Tazria-Metzora

Passages

Torah: Leviticus 12:1 - 13:23
Gospel: Matthew 14:1-21

Torah — Leviticus 12:1 - 13:23

12:1 Purification After Childbirth Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

12:2 “Speak to the Israelites, saying, ‘When a woman becomes pregnant and she gives birth to a male, then she shall be unclean seven days—as in the time of her menstrual bleeding, she shall become unclean.

12:3 And on the eighth day his foreskin’s flesh shall be circumcised.

12:4 And for thirty-three days she shall stay in the blood of her cleansing; she must not touch any holy object, and she may not come to the sanctuary until the fulfilling of the days of her cleansing.

12:5 But if she gives birth to a female, then she shall be unclean for two weeks as in her menstruation, and for sixty-six days she shall stay through the blood of her cleansing.

12:6 And at the fulfilling of the days of her cleansing, whether for a son or for a daughter, she must bring to the priest at the tent of assembly’s entrance a yearling male lamb as a burnt offering and young dove or a turtledove as a sin offering.

12:7 And the priest shall present it before Yahweh, and he shall make atonement for her, so that she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the regulation of childbearing for the male or for the female.

12:8 And if she cannot afford a sheep, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young doves—one as a burnt offering and one as a sin offering—and the priest shall make atonement for her, so that she shall be clean.’”

13:1 Regulations About Defiling Skin Diseases Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

13:2 “When a person has on his body’s skin a swelling or an epidermal eruption or a spot and it becomes an infectious skin disease on his body’s skin, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests.

13:3 And the priest shall examine the infection on his body’s skin, and if the hair in the infection turns white and the appearance of the infection is deeper than his body’s skin, it is an infectious skin disease, and the priest shall examine it, and he shall declare him unclean.

13:4 But if a spot is white on his body’s skin and its appearance is not deeper than the skin and its hair does not turn white, then the priest shall confine the afflicted person for seven days.

13:5 And the priest shall examine it on the seventh day, and if, in his eyes, the infection has stayed unchanged, the infection has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall confine him for seven days a second time.

13:6 And the priest shall examine him on the seventh day for a second time, and if the infection has faded and the infection has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall declare him clean—it is an epidermal eruption; and he shall wash his garments, and so he shall be clean.

13:7 But if the epidermal eruption spreads further on the skin after showing himself to the priest for his cleansing, then he shall appear a second time to the priest.

13:8 And the priest shall examine it, and if the epidermal eruption has spread on the skin, then the priest shall declare him unclean—it is an infectious skin disease.

13:9 “When an infectious skin disease is on a person and he is brought to the priest,

13:10 the priest shall examine it, and if a white swelling is on the skin and it turns the hair white and raw flesh is in the swelling,

13:11 it is a chronic infectious skin disease on his body’s skin, and the priest shall declare him unclean; he shall not confine him, because he is unclean.

13:12 And if the infectious skin disease breaks out all over on the skin and the infectious skin disease covers all of the afflicted person’s skin from his head to his feed, so far as the priest can see,

13:13 then the priest shall examine it, and if the infectious skin disease covers his whole body, then he shall pronounce the afflicted person clean—all of it has turned white; he is clean.

13:14 But whenever raw flesh appears on him, he shall become unclean.

13:15 And the priest shall examine the raw flesh, and he shall pronounce him unclean—the raw flesh is unclean; it is an infectious skin disease.

13:16 Or, when the raw flesh returns and it has changed to white, then he shall come to the priest,

13:17 and the priest shall examine him, and if the infection has changed to white, then the priest shall pronounce the afflicted person clean—he is clean.

13:18 “And when someone’s body has a skin sore on his skin and it is healed

13:19 and a white swelling or a pinkish spot appears in the skin sore’s place, then he shall show himself to the priest.

13:20 And the priest shall examine it, and if its appearance is deeper than the skin and its hair has changed to white, then the priest shall declare him unclean—it is an infectious skin disease; it has broken out in the skin sore.

13:21 And if the priest examines it and if there is no white hair in it and it is not deeper than the skin and it is faded, then the priest shall confine him for seven days.

13:22 But if it has spread further on the skin, then the priest shall declare him unclean—it is an infection.

