Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Davidic Psalm for the dedication of the Temple.

Thanksgiving for Deliverance

Diagnosing Skin Diseases

13 The Lord said this to Moses and Aaron: ² “When a person^[a] has a swelling or a scab in the skin on his body^[b] that turns white in appearance and appears to be more extensive than skin deep, he is to be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons among the priests. ³ The priest is to examine the skin rash on the body. If the hair on the skin rash has turned white and its appearance is deeper than the skin of his body, it’s an infectious skin disease. When the priest has examined it, then he is to declare him unclean.

⁴ “If the light spot in the skin of his body is white but the appearance of the skin rash isn’t deeper than the skin of his body and its hair has not become white, then the priest is to isolate^[c] the one who is infected for seven days. ⁵ On the seventh day, the priest is to examine him again. If, in his opinion, the skin rash remained the same and it^[d] did not spread, then he is to isolate^[e] him for another seven days.

⁶ “On the next^[f] seventh day, the priest is to examine him again. If the skin rash didn’t become dull and it^[g] didn’t spread in the skin, then the priest is to pronounce him clean: it’s a scab. He is to wash his clothes and be clean. ⁷ But if the scab did spread in the skin after he presented himself to the priest for cleansing, then he is to show himself a second time to the priest. ⁸ When the priest examines him and determines that the scab did, in fact, spread in his skin, then the priest is to pronounce him unclean, since it’s an infectious skin disease.”

Infectious Skin Diseases

⁹ “When a person has a skin rash that’s infectious, he is to be brought to the priest. ¹⁰ The priest is to examine it. If it is, indeed, a white swelling in the skin that has turned the hair white, and yet it sustains live flesh on the swelling, ¹¹ it’s a festering skin disease in his body. The priest is to declare him unclean. The man need not be confined, since he’s already unclean. ¹² If the infectious skin disease spreads in the skin so that it covers his entire body from head to foot (as the priest examines it), ¹³ when the priest’s examination reveals that the infectious skin disease has covered his entire body, then he is to declare him clean, even though he still has the skin infection. He has turned entirely white, so he’s clean. ¹⁴ But if, one day, infected flesh appears again in him, he is unclean. ¹⁵ The priest is to examine the infected flesh and declare him unclean. The raw flesh is unclean; it’s an infectious skin disease. ¹⁶ If the raw flesh recurs and turns white, then he is to go to the priest. ¹⁷ When the priest examines him and finds that the skin rash has indeed turned white, then the priest is to declare the one with the skin rash clean, and he will be clean.”

⁷ What you endure disciplines you: God is treating you as sons. Is there a son whom his father does not discipline? ⁸ Now if you are without any discipline, in which all sons share, then you are illegitimate and not God’s^[a] sons. ⁹ Furthermore, we had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them for it. We should submit even more to the Father of our spirits and live, shouldn’t we? ¹⁰ For a short time they disciplined us as they thought best, but God^[b] does it for our good, so that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, for those who have been trained by it, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace.

Live as God’s People

¹² Therefore, strengthen your tired arms and your weak knees, ¹³ and straighten the paths of your life,^[c] so that your lameness may not become worse, but instead may be healed.