141 And the Lord said to Moses, 2 This is the law of the leper on the day when he is made clean: he is to be taken to the priest; 3 And the priest is to go outside the tent-circle; and if, after looking, the priest sees that the mark of the disease has gone from him, 4 Then the priest is to give orders to take, for him who is to be made clean, two living clean birds and some cedar wood and red thread and hyssop. 5 And the priest will give orders for one of the birds to be put to death in a vessel made of earth, over flowing water. 6 And he will take the living bird and the wood and the red thread and the hyssop and put them in the blood of the bird which was put to death over flowing water. 7 And shaking it seven times over the man who is to be made clean, he will say that he is clean and will let the living bird go free into the open country. 8 And he who is to be made clean will have his clothing washed and his hair cut and have a bath, and he will be clean. And after that he will come back to the tent-circle; but he is to keep outside his tent for seven days. 9 And on the seventh day he is to have all the hair cut off his head and his chin and over his eyes—all his hair is to be cut off—and he will have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and he will be clean.
10 And on the eighth day let him take two male lambs, without any marks on them, and one female lamb of the first year, without a mark, and three tenth parts of an ephah of the best meal, mixed with oil, and one log of oil. 11 And the priest who is making him clean will put the man who is being made clean, together with these things, before the door of the Tent of meeting. 12 And the priest is to take one of the male lambs and give it as an offering for wrongdoing, and the log of oil, waving them for a wave offering before the Lord; 13 And he is to put the male lamb to death in the place where they put to death the sin-offering and the burned offering, in the holy place; for as the sin-offering is the property of the priest, so is the offering for wrongdoing: it is most holy. 14 And let the priest take some of the blood of the offering for wrongdoing and put it on the point of the right ear of him who is to be made clean, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the great toe of his right foot; 15 And take some of the oil and put it in the hollow of his left hand; 16 And let the priest put his right finger in the oil which is in his left hand, shaking it out with his finger seven times before the Lord; 17 And of the rest of the oil which is in his hand, the priest will put some on the point of the right ear of the man who is to be made clean, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the great toe of his right foot, over the blood of the offering for wrongdoing; 18 And the rest of the oil in the priest's hand he will put on the head of him who is to be made clean; and so the priest will make him free from sin before the Lord. 19 And the priest will give the sin-offering, and take away the sin of him who is to be made clean from his unclean condition; and after that he will put the burned offering to death. 20 And the priest is to have the burned offering and the meal offering burned on the altar; and the priest will take away his sin and he will be clean.
21 And if he is poor and not able to get so much, then he may take one male lamb as an offering for wrongdoing, to be waved to take away his sin, and one tenth part of an ephah of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering, and a log of oil; 22 And two doves or two young pigeons, such as he is able to get; and one will be for a sin-offering and the other for a burned offering. 23 And on the eighth day he will take them to the priest, to the door of the Tent of meeting before the Lord, so that he may be made clean. 24 And the priest will take the lamb of the offering for wrongdoing and the oil, waving them for a wave offering before the Lord; 25 And he will put to death the lamb of the offering for wrongdoing and the priest will take some of the blood of the offering for wrongdoing and put it on the point of the right ear of him who is to be made clean, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the great toe of his right foot; 26 And the priest will put out some of the oil in the hollow of his left hand, 27 Shaking out drops of oil with his right finger before the Lord seven times: 28 And the priest will put some of the oil which is in his hand on the point of the ear of the man who is to be made clean and on the thumb of his right hand and on the great toe of his right foot, on the place where the blood of the offering for wrongdoing was put; 29 And the rest of the oil which is in the priest's hand he will put on the head of him who is to be made clean, to take away his sin before the Lord. 30 And he will make an offering of one of the doves or the young pigeons, such as he is able to get; 31 And of these, he will give one for a sin-offering and one for a burned offering, with the meal offering; and the priest will take away the sin of him who is to be made clean before the Lord. 32 This is the law for the man who has the disease of the leper on him, and who is not able to get that which is necessary for making himself clean.
