁷ If they sleep or eat in the house, they must wash their clothes.

⁴⁸ “But suppose the priest comes to look things over carefully. And suppose the mold has not spread after the walls had been coated with new clay. Then he will announce that the house is ‘clean.’ The mold is gone. ⁴⁹ To make the house pure, the priest must get two birds. He must also get some cedar wood, bright red yarn and branches of a hyssop plant. ⁵⁰ He must kill one of the birds over fresh water in a clay pot. ⁵¹ Then he must take the cedar wood, the hyssop plant, the bright red yarn and the live bird. He must dip all of them into the blood of the dead bird. He must also dip them into the fresh water. He must sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵² The priest will use the blood and the water to make the house pure. He will use the live bird to make it pure. He will also use the cedar wood, the hyssop plant and the bright red yarn to make it pure. ⁵³ Then he must let the live bird go free in the open fields outside the town. In that way he will make the house pure. It will be ‘clean.’ ”

¹³ Follow what you heard from me as the pattern of true teaching. Follow it with faith and love because you belong to Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ Guard the truth of the good news that you were trusted with. Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Examples of Faithful and Unfaithful People

¹⁵ You know that all the believers in Asia Minor have deserted me. They include Phygelus and Hermogenes.

¹⁶ May the Lord show mercy to all who live in the house of Onesiphorus. He often encouraged me. He was not ashamed that I was being held by chains. ¹⁷ In fact, it was just the opposite. When he was in Rome, he looked everywhere for me. At last he found me. ¹⁸ May Onesiphorus find mercy from the Lord on the day Jesus returns as judge! You know very well how many ways Onesiphorus helped me in Ephesus.