The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday February 22, 2017 (NIV)

Skin Diseases

13 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, ² “If anyone has a sore, a rash, or an irritated area on his skin that turns into an infectious skin disease, he must be taken to the priest Aaron or to one of his sons who are also priests. ³ The priest will examine the disease. If the hair in the diseased area has turned white, and the diseased area looks deeper than the rest of his skin, it is an infectious skin disease. When the priest has examined him, he must declare him unclean. ⁴ But if the irritated area is white and does not look deeper than the rest of the skin, and the hair has not turned white, the priest must put him in isolation for seven days. ⁵ On the seventh day the priest will examine him again. If the disease looks the same and has not spread, the priest must put him in isolation for another seven days. ⁶ On the seventh day the priest will examine him again. If the diseased area has faded and not spread, the priest must declare him clean. It is only a rash. The person must wash his clothes and will be clean. ⁷ But if the rash has spread after he has shown himself to the priest to be declared clean, he must show himself to the priest again. ⁸ The priest will examine him one more time, and if the rash has spread, the priest must declare him unclean. It is an infectious skin disease.

⁹ “If anyone has an infectious skin disease, he must be taken to the priest. ¹⁰ The priest will examine him. If there is a white sore that has turned the hair white, and if there is raw flesh in the sore, ¹¹ he has a chronic skin disease. Without putting him in isolation, the priest must declare him unclean because he is unclean. ¹² If skin disease develops and covers the whole person from head to foot (so far as the priest can see), ¹³ the priest will examine him. If the disease does cover his whole body, the priest must declare the diseased person clean. His body has turned white. The person is clean. ¹⁴ But if raw flesh appears, he will be unclean. ¹⁵ The priest will examine the raw flesh and declare him unclean. The raw flesh is unclean. It is an infectious skin disease. ¹⁶ But if the raw flesh turns white again, he must go to the priest. ¹⁷ The priest will examine him again, and if the diseased area has turned white, the priest must declare the diseased person clean. He is clean.

¹⁸ “If a boil on the skin has healed ¹⁹ and in its place there is a white sore or a pink area, it must be shown to the priest. ²⁰ The priest will examine it. If it looks deeper than the rest of the skin and its hair has turned white, the priest must declare the person unclean. An infectious skin disease has developed in the boil. ²¹ But if the priest examines the affected area and the hair in it is not white or the affected area is not deeper than the rest of the skin but has faded, the priest must put him in isolation for seven days. ²² If the area has spread, the priest must declare him unclean. It is a skin disease. ²³ But if the irritated area has not spread, it is a scar caused by the boil. The priest must declare him clean.

²⁴ “If anyone has a burn on his skin and the raw flesh of the burn turns into a pink or bright white area, ²⁵ the priest will examine it. If the hair on the affected area has turned white and the affected area looks deeper than the rest of the skin, an infectious skin disease has developed in the burn. The priest must declare him unclean. It is an infectious skin disease. ²⁶ But if the priest examines it and the hair in it is not white and the affected area is not deeper than the rest of the skin but has faded, the priest must put him in isolation for seven days. ²⁷ On the seventh day the priest will examine him again. If the area has spread, the priest must declare him unclean. It is an infectious skin disease. ²⁸ If the irritated area does not spread but has faded, it is only a sore caused by the burn. The priest must declare him clean, because it is a scar caused by the burn.

²⁹ “If a man or a woman has some disease on the head or chin, ³⁰ the priest will examine the disease. If it looks deeper than the rest of the skin and there is thin yellow hair on it, the priest must declare the person unclean. It is a scab, a disease on the head or the chin. ³¹ But if the priest examines the scabby disease and it does not look deeper than the rest of the skin and there is no black hair in it, the priest must put the person with the scabby disease in isolation for seven days. ³² On the seventh day the priest will examine the disease. If the scab has not spread, there is no yellow hair on it, and the scab does not look deeper than the rest of the skin, ³³ the person will shave everything except the scab. The priest will put the person with the scab in isolation for another seven days. ³⁴ On the seventh day the priest will examine the scab again. If the scab has not spread on the skin and does not look deeper than the rest of the skin, the priest must declare him clean. When he has washed his clothes, he will be clean. ³⁵ But if the scab spreads after the person has been declared clean, ³⁶ the priest will make another examination. If the scab has spread on the skin, the priest does not have to look for yellow hair. The person is unclean. ³⁷ But if he sees that the scab hasn’t spread and black hair grows on it, the scab is healed. The person is clean, so the priest must declare him clean.

³⁸ “If a man or a woman has white irritated areas of skin, ³⁹ the priest will make an examination. If the irritated areas on the skin are pale white, a rash has developed on the skin. The person is clean.

