Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 30
A song of David. For the dedication of the temple.
1 I praise You, Eternal One. You lifted me out of that deep, dark pit
and denied my opponents the pleasure of rubbing in their success.
2 Eternal One, my True God, I cried out to You for help;
You mended the shattered pieces of my life.
3 You lifted me from the grave with a mighty hand,
gave me another chance,
and saved me from joining those in that dreadful pit.
4 Sing, all you who remain faithful!
Pour out your hearts to the Eternal with praise and melodies;
let grateful music fill the air and bless His name.
5 His wrath, you see, is fleeting,
but His grace lasts a lifetime.
The deepest pains may linger through the night,
but joy greets the soul with the smile of morning.
6 When things were quiet and life was easy, I said in arrogance,
“Nothing can shake me.”
7 By Your grace, Eternal,
I thought I was as strong as a mountain;
But when You left my side and hid away,
I crumbled in fear.
8 O Eternal One, I called out to You;
I pleaded for Your compassion and forgiveness:
9 “I’m no good to You dead! What benefits come from my rotting corpse?
My body in the grave will not praise You.
No songs will rise up from the dust of my bones.
From dust comes no proclamation of Your faithfulness.
10 Hear me, Eternal Lord—please help me,
Eternal One—be merciful!”
11 You did it: You turned my deepest pains into joyful dancing;
You stripped off my dark clothing
and covered me with joyful light.
12 You have restored my honor. My heart is ready to explode, erupt in new songs!
It’s impossible to keep quiet!
Eternal One, my God, my Life-Giver, I will thank You forever.
Humans suffer from many different kinds of skin disorders. Although one of the most dreaded diseases known to antiquity was leprosy, it is most likely that few Israelites in Moses’ day suffered from the disease we know as leprosy. The Hebrew word that appears in this chapter covers many disfiguring and debilitating skin diseases that certainly can be infectious. The priests are given the challenge of making critical observations as to what is indeed infectious and what is not. The term applied not only to a variety of skin diseases, but it was also used to describe articles of clothing or buildings marred from leprouslike outbreaks.
By the time of the New Testament, leprosy is present in Israel. It is caused by a bacterium that can begin as a blemish on the skin; but when it runs its course, the skin is left discolored. There are unsightly lumps and scaling, and eventually the nerves are paralyzed so that there is no feeling of pain. Without the pain sensation people eventually wear down their fingers and toes into mere nubs. It is a terrible, contagious disease that socially marginalized people from their families’ loving touch and intimate relationships.
13 The Eternal One spoke to Moses and Aaron.
Eternal One: 2 Any time a person has an area of swelling or a rash or a white patch of skin, it may be the sign of a serious skin disease; so he must be taken to one of the priests—Aaron or one of Aaron’s sons. 3 The priest must examine the spot on the skin. If the hair on it has turned white, and the affected area appears to go deep beneath the skin, then it is a serious skin disease. After the examination, he will then pronounce the diseased person unclean. 4 But if the patch on the skin is white and does not appear to go deep beneath the skin, and the hair on it has not turned white, then the priest will quarantine the person for seven days. 5 When the seventh day arrives, the priest will examine the affected area again; and if the priest thinks it has not grown worse and has not spread to other parts of the skin, then the priest will continue the quarantine for another seven days. 6 At the end of the second seven days, the priest will examine the person again; and if the affected area has faded and has not spread to any other part of the body, then the priest will pronounce that he is clean and suffers only some minor skin problem. The person is to wash his garments and must be considered clean again.
Only if the individual is declared clean by the priest can he or she come back fully into the life of the community.
7 But if the rash spreads to other parts of the skin after the priest examines the person and pronounces him clean, then he must go back to the priest to be examined again. 8 The priest will check the person again; and if the rash has grown worse and spread, then the priest must pronounce the person unclean. He does, in fact, have a serious skin disease.
9 When a person contracts any serious skin disease, he must be taken to the priest. 10 The priest will check the skin; and if the priest finds an area of white swelling on the skin where the hair has turned white, and if there is a raw, open sore, 11 then the person has a chronic skin disease and the priest must pronounce him unclean. The priest does not have to quarantine the person because it is evident that he is already unclean. 12 If the disease gets worse, spreads across his body, and involves all of his skin from head to toe—as far as the priest can tell— 13 then the priest will check; and if the disease has covered the person’s entire body, then the priest will pronounce the infected man clean because the disease has turned his entire body white. 14 But if a raw, open sore shows up, then he must be declared unclean. 15 The priest will examine the raw skin and pronounce the man unclean because the raw skin is unclean. It is definitely a serious skin disease. 16 If the raw skin changes again and becomes white, then the infected person must go see the priest 17 to be examined. If the affected area has turned white, then the priest will pronounce the diseased person clean; for he is in fact clean.
7 Endure hardship as God’s discipline and rejoice that He is treating you as His children, for what child doesn’t experience discipline from a parent? 8 But if you are not experiencing the correction that all true children receive, then it may be that you are not His children after all. 9 Remember, when our human parents disciplined us, we respected them. If that was true, shouldn’t we respect and live under the correction of the Father of all spirits even more? 10 Our parents corrected us for a time as seemed good to them, but God only corrects us to our good so that we may share in His holiness.
11 When punishment is happening, it never seems pleasant, only painful. Later, though, it yields the peaceful fruit called righteousness to everyone who has been trained by it. 12 So lift up your hands that are dangling and brace your weakened knees. 13 Make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame in you won’t be put out of joint, but will heal.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.