13:23 But if the spot has stayed unchanged, it has not spread, it is the skin sore’s scar, so the priest shall declare him clean.

12:1 Becoming “Clean” After Having a Baby The Lord spoke to Moses. He said,

12:2 “Speak to the people of Israel. Tell them, ‘Suppose a woman becomes pregnant and has a baby boy. Then she will be “unclean” for seven days. It is the same as when she is “unclean” during her monthly period.

12:3 On the eighth day the boy must be circumcised.

12:4 “‘After that, the woman must wait for 33 days to be made pure from her bleeding. She must not touch anything that is sacred until the 33 days are over. During that time she must not go to the sacred tent.

12:5 “‘But suppose she has a baby girl. Then she will be “unclean” for two weeks. It is the same as during her period. After the two weeks, she must wait for 66 days to be made pure from her bleeding.

12:6 “‘After she has waited the required number of days to be made pure, she must bring two offerings. She must take them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. She must bring a lamb that is a year old for a burnt offering. She must also bring a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering.

12:7 The priest must offer them to the Lord. They will pay for her sin. Then she will be “clean” from her bleeding. “‘Those are the rules for a woman who has a baby boy or girl.

12:8 “‘But suppose she can’t afford a lamb. Then she must bring two doves or two young pigeons. One is for a burnt offering. The other is for a sin offering. The priest will sacrifice those offerings. That will pay for her sin. And she will be “clean.”’”

13:1 Rules About Skin Diseases The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron. He told them to say to the people,

13:2 “Suppose someone’s skin has a swelling or a rash or a bright spot. And suppose it could become a skin disease. Then he must be brought to the priest Aaron. Or he must be brought to a priest who is in Aaron’s family line.

13:3 “The priest must look carefully at the sore on the person’s skin. He must see whether the hair in the sore has turned white. He must also see whether the sore seems to be under the skin. If the sore is white and is under the skin, it is a skin disease. When the priest looks that person over carefully, he must announce that the person is ‘unclean.’

13:4 “Suppose the spot on the skin is white but does not seem to be under the skin. And suppose the hair in the spot has not turned white. Then the priest must make the person stay away from everyone else for seven days.

13:5 On the seventh day the priest must look carefully at the sore again. Suppose it has not changed and has not spread in the skin. Then the priest must make the person stay away from everyone else for another seven days.

13:6 On the seventh day the priest must look carefully at the sore again. If it has faded and has not spread, he must announce that the person is ‘clean.’ It is only a rash. He must wash his clothes. He will be ‘clean.’

13:7 “But suppose the rash spreads in the skin after he has shown himself to the priest a second time. Then he must appear in front of the priest again.

13:8 The priest must look carefully at the sore. If the rash has spread, he must announce that the person is ‘unclean.’ He has a skin disease.

13:9 “When anyone has a skin disease, he must be brought to the priest.

13:10 The priest must look him over carefully. Suppose there is a white swelling in the skin. Suppose it has turned the hair white. And suppose there are open sores in the swelling.

13:11 Then the person has a skin disease that will never go away. The priest must announce that he is ‘unclean.’ The priest must not make the person stay away from everyone else. He is already ‘unclean.’

13:12 “Suppose the disease breaks out all over his skin. And suppose it covers him from head to foot, as far as the priest can tell.

13:13 Then the priest must look him over carefully. If the disease has covered his whole body, the priest must announce that he is ‘clean.’ All of his skin has turned white. So he is ‘clean.’

13:14 “But when open sores appear on his skin, he will not be ‘clean.’

13:15 When the priest sees the open sores, he must announce that he is ‘unclean.’ The open sores are not ‘clean.’ He has a skin disease.

13:16 “But if the open sores change and turn white, he must go to the priest.

13:17 The priest must look him over carefully. If the sores have turned white, the priest must announce that the person is ‘clean.’ Then he will be ‘clean.’

13:18 “Suppose someone has a boil on his skin and it heals.

13:19 And suppose a white swelling or shiny pink spot appears where the boil was. Then he must show himself to the priest.

13:20 “The priest must look at the boil carefully. Suppose it seems to be under the skin. And suppose the hair in it has turned white. Then the priest must announce that the person is ‘unclean.’ A skin disease has broken out where the boil was.

