• Torah (T): Wayiqra (Leviticus) 13:29-59
• Prophets (P): 2 Kings 5:1-19
• Apostolic (A): Luke 4:16-27
• Additional (ADD): Sirach 7:29-36

RELATED SCRIPTURES

• Leviticus 13:1-28 (T)
• Exodus 4:6-8 (T)
• Deuteronomy 24:8-9 (T)
• Numbers 12:1-16 (T)
• Matthew 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-16 (T, A)
• Luke 17:11-19 (T)
• Matthew 11:1-6 (T)
• Numbers 5:1-4 (T)
• Ezekiel 24:15-27 (T)
• Micah 3:5-12 (T)
• Lamentations 4:14-15 (T)
• 2 Chronicles 26:1-23 (T)

RELATED ADDITIONAL REA.D.INGS

• Damascus Document 4Q272 Fragment 1 Column 1; 4Q266 Fragment 9 Column 1 (T)
• Leviticus 13:29-59 from the Jerusalem Targum aka Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (T)
• Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 3.11.3-4 (T)

Note: (T) means the verse relates to that week’s Torah portion. (P) means the verse relates to that week’s Prophets portion. (A) means the verse relates to that week’s Apostolic portion. (ADD) means the verse relates to that week’s Additional portion.

Torah Portion (T)

13:29 When a man or woman has a plague on the head or on the beard, 30 then the priest will see the plague; and behold, if its appearance is deeper than the skin, and the hair in it is yellow and thin, then the priest will pronounce him unclean. It is an eruption. It is infection of the head or of the beard. 31 If the priest sees the plague of eruption, and behold, its appearance isn’t deeper than the skin, and there is no black hair in it, then the priest will isolate the person infected with eruption seven days. 32 On the seventh day the priest will see the plague; and behold, if the eruption hasn’t spread, and there is no yellow hair in it, and the appearance of the eruption isn’t deeper than the skin, 33 then he will be shaved, but he will not shave the eruption. Then the priest will isolate the one who has the eruption seven more days. 34 On the seventh day, the priest will see the eruption; and behold, if the eruption hasn’t spread in the skin, and its appearance isn’t deeper than the skin, then the priest will pronounce him clean. He will wash his clothes and be clean. 35 But if the eruption spreads in the skin after his cleansing, 36 then the priest will see him; and behold, if the eruption has spread in the skin, the priest will not look for the yellow hair; he is unclean. 37 But if in his eyes the eruption is arrested and black hair has grown in it, then the eruption is healed. He is clean. The priest will pronounce him clean. 38 When a man or a woman has bright spots in the skin of the body, even white bright spots, 39 then the priest will see them. Behold, if the bright spots on the skin of their body are a dull white, it is a harmless rash. It has broken out in the skin. He is clean. 40 If a man’s hair has fallen from his head, he is bald. He is clean. 41 If his hair has fallen off from the front part of his head, he is forehead bald. He is clean. 42 But if a reddish-white plague is in the bald head or the bald forehead, it is an infection breaking out in his bald head or his bald forehead. 43 Then the priest will see him. Behold, if the swelling of the plague is reddish-white in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, like the appearance of infection in the skin of the body, 44 he is an infected man. He is unclean. The priest will surely pronounce him unclean. His plague is on his head. 45 The infected one in whom the plague is will wear torn clothes, and the hair of his head will be loosed. He will cover his upper lip, and will cry, “Unclean! Unclean!” 46 All the days in which the plague is in him he will be unclean. He is unclean. He will dwell alone. His dwelling will be outside of the camp. 47 The garment also that the plague of infection is in, whether it is a woolen garment, or a linen garment; 48 whether it is in warp or weft; of linen or of wool; whether in a leather, or in anything made of leather; 49 if the plague is greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the leather, or in the warp, or in the weft, or in anything made of leather; it is the plague of infection, and will be shown to the priest. 50 The priest will see the plague, and isolate the plague seven days. 51 He will see the plague on the seventh day. If the plague has spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the weft, or in the skin, whatever use the skin is used for, the plague is an irritating infection. It is unclean. 52 He will burn the garment, whether the warp or the weft, in wool or in linen, or anything of leather, in which the plague is, for it is an irritating infection. It will be burned in the fire. 53 If the priest sees it, and behold, the plague hasn’t spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the weft, or in anything of skin; 54 then the priest will command that they wash the thing that the plague is in, and he will isolate it seven more days. 55 Then the priest will see it, after the plague is washed; and behold, if the plague hasn’t changed its color, and the plague hasn’t spread, it is unclean; you will burn it in the fire. It is a pit in his bald spot or in his bare spot. 56 If the priest looks, and behold, the plague has faded after it is washed, then he will tear it out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the weft; 57 and if it appears again in the garment, either in the warp, or in the weft, or in anything of skin, it is spreading. You will burn what the plague is in with fire. 58 The garment, either the warp, or the weft, or whatever thing of skin it is, which you will wash, if the plague has departed from them, then it will be washed the second time, and it will be clean. 59 This is the Torah of the plague of infection in a garment of wool or linen, either in the warp, or the weft, or in anything of skin, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.