33 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 34 When you have come into the land of Canaan which I will give you for your heritage, if I put the leper's disease on a house in the land of your heritage, 35 Then let the owner of the house come and say to the priest, It seems to me that there is a sort of leper's disease in the house. 36 And the priest will give orders for everything to be taken out of the house, before he goes in to see the disease, so that the things in the house may not become unclean; and then the priest is to go in to see the house; 37 And if he sees that the walls of the house are marked with hollows of green and red, and if it seems to go deeper than the face of the wall; 38 Then the priest will go out of the door of the house, and keep the house shut up for seven days: 39 And the priest is to come again on the seventh day and have a look and see if the marks on the walls of the house are increased in size; 40 Then the priest will give orders to them to take out the stones in which the disease is seen, and put them out into an unclean place outside the town: 41 And he will have the house rubbed all over inside, and the paste which is rubbed off will be put out into an unclean place outside the town: 42 And they will take other stones and put them in place of those stones, and he will take other paste and put it on the walls of the house. 43 And if the disease comes out again in the house after he has taken out the stones and after the walls have been rubbed and the new paste put on, 44 Then the priest will come and see it; and if the disease in the house is increased in size, it is the leper's disease working out in the house: it is unclean. 45 And the house will have to be pulled down, the stones of it and the wood and the paste; and everything is to be taken out to an unclean place outside the town. 46 And, in addition, anyone who goes into the house at any time, while it is shut up, will be unclean till evening. 47 And anyone who has been sleeping in the house will have to have his clothing washed; and anyone who takes food in that house will have to have his clothing washed. 48 And if the priest comes in, and sees that the disease is not increased after the new paste has been put on the house, then the priest will say that the house is clean, because the disease is gone. 49 And in order to make the house clean, let him take two birds and cedar-wood and red thread and hyssop; 50 And put one of the birds to death in a vessel of earth over flowing water; 51 And take the cedar-wood and the hyssop and the red thread and the living bird and put them in the blood of the dead bird and in the flowing water, shaking it over the house seven times. 52 And he will make the house clean with the blood of the bird and the flowing water and with the living bird and with the cedar-wood and the hyssop and the red thread. 53 But he will let the living bird go out of the town into the open country; so he will take away sin from the house and it will be clean.
54 This is the law for all signs of the leper's disease and for skin diseases; 55 And for signs of disease in clothing, or in a house; 56 And for a growth or a bad place or a bright mark on the skin; 57 To make clear when it is unclean and when it is clean: this is the law about the disease of the leper.
51 And one of those who were with Jesus put out his hand, and took out his sword and gave the servant of the high priest a blow, cutting off his ear. 52 Then says Jesus to him, Put up your sword again into its place: for all those who take the sword will come to death by the sword. 53 Does it not seem possible to you that if I make request to my Father he will even now send me an army of angels? 54 But how then would the Writings come true, which say that so it has to be? 55 In that hour Jesus said to the people, Have you come out as against a thief with swords and sticks to take me? I was teaching every day in the Temple and you took me not. 56 But all this has taken place so that the writings of the prophets might come true. Then all his disciples went from him in flight.
57 And those who had made Jesus prisoner took him away to the house of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and those in authority over the people had come together. 58 But Peter went after him at a distance, to the house of the high priest, and went in and took his seat with the servants, to see the end. 59 Now the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin were looking for false witness against Jesus, so that they might put him to death; 60 And they were not able to get it, though a number of false witnesses came. 61 But later there came two who said, This man said, I am able to give the Temple of God to destruction, and to put it up again in three days. 62 And the high priest got up and said to him, Have you no answer? what is it which these say against you? 63 But Jesus said not a word. And the high priest said to him, I put you on oath, by the living God, that you will say to us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. 64 Jesus says to him, You say so: but I say to you, From now you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven. 65 Then the high priest, violently parting his robes, said, He has said evil against God: what more need have we of witnesses? for now his words against God have come to your ears: 66 What is your opinion? They made answer and said, It is right for him to be put to death. 67 Then they put shame on him, and were cruel to him: and some gave him blows, saying, 68 Be a prophet, O Christ, and say who gave you a blow!
