Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

111 ^1-2 Hallelujah! I want to express publicly before his people my heartfelt thanks to God for his mighty miracles. All who are thankful should ponder them with me. ³ For his miracles demonstrate his honor, majesty, and eternal goodness.

⁴ Who can forget the wonders he performs—deeds of mercy and of grace? ⁵ He gives food to those who trust him; he never forgets his promises. ⁶ He has shown his great power to his people by giving them the land of Israel, though it was the home of many nations living there. ⁷ All he does is just and good, and all his laws are right, ⁸ for they are formed from truth and goodness and stand firm forever. ⁹ He has paid a full ransom for his people; now they are always free to come to Jehovah (what a holy, awe-inspiring name that is).

¹⁰ How can men be wise? The only way to begin is by reverence for God. For growth in wisdom comes from obeying his laws. Praise his name forever.

12 One day Miriam and Aaron were criticizing Moses because his wife was a Cushite woman,^{[a] 2} and they said, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he spoken through us, too?”

But the Lord heard them. ^3-4 Immediately he summoned Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to the Tabernacle: “Come here, you three,” he commanded. So they stood before the Lord. (Now Moses was the humblest man on earth.)

⁵ Then the Lord descended in the Cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle. “Aaron and Miriam, step forward,” he commanded; and they did. ⁶ And the Lord said to them, “Even with a prophet, I would communicate by visions and dreams; ^7-8 but that is not how I communicate with my servant Moses. He is completely at home in my house! With him I speak face-to-face! And he shall see the very form of God! Why then were you not afraid to criticize him?”

⁹ Then the anger of the Lord grew hot against them, and he departed. ¹⁰ As the Cloud moved from above the Tabernacle, Miriam suddenly became white with leprosy. When Aaron saw what had happened, ¹¹ he cried out to Moses, “Oh, sir, do not punish us for this sin; we were fools to do such a thing. ¹² Don’t let her be as one dead, whose body is half rotted away at birth.”

¹³ And Moses cried out to the Lord, “Heal her, O God, I beg you!”

¹⁴ And the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face she would be defiled seven days. Let her be banished from the camp for seven days, and after that she can come back again.”

¹⁵ So Miriam was excluded from the camp for seven days, and the people waited until she was brought back in before they traveled again.

¹² One day in a certain village he was visiting, there was a man with an advanced case of leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell to the ground before him, face downward in the dust, begging to be healed.

“Sir,” he said, “if you only will, you can clear me of every trace of my disease.”

¹³ Jesus reached out and touched the man and said, “Of course I will. Be healed.” And the leprosy left him instantly! ¹⁴ Then Jesus instructed him to go at once without telling anyone what had happened and be examined by the Jewish priest. “Offer the sacrifice Moses’ law requires for lepers who are healed,” he said. “This will prove to everyone that you are well.” ¹⁵ Now the report of his power spread even faster and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases. ¹⁶ But he often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.