Prophets Portion (P)

5:1 Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him YHWH had given victory to Syria; he was also a mighty man of valor, an infected one. 2 The Syrians had gone out in bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little girl, and she waited on Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “I wish that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would heal him of his infection.” 4 Someone went in and told his lord, saying, “The girl who is from the land of Israel said this.” 5 The king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” He departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothing. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, “Now when this letter has come to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his infection.” 7 When the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I Elohim, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends to me to heal a man of his infection? But please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel against me.” 8 It was so, when Elisha the man of Elohim heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will come again to you, and you will be clean.” 11 But Naaman was angry, and went away and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of his Elohim, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the infected one.’ 12 Aren’t Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I [go]^(LXX) wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13 His servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had asked you do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? How much rather then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean?’ ” 14 Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of Elohim; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. 15 He returned to the man of Elohim, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him; and he said, “See now, I know that there is no Elohim in all the land, but in Israel. Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.” 16 But he said, “As YHWH lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.” He urged him to take it; but he refused. 17 Naaman said, “If not, then, please let two mules’ load of land be given to your servant; for your servant will from now on do neither burnt offering nor slaughter to other elohim, but to YHWH. 18 In this thing may YHWH pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon. When I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, may YHWH pardon your servant in this thing.” 19 He said to him, “Go in peace.” So he departed from him a little way. 20 But Gehazi the servant of Elisha the man of Elohim, said, “Behold, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought. As YHWH lives, I will run after him, and take something from him.” 21 So Gehazi followed after Naaman. When Naaman saw one running after him, he came down from the chariot to meet him, and said, “Is all well?” 22 He said, “All is well. My master has sent me, saying, ‘Behold, even now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.’ ” 23 Naaman said, “Be pleased to take two talents.” He urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and laid them on two of his servants; and they carried them before him. 24 When he came to the hill, he took them from their hand, and stored them in the house. Then he let the men go, and they departed. 25 But he went in, and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, “Where did you come from, Gehazi?” He said, “Your servant went nowhere.” 26 He said to him, “Didn’t my heart go with you when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and olive groves and vineyards, and sheep and cattle, and male servants and maids? 27 Therefore the infection of Naaman will cling to you and to your seed forever.” He went out from his face infected, as white as snow.

Apostolic Portion (A)

Additional Portion (ADD)

Sirach, or Wisdom of Sirach, and also known as the Book of Ecclesiasticus (abbreviated Ecclus.) or Ben Sira, is a work of ethical teachings, from approximately 200 to 175 B.C., written by the Jewish scribe Ben Sira of Jerusalem, on the inspiration of his father Joshua son of Sirach, sometimes called Jesus son of Sirach or Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira. The Sirach was almost completely uncovered in Hebrew in the Dead Sea Scrolls, at Masada, and the Cairo Geniza. The multiplicity of manuscript fragments uncovered in the Cairo Genizah evidence its authoritative status among Egyptian Jewry until the Middle Ages. Quotes from Sirach can be found in Rabbinic literature in multiple places  including the Talmud in Bava Kamma 92b:13 and Hagigah 13a:2. Additionally, the Gospels and other Apostolic Scriptures quote from the Book of Sirach including the Song of Miriam in Luke 1:52 (cf. Sirach 10:14); the description of the seed in Mark 4:5, 16–17 (cf. Sirach 40:15); the statement by Yeshua in Matthew 7:16,20 (cf. Sirach 27:6); and Ya’aqov (James) 1:19 (cf. Sirach 5:11).