69 Now Peter was seated in the open square outside the house: and a servant-girl came to him, saying, You were with Jesus the Galilaean. 70 But he said before them all that it was false, saying, I have no knowledge of what you say. 71 And when he had gone out into the doorway, another saw him and says to those who were there, This man was with Jesus the Nazarene. 72 And again he said with an oath, I have no knowledge of the man. 73 And after a little time those who were near came and said to Peter, Truly you are one of them; because your talk is witness against you. 74 Then with curses and oaths he said, I have no knowledge of the man. And straight away there came the cry of a cock. 75 And the word of Jesus came back to Peter, when he said, Before the hour of the cock's cry, you will say three times that you have no knowledge of me. And he went out, weeping bitterly.
(Read Matthew 26:47-56)
No enemies are so much to be abhorred as those professed disciples that betray Christ with a kiss. God has no need of our services, much less of our sins, to bring about his purposes. Though Christ was crucified through weakness, it was voluntary weakness; he submitted to death. If he had not been willing to suffer, they could not conquer him. It was a great sin for those who had left all to follow Jesus; now to leave him for they knew not what. What folly, for fear of death to flee from Him, whom they knew and acknowledged to be the Fountain of life!
(Read Matthew 26:57-68)
Jesus was hurried into Jerusalem. It looks ill, and bodes worse, when those who are willing to be Christ's disciples, are not willing to be known to be so. Here began Peter's denying him: for to follow Christ afar off, is to begin to go back from him. It is more our concern to prepare for the end, whatever it may be, than curiously to ask what the end will be. The event is God's, but the duty is ours. Now the Scriptures were fulfilled, which said, False witnesses are risen up against me. Christ was accused, that we might not be condemned; and if at any time we suffer thus, let us remember we cannot expect to fare better than our Master. When Christ was made sin for us, he was silent, and left it to his blood to speak. Hitherto Jesus had seldom professed expressly to be the Christ, the Son of God; the tenor of his doctrine spoke it, and his miracles proved it; but now he would not omit to make an open confession of it. It would have looked like declining his sufferings. He thus confessed, as an example and encouragement to his followers, to confess him before men, whatever hazard they ran. Disdain, cruel mocking, and abhorrence, are the sure portion of the disciple as they were of the Master, from such as would buffet and deride the Lord of glory. These things were exactly foretold in the fiftieth chapter of Isaiah. Let us confess Christ's name, and bear the reproach, and he will confess us before his Father's throne.
(Read Matthew 26:69-75)
Peter's sin is truly related, for the Scriptures deal faithfully. Bad company leads to sin: those who needlessly thrust themselves into it, may expect to be tempted and insnared, as Peter. They scarcely can come out of such company without guilt or grief, or both. It is a great fault to be shy of Christ; and to dissemble our knowledge of him, when we are called to own him, is, in effect, to deny him. Peter's sin was aggravated; but he fell into the sin by surprise, not as Judas, with design. But conscience should be to us as the crowing of the cock, to put us in mind of the sins we had forgotten. Peter was thus left to fall, to abate his self-confidence, and render him more modest, humble, compassionate, and useful to others. The event has taught believers many things ever since, and if infidels, Pharisees, and hypocrites stumble at it or abuse it, it is at their peril. Little do we know how we should act in very difficult situations, if we were left to ourselves. Let him, therefore, that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall; let us all distrust our own hearts, and rely wholly on the Lord. Peter wept bitterly. Sorrow for sin must not be slight, but great and deep. Peter, who wept so bitterly for denying Christ, never denied him again, but confessed him often in the face of danger. True repentance for any sin will be shown by the contrary grace and duty; that is a sign of our sorrowing not only bitterly, but sincerely.