13:21 “But suppose that when the priest looks at the boil carefully, there is no white hair in it. The boil is not under the skin. And it has faded. Then the priest must make the person stay away from everyone else for seven days.

13:22 If the boil is spreading in the skin, the priest must announce that the person is ‘unclean.’ He has a skin disease.

13:23 “But suppose the spot has not changed. And suppose it has not spread. Then it is only a scar from the boil. And the priest must announce that the person is ‘clean.’

Gospel — Matthew 14:1-21

14:1 Herod Kills John the Baptist At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus

14:2 and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist! He has been raised from the dead, and for this reason miraculous powers are at work in him.”

14:3 For Herod, after arresting John, bound him and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip,

14:4 because John had been saying to him, “It is not permitted for you to have her.”

14:5 And although he wanted to kill him, he feared the crowd, because they looked upon him as a prophet.

14:6 But when Herod’s birthday celebration took place, the daughter of Herodias danced in the midst of them and pleased Herod.

14:7 Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.

14:8 And coached by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter!”

14:9 And although the king was distressed, because of his oaths and his dinner guests he commanded the request to be granted.

14:10 And he sent orders and had John beheaded in the prison,

14:11 and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.

14:12 And his disciples came and took away the corpse and buried it, and went and told Jesus.

14:13 The Feeding of Five Thousand Now when Jesus heard it, he withdrew from there in a boat to an isolated place by himself. And when the crowds heard it, they followed him by land from the towns.

14:14 And as he got out, he saw the large crowd and had compassion on them and healed their sick.

14:15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him saying, “The place is desolate and the hour is late. Release the crowds so that they can go away into the villages and purchase food for themselves.”

14:16 But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

14:17 And they said to him, “We do not have anything here except five loaves and two fish.”

14:18 So he said, “Bring them here to me.”

14:19 And he commanded the crowds to recline for a meal on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks. And after breaking them, he gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

14:20 And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full.

14:21 Now those who ate were about five thousand men, in addition to women and children.

14:1 John the Baptist’s Head Is Cut Off At that time Herod, the ruler of Galilee and Perea, heard reports about Jesus.

14:2 He said to his attendants, “This is John the Baptist. He has risen from the dead! That is why he has the power to do miracles.”

14:3 Herod had arrested John. He had tied him up and put him in prison because of Herodias. She was the wife of Herod’s brother Philip.

14:4 John had been saying to Herod, “It is against the Law for you to have her.”

14:5 Herod wanted to kill John. But he was afraid of the people, because they thought John was a prophet.

14:6 On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for Herod and his guests. She pleased Herod very much.

14:7 So he promised with an oath to give her anything she asked for.

14:8 Her mother told her what to say. So the girl said to Herod, “Give me the head of John the Baptist on a big plate.”

14:9 The king was very upset. But he thought of his promise and his dinner guests. So he told one of his men to give her what she asked for.

14:10 Herod had John’s head cut off in the prison.

14:11 His head was brought in on a big plate and given to the girl. She then carried it to her mother.

14:12 John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

14:13 Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand Jesus heard what had happened to John. He wanted to be alone. So he went in a boat to a quiet place. The crowds heard about this. They followed him on foot from the towns.

14:14 When Jesus came ashore, he saw a large crowd. He felt deep concern for them. He healed their sick people.

14:15 When it was almost evening, the disciples came to him. “There is nothing here,” they said. “It’s already getting late. Send the crowds away. They can go and buy some food in the villages.”

14:16 Jesus replied, “They don’t need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

14:17 “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

14:18 “Bring them here to me,” he said.

14:19 Then Jesus directed the people to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish. He looked up to heaven and gave thanks. He broke the loaves into pieces. Then he gave them to the disciples. And the disciples gave them to the people.

14:20 All of them ate and were satisfied. The disciples picked up 12 baskets of leftover pieces.

14:21 The number of men who ate was about 5,000. Women and children also ate.

Passages

Torah — Leviticus 12:1 - 13:23

LEB translation

NIRV translation

Gospel — Matthew 14:1-21

LEB translation

NIRV translation