7:29 Fear the Lord with all your soul; and revere his priests. 30 With all your strength love him who made you. Don’t forsake his ministers. 31 Fear the Lord and honor the priest. Give him his portion, even as it is commanded you: the first fruits, the trespass offering, the gift of the shoulders, the slaughter of sanctification, and the first fruits of holy. 32 Also stretch out your hand to the afflicted man, that your blessing may be complete. 33 A gift has grace in the sight of every living man. Don’t withhold grace for a dead man. 34 Don’t avoid those who weep, and mourn with those who mourn. 35 Don’t be slow to visit a sick man, for by such things you will gain love. 36 In all your words, remember eternity, and you will never sin.

Related Scriptures

Leviticus 13:1-28 (T)

13:1 YHWH spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2 “When a man will have a swelling in his body’s skin, or a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes in the skin of his body the plague of infection, then he will be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons, the priests. 3 The priest will see the plague in the skin of the body. If the hair in the plague has turned white, and the appearance of the plague is deeper than the body’s skin, it is the plague of infection; so the priest will see him and pronounce him unclean. 4 If the bright spot is white in the skin of his body, and its appearance isn’t deeper than the skin, and its hair hasn’t turned white, then the priest will isolate the infected person for seven days. 5 The priest will see him on the seventh day. Behold, if in his eyes the plague is arrested and the plague hasn’t spread in the skin, then the priest will isolate him for seven more days. 6 The priest will see him again on the seventh day. Behold, if the plague has faded and the plague hasn’t spread in the skin, then the priest will pronounce him clean. It is a scab. He will wash his clothes, and be clean. 7 But if the scab spreads on the skin after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he will show himself to the priest again. 8 The priest will see him; and behold, if the scab has spread on the skin, then the priest will pronounce him unclean. It is infection. 9 When the plague of infection is in a man, then he will be brought to the priest; 10 and the priest will see him. Behold, if there is a white swelling in the skin, and it has turned the hair white, and there is raw flesh in the swelling, 11 it is a chronic infection in the skin of his body, and the priest will pronounce him unclean. He will not isolate him, for he is already unclean. 12 If the infection breaks out all over the skin, and the infection covers all the skin of the infected person from his head even to his feet, as far as it appears to the priest, 13 then the priest will see him. Behold, if the infection has covered all his flesh, he will pronounce him clean of the plague. It has all turned white: he is clean. 14 But whenever raw flesh appears in him, he will be unclean. 15 The priest will see the raw flesh, and pronounce him unclean: the raw flesh is unclean. It is infection. 16 Or if the raw flesh turns again, and is changed to white, then he will come to the priest. 17 The priest will see him. Behold, if the plague has turned white, then the priest will pronounce him clean of the plague. He is clean. 18 When the body has a boil on its skin, and it has healed, 19 and in the place of the boil there is a white swelling, or a bright spot, reddish-white, then it will be shown to the priest. 20 The priest will see it. Behold, if its appearance is deeper than the skin, and its hair has turned white, then the priest will pronounce him unclean. It is the plague of infection. It has broken out in the boil. 21 But if the priest sees it, and behold, there are no white hairs in it, and it isn’t deeper than the skin, but is dim, then the priest will isolate him seven days. 22 If it spreads in the skin, then the priest will pronounce him unclean. It is a plague. [It has broken out in the boil.]^(LXX) 23 But if the bright spot stays in its place, and hasn’t spread, it is the scar from the boil; and the priest will pronounce him clean. 24 Or when the body has a burn from fire on its skin, and the raw flesh of the burn becomes a bright spot, reddish-white, or white, 25 then the priest will see it; and behold, if the hair in the bright spot has turned white, and its appearance is deeper than the skin, it is infection. It has broken out in the burning, and the priest will pronounce him unclean. It is the plague of infection. 26 But if the priest sees it, and behold, there is no white hair in the bright spot, and it isn’t deeper than the skin, but has faded, then the priest will isolate him seven days. 27 The priest will see him on the seventh day. If it has spread in the skin, then the priest will pronounce him unclean. It is the plague of infection. 28 If the bright spot stays in its place, and hasn’t spread in the skin, but is faded, it is the swelling from the burn, and the priest will pronounce him clean, for it is the scar from the burn.

4:6 YHWH said furthermore to him, “Now put your hand inside your cloak.” He put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand infected, as white as snow. 7 He said, “Put your hand inside your cloak again.” He put his hand inside his cloak again, and when he took it out of his cloak, behold, it had turned again as his other flesh. 8 “It will happen, if they will not believe you or listen to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

24:8 Be careful in the plague of infection, that you observe diligently and do according to all that the priests, the Levites, teach you. As I commanded them, so you will observe to do. 9 Remember what YHWH your Elohim did to Miriam, by the way as you came out of Egypt.