⁴⁰ “If a man loses his hair, he is clean, even though he is bald. ⁴¹ If he loses the hair on the front of his head, he is clean, even though he is bald on the forehead. ⁴² But if there is a pink patch on the bald places in back or in front, a skin disease is developing in those places. ⁴³ The priest will examine him. If the sore from the disease in the bald places in back or in front is pink like a skin disease somewhere else on the body, ⁴⁴ the man has come down with an infectious skin disease. He is unclean. The priest must declare him unclean because of the skin disease on his head.

⁴⁵ “People who come down with a skin disease must wear torn clothes and leave their hair uncombed. They must cover their upper lips and call out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’ ⁴⁶ As long as they have the skin disease, they are unclean. They must live outside the camp.

Mildew in Clothing or Leather Articles

⁴⁷ “Now about clothing—if there is a green or red area on a piece of clothing ⁴⁸ that is woven or knitted from linen or wool or on any leather article, ⁴⁹ it is mildew. It must be shown to the priest. ⁵⁰ The priest will examine the mildew and will put the clothing in a separate place for seven days. ⁵¹ On the seventh day he will examine the area again. If the spot is spreading, it is unclean. ⁵² He must burn the piece of clothing or the leather article because the mildew is growing. ⁵³ But if the priest sees that the area has not spread, ⁵⁴ he must order the area to be washed and put the clothing in a separate place for seven more days. ⁵⁵ The priest will examine the area again after it is washed. If it doesn’t look any different and the mildew has not spread, it is still unclean. It must be burned, whether the area is on the outside or the inside. ⁵⁶ If the priest sees that the area is pale after washing, he will tear it out of the clothing or the leather. ⁵⁷ However, if it shows up again, you must burn the clothing or the leather article. ⁵⁸ But if the area disappears from the woven or knitted clothing or any leather article when it is washed, wash it again, and it will be clean.

⁵⁹ “These are the instructions for deciding whether mildew in clothing that is woven or knitted from linen or wool or in any leather article is clean or unclean.”

Nazareth Rejects Jesus^(A)

6 Jesus left that place and went to his hometown. His disciples followed him. ² When the day of rest—a holy day came, he began to teach in the synagogue. He amazed many who heard him. They asked, “Where did this man get these ideas? Who gave him this kind of wisdom and the ability to do such great miracles? ³ Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” So they took offense at him.

⁴ But Jesus told them, “The only place a prophet isn’t honored is in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his own house.” ⁵ He couldn’t work any miracles there except to lay his hands on a few sick people and cure them. ⁶ Their unbelief amazed him.

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve^(B)

Then Jesus went around to the villages and taught.

⁷ He called the twelve apostles, sent them out two by two, and gave them authority over evil spirits. ⁸ He instructed them to take nothing along on the trip except a walking stick. They were not to take any food, a traveling bag, or money in their pockets. ⁹ They could wear sandals but could not take along a change of clothes.

¹⁰ He told them, “Whenever you go into a home, stay there until you’re ready to leave that place. ¹¹ Wherever people don’t welcome you or listen to you, leave and shake the dust from your feet as a warning to them.”

¹² So the apostles went and told people that they should turn to God and change the way they think and act. ¹³ They also forced many demons out of people and poured oil on many who were sick to cure them.

Recalling John’s Death^(C)

¹⁴ King Herod heard about Jesus, because Jesus’ name had become well-known. Some people were saying, “John the Baptizer has come back to life. That’s why he has the power to perform these miracles.” ¹⁵ Others said, “He is Elijah.” Still others said, “He is a prophet like one of the other prophets.” ¹⁶ But when Herod heard about it, he said, “I had John’s head cut off, and he has come back to life!”

¹⁷ Herod had sent men who had arrested John, tied him up, and put him in prison. Herod did that for Herodias, whom he had married. (She used to be his brother Philip’s wife.) ¹⁸ John had been telling Herod, “It’s not right for you to be married to your brother’s wife.”

¹⁹ So Herodias held a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she wasn’t allowed to do it ²⁰ because Herod was afraid of John. Herod knew that John was a fair and holy man, so he protected him. When he listened to John, he would become very disturbed, and yet he liked to listen to him.

²¹ An opportunity finally came on Herod’s birthday. Herod gave a dinner for his top officials, army officers, and the most important people of Galilee. ²² His daughter, that is, Herodias’ daughter, came in and danced. Herod and his guests were delighted with her. The king told the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” ²³ He swore an oath to her: “I’ll give you anything you ask for, up to half of my kingdom.”

²⁴ So she went out and asked her mother, “What should I ask for?”

Her mother said, “Ask for the head of John the Baptizer.”

²⁵ So the girl hurried back to the king with her request. She said, “I want you to give me the head of John the Baptizer on a platter at once.”

²⁶ The king deeply regretted his promise. But because of his oath and his guests, he didn’t want to refuse her. ²⁷ Immediately, the king sent a guard and ordered him to bring John’s head. The guard cut off John’s head in prison. ²⁸ Then he brought the head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.

²⁹ When John’s disciples heard about this, they came for his body and laid it in a tomb.

Psalm 39

For the choir director; for Jeduthun; a psalm by David.