Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer of Thanksgiving[a]
30 I praise you, Lord, because you have saved me
and kept my enemies from gloating over me.
2 I cried to you for help, O Lord my God,
and you healed me;
3 you kept me from the grave.
I was on my way to the depths below,[b]
but you restored my life.
4 Sing praise to the Lord,
all his faithful people!
Remember what the Holy One has done,
and give him thanks!
5 His anger lasts only a moment,
his goodness for a lifetime.
Tears may flow in the night,
but joy comes in the morning.
6 I felt secure and said to myself,
“I will never be defeated.”
7 You were good to me, Lord;
you protected me like a mountain fortress.
But then you hid yourself from me,
and I was afraid.
8 I called to you, Lord;
I begged for your help:
9 “What will you gain from my death?
What profit from my going to the grave?
Are dead people able to praise you?
Can they proclaim your unfailing goodness?
10 Hear me, Lord, and be merciful!
Help me, Lord!”
11 You have changed my sadness into a joyful dance;
you have taken away my sorrow
and surrounded me with joy.
12 So I will not be silent;
I will sing praise to you.
Lord, you are my God;
I will give you thanks forever.
Purification after Having Skin Diseases
14 The Lord gave Moses 2 (A)the following regulations about the ritual purification of those of you cured of a dreaded skin disease. On the day you are to be pronounced clean, you shall be brought to the priest, 3 and the priest shall take you outside the camp and examine you. If the disease is healed, 4 the priest shall order that two ritually clean birds be brought, along with a piece of cedar wood, a red cord, and a sprig of hyssop. 5 Then the priest shall order that one of the birds be killed over a clay bowl containing fresh spring water. 6 He shall take the other bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the red cord, and the hyssop, in the blood of the bird that was killed. 7 He shall sprinkle the blood seven times on the one of you who is to be purified from your skin disease, and then he shall pronounce you clean. He shall let the live bird fly away over the open fields. 8 You shall wash your clothes, shave off all your hair, and take a bath; you will then be ritually clean. You may enter the camp, but you must live outside your tent for seven days. 9 On the seventh day you shall again shave your head, your beard, your eyebrows, and all the rest of the hair on your body; you shall wash your clothes and take a bath, and then you will be ritually clean.
10 On the eighth day you shall bring two male lambs and one female lamb a year old that are without any defects, five pounds of flour mixed with olive oil, and half a pint of olive oil. 11 The priest shall take you and these offerings to the entrance of the Tent of the Lord's presence. 12 Then the priest shall take one of the male lambs and together with the half pint of oil he shall offer it as a repayment offering. He shall present them as a special gift to the Lord for the priest. 13 He shall kill the lamb in the holy place where the animals for the sin offerings and the burnt offerings are killed. He must do this because the repayment offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest and is very holy. 14 The priest shall take some of the blood of the lamb and put it on the lobe of the right ear, on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the right foot of the one of you to be declared ritually clean. 15 The priest shall take some of the olive oil and pour it in the palm of his own left hand, 16 dip a finger of his right hand in it, and sprinkle some of it seven times there in the Lord's presence. 17 He shall take some of the oil that is in the palm of his hand and some of the blood of the lamb and put them on the lobe of the right ear, on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the right foot of the one of you to be declared ritually clean. 18 He shall put the rest of the oil that is in the palm of his hand on your head. In this way he shall perform the ritual of purification.
19 Then the priest shall offer the sin offering and perform the ritual of purification. After that, he shall kill the animal for the burnt offering 20 and offer it with the grain offering on the altar. In this way the priest shall perform the ritual of purification, and you will be ritually clean.
The Sons of Sceva
11 God was performing unusual miracles through Paul. 12 Even handkerchiefs and aprons he had used were taken to the sick, and their diseases were driven away, and the evil spirits would go out of them. 13 Some Jews who traveled around and drove out evil spirits also tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus to do this. They said to the evil spirits, “I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches.” 14 Seven brothers, who were the sons of a Jewish High Priest named Sceva, were doing this.
15 But the evil spirit said to them, “I know Jesus, and I know about Paul; but you—who are you?”
16 The man who had the evil spirit in him attacked them with such violence that he overpowered them all. They ran away from his house, wounded and with their clothes torn off. 17 All the Jews and Gentiles who lived in Ephesus heard about this; they were all filled with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was given greater honor. 18 Many of the believers came, publicly admitting and revealing what they had done. 19 Many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in public. They added up the price of the books, and the total came to fifty thousand silver coins.[a] 20 In this powerful way the word of the Lord[b] kept spreading and growing stronger.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.