12:1 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman. 2 They said, “Has YHWH indeed spoken only with Moses? Hasn’t he spoken also with us?” And YHWH heard it. 3 Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all the men who were on the surface of the land. 4 YHWH spoke suddenly to Moses, to Aaron, and to Miriam, “You three come out to the Appointed Tent!” The three of them came out. 5 YHWH came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the Tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forward. 6 [And YHWH] said [to them], “Now hear my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, YHWH, will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream. 7 My servant Moses is not so. He is faithful in all my house. 8 With him, I will speak mouth to mouth, [openly], and not in riddles; and he will see YHWH’s form. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?” 9 the anger of YHWH burned against them; and he departed. 10 The cloud departed from over the Tent; and behold, Miriam was infected, as white as snow. Aaron looked at Miriam, and behold, she was infected. 11 Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, please don’t count this sin against us, in which we have done foolishly, and in which we have sinned. 12 Let her not, I pray, be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb.” 13 Moses cried to YHWH, saying, “Heal her, Elohim, I beg you!” 14 YHWH said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, shouldn’t she be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut up outside of the camp seven days, and after that she will be brought in again.” 15 Miriam was shut up outside of the camp seven days, and the people didn’t travel until Miriam was brought in again. 16 Afterward the people traveled from Hazeroth, and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.

Matthew 8:1 When he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. 2 Behold, an infected one came to him and did bow down to him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.” 3 Yeshua stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be made clean.” Immediately his infection was cleansed. 4 Yeshua said to him, “See that you tell nobody; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a witness to them.”

Mark 1:40 An infected one came to him, begging him, kneeling down to him, and saying to him, “If you want to, you can make me clean.” 41 Being moved with compassion, he stretched out his hand, and touched him, and said to him, “I want to. Be made clean.” 42 When he had said this, immediately the infection departed from him and he was made clean. 43 He strictly warned him and immediately sent him out, 44 and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anybody, but go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing the things which Moses commanded, for a witness to them.” 45 But he went out, and began to proclaim it much, and to spread about the matter, so that Yeshua could no more openly enter into a city, but was outside in desert places. People came to him from everywhere.

Luke 5:12 While he was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man full of infection. When he saw Yeshua, he fell on his face and begged him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.” 13 He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be made clean.” Immediately the infection left him. 14 He commanded him to tell no one, “But go your way and show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing according to what Moses commanded, for a witness to them.” 15 But the report concerning him spread much more, and great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities. 16 But he withdrew himself into the desert and prayed.

Luke 17:11-19 (T)

17:11 As he was on his way to Jerusalem, he was passing along the borders of Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered into a certain village, ten men who were infected met him, who stood at a distance. 13 They lifted up their voices, saying, “Yeshua, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” As they went, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying Elohim with a loud voice. 16 He fell on his face at Yeshua’s feet, giving him thanks; and he was a Samaritan. 17 Yeshua answered, “Weren’t the ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there none found who returned to give glory to Elohim, except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Get up, and go your way. Your faith has healed you.”

11:1 When Yeshua had finished directing his twelve disciples, he departed from there to teach and proclaim in their cities. 2 Now when John heard in the prison the works of Messiah, he sent two of his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?” 4 Yeshua answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the infected are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the afflicted have good news preached to them. 6 Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.”

5:1 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the sons of Israel that they put out of the camp every infected, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is unclean by a corpse. 3 You will put both male and female outside of the camp so that they don’t defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.” 4 The sons of Israel did so, and put them outside of the camp; as YHWH spoke to Moses, so the sons of Israel did.

24:15 Also the word of YHWH came to me, saying, 16 “Son of man, behold, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes with one plague; yet you will neither mourn nor weep, neither will your tears run down. 17 Sigh, but not aloud. Make no mourning for the dead. Bind your headdress on you, and put your sandals on your feet. Don’t cover your lips, and don’t eat mourner’s bread.” 18 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. So I did in the morning as I was commanded. 19 The people asked me, “Won’t you tell us what these things mean to us, that you act like this?” 20 Then I said to them, “the word of YHWH came to me, saying, 21 ‘Speak to the house of Israel, “The Lord YHWH says: ‘Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind will fall by the sword. 22 You will do as I have done. You won’t cover your lips or eat mourner’s bread. 23 Your turbans will be on your heads, and your sandals on your feet. You won’t mourn or weep; but you will pine away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another. 24 Thus Ezekiel will be a sign to you; according to all that he has done, you will do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord YHWH.’ ” ‘ ” 25 “You, son of man, shouldn’t it be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their hear—their sons and their daughters— 26 that in that day he who escapes will come to you, to cause you to hear it with your ears? 27 In that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped, and you will speak and be no more mute. So you will be a sign to them. Then they will know that I am YHWH.”

3:5 YHWH says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray—for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, “Peace!” and whoever doesn’t provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him: 6 “Therefore night is over you, with no vision, and it is dark to you, that you may not divine; and the sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will be black over them. 7 The seers will be disappointed, and the diviners confounded. Yes, they will all cover their lips, for there is no answer from Elohim.” 8 But as for me, I am full of power by the spirit of YHWH, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, and to Israel his sin. 9 Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity, 10 who build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. 11 Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money; yet they lean on YHWH, and say, “Isn’t YHWH among us? No disaster will come on us.” 12 Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest.

4:14 They wander as blind men in the streets. They are polluted with blood, So that men can’t touch their garments. 15 “Go away!” they cried to them. “Unclean! Go away! Go away! Don’t touch! When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, “They can’t live here any more.”

26:1 All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah. 2 He built Eloth and restored it to Judah. After that the king slept with his fathers. 3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jechiliah, of Jerusalem. 4 He did that which was right in the eyes of YHWH, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. 5 He set himself to seek Elohim in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the vision of Elohim; and as long as he sought YHWH, Elohim made him prosper. 6 He went out and fought against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath, the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod; and he built cities in the country of Ashdod, and among the Philistines. 7 Elohim helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians who lived in Gur Baal, and the Meunim. 8 The Ammonites gave tribute to Uzziah. His name spread abroad even to the entrance of Egypt, for he grew exceedingly strong. 9 Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them. 10 He built towers in the wilderness, and dug out many cisterns, for he had much livestock, both in the lowlands and in the plains. He had farmers and vineyard keepers in the mountains and in the fruitful fields, for he loved farming. 11 Moreover Uzziah had an army of fighting men who went out to war by bands, according to the number of their reckoning made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains. 12 The whole number of the heads of fathers’ households, even the mighty men of valor, was two thousand six hundred. 13 Under their hand was an army, three hundred seven thousand five hundred, who made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. 14 Uzziah prepared for them, even for all the army, shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and stones for slinging. 15 In Jerusalem, he made devices, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and on the battlements, with which to shoot arrows and great stones. His name spread far abroad, because he was marvelously helped until he was strong. 16 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that he did corruptly and he trespassed against YHWH his Elohim, for he went into the temple of YHWH to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of YHWH, who were valiant men. 18 They resisted Uzziah the king, and said to him, “It isn’t for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to YHWH, but for the priests the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed. It will not be for your honor from YHWH Elohim.” 19 Then Uzziah was angry. He had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and while he was angry with the priests, the infection broke out on his forehead before the priests in YHWH’s house, beside the altar of incense. 20 Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was infected in his forehead; and they thrust him out quickly from there. Indeed, he himself also hurried to go out, because YHWH had struck him. 21 Uzziah the king was infected to the day of his death, and lived in a separate house, being infected; for he was cut off from YHWH’s house. Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land. 22 Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, wrote. 23 So Uzziah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the field of burial which belonged to the kings, for they said, “He is infected.” Jotham his son reigned in his place.

Related Additional Readings​

The Damascus Document, also called the Damascus Covenant or the Book of the Covenant of Damascus, Cairo Damascus document (CD) or Damascus Rule, is an ancient Jewish document that some scholars suggest serves as a “bridge” document, connecting Judaism’s post-exilic ‘Enochian’-Essene majority to the asserted leadership of its radical minority Qumran-Essene community that was established in isolation near the shores of the Dead Sea. It forms part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, found after 1947 near Qumran, but two fragments had already been discovered in 1897 in the Cairo Geniza.

4Q272 Frag. 1 Col. 1 […a sore or] scab or inflammation… … a sore of any kind and a scab due to a wound from a piece of wood or] stone. In the case of a wound, when the spirit comes [and possesses the artery, blood stops flowing] above and below the wound, and the artery [… The priest will see the] healthy skin and the diseased [skin… If the diseased skin is not recessed below the healthy skin, he will isolate him] until the tissue grows back and until the blood returns to the artery. [Then on the seventh day the priest will examine him. If] the spirit of life rises and falls unimpeded and the tissue has grown back, [he is healed… ] the scab, the priest will not examine the skin of the body [… If the] sore or the scab [is lower than the skin … and the priest sees] that it looks like an open sore [… … a skin disease has taken hold] in the healthy skin, and according to [this] regulation [… … The priest will examine on the seventh] day. If the healthy [tissue has given way to diseased tissue, it is an infectious] skin disease.

4Q266 Frag. 9 Col. 1 The regulation pertaining to scalp of the head and beard [ … ] [… The priest will examine it;] if the spirit has entered into the head or the beard to possess [… underneath the] hair and begins to resemble thin yellow growth; for it is like grass with a worm under it, which then cuts its root and the blossom dries up. As for the verse which says, “The priest will order the head to be shaven without shaving the scale” (Lev. 13:33) this is so that the priest can count the diseased and healthy hairs. He will examine the skin, and if the diseased tissue has encroached on the healthy tissue after seven days, the man is unclean. But if the diseased parts have not encroached on the healthy, and the artery is full of blood and the spirit of life rises and falls unimpeded [ … ] the disease. Such is the regulation of the law pertaining to infectious skin disease so that the Aaronites can separate [ … ]

Josephus was born Joseph ben Mattathias in 37 AD in Jerusalem of a priestly and royal family. He excelled in his studies of Jewish law and studied with the Sadducees, Pharisees, and the Essenes, eventually aligning himself with the Pharisees. In 62 AD he went to Rome to free some imprisoned priests. After accomplishing this mission through the intercession of Nero’s wife, Poppaea, he returned to Jerusalem in 65 AD to find the country in revolt against Rome. Josephus shrewdly reinterpreted the Messianic prophecies. He predicted that Vespasian would become the ruler of the ‘entire world’. His prophecy became true in 68 AD when Nero committed suicide and Vespasian became Ceasar. As a result, Josephus was freed; he moved to Rome and became a Roman citizen, taking the Vespasian family name Flavius. Vespasian commissioned Josephus to write a history of the war, which he finished in 78 AD, the Jewish War. His second major work, the Antiquities of the Jews, was completed in 93 AD. The extant manuscripts of the book Antiquities of the Jews contain two references to Yeshua of Nazareth (18.3.3. and 20.9.1.) and one reference to the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist (18.5.2.).

3.11.3. He also ordered that those whose bodies were afflicted with infection, and that had a gonorrhea, should not come into the city; nay, he removed the women, when they had their natural purgations, till the seventh day; after which he looked on them as pure, and permitted them to come in again. The law permits those also who have taken care of funerals to come in after the same manner, when this number of days is over; but if any continued longer than that number of days in a state of pollution, the law appointed the offering two lambs for a slaughter; the one of which they are to purge by fire, and for the other, the priests take it for themselves. In the same manner do those slaughter who have had the gonorrhea. But he that sheds his seed in his sleep, if he go down into cold water, has the same privilege with those that have lawfully accompanied with their wives. And for the lepers, he suffered them not to come into the city at all, nor to live with any others, as if they were in effect dead persons; but if any one had obtained by prayer to Elohim, the recovery from that distemper, and had gained a healthful complexion again, such a one returned thanks to Elohim, with several sorts of slaughters; concerning which we will speak hereafter.

3.11.4. Whence one cannot but smile at those who say that Moses was himself afflicted with the infection when he fled out of Egypt, and that he became the conductor of those who on that account left that country, and led them into the land of Canaan; for had this been true, Moses would not have made these laws to his own dishonor, which indeed it was more likely he would have opposed, if others had endeavored to introduce them; and this the rather, because there are lepers in many nations, who yet are in honor, and not only free from reproach and avoidance, but who have been great captains of armies, and been entrusted with high offices in the commonwealth, and have had the privilege of entering into holy places and temples; so that nothing hindered, but if either Moses himself, or the multitude that was with him, had been liable to such a misfortune in the color of his skin, he might have made laws about them for their credit and advantage, and have laid no manner of difficulty upon them. Accordingly, it is a plain case, that it is out of violent prejudice only that they report these things about us. But Moses was pure from any such distemper, and lived with countrymen who were pure of it also, and thence made the laws which concerned others that had the distemper. He did this for the honor of Elohim. But as to these matters, let every one consider them after what manner he pleases.