Matthew 10:8

10:8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, ¹  cleanse lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.

Matthew 26:6

Jesus’ Anointing

26:6 Now while Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper,

Leviticus 13:44-46

13:44 he is a diseased man. He is unclean. The priest must surely pronounce him unclean because of his infection on his head. ² 

The Life of the Person with Skin Disease

13:45 “As for the diseased person who has the infection, ³  his clothes must be torn, the hair of his head must be unbound, he must cover his mustache, ⁴  and he must call out ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 13:46 The whole time he has the infection ⁵  he will be continually unclean. He must live in isolation, and his place of residence must be outside the camp.

Numbers 5:2-3

5:2 “Command the Israelites to expel ⁶  from the camp every leper, ⁷  everyone who has a discharge, ⁸  and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse. ⁹  5:3 You must expel both men and women; you must put them outside the camp, so that ¹⁰  they will not defile their camps, among which I live.”

Numbers 12:10

12:10 When ¹¹  the cloud departed from above the tent, Miriam became ¹²  leprous ¹³  as snow. Then Aaron looked at ¹⁴  Miriam, and she was leprous!

Deuteronomy 24:8-9

Respect for Human Dignity

24:8 Be careful during an outbreak of leprosy to follow precisely ¹⁵  all that the Levitical priests instruct you; as I have commanded them, so you should do. 24:9 Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam ¹⁶  along the way after you left Egypt.

Deuteronomy 24:2

24:2 When she has left him ¹⁷  she may go and become someone else’s wife.

Deuteronomy 3:1-2

Defeat of King Og of Bashan

3:1 Next we set out on ¹⁸  the route to Bashan, ¹⁹  but King Og of Bashan and his whole army ²⁰  came out to meet us in battle at Edrei. ²¹  3:2 The Lord, however, said to me, “Don’t be afraid of him because I have already given him, his whole army, ²²  and his land to you. You will do to him exactly what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon.”

Deuteronomy 5:1

The Opening Exhortation

5:1 Then Moses called all the people of Israel together and said to them: ²³  “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am about to deliver to you today; learn them and be careful to keep them!

Deuteronomy 5:27

5:27 You go near so that you can hear everything the Lord our God is saying and then you can tell us whatever he ²⁴  says to you; then we will pay attention and do it.”

Deuteronomy 7:3-4

7:3 You must not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 7:4 for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you.

Deuteronomy 15:5

15:5 if you carefully obey ²⁵  him ²⁶  by keeping ²⁷  all these commandments that I am giving ²⁸  you today.

Deuteronomy 15:2

15:2 This is the nature of the cancellation: Every creditor must remit what he has loaned to another person; ²⁹  he must not force payment from his fellow Israelite, ³⁰  for it is to be recognized as “the Lord’s cancellation of debts.”

Deuteronomy 26:19

26:19 Then ³¹  he will elevate you above all the nations he has made and you will receive praise, fame, and honor. ³²  You will ³³  be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has said.

Luke 4:27

4:27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, ³⁴  yet ³⁵  none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” ³⁶ 

Luke 17:12-19

17:12 As ³⁷  he was entering ³⁸  a village, ten men with leprosy ³⁹  met him. They ⁴⁰  stood at a distance, 17:13 raised their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy ⁴¹  on us.” 17:14 When ⁴²  he saw them he said, “Go ⁴³  and show yourselves to the priests.” ⁴⁴  And ⁴⁵  as they went along, they were cleansed. 17:15 Then one of them, when he saw he was healed, turned back, praising ⁴⁶  God with a loud voice. 17:16 He ⁴⁷  fell with his face to the ground ⁴⁸  at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. ⁴⁹  (Now ⁵⁰  he was a Samaritan.) ⁵¹  17:17 Then ⁵²  Jesus said, ⁵³  “Were ⁵⁴  not ten cleansed? Where are the other ⁵⁵  nine? 17:18 Was no one found to turn back and give praise to God except this foreigner?” ⁵⁶  17:19 Then ⁵⁷  he said to the man, ⁵⁸  “Get up and go your way. Your faith has made you well.” ⁵⁹ 

[10:8]  ¹ tc The majority of Byzantine minuscules, along with a few other witnesses (C³ K L Γ Θ 700* al), lack νεκροὺς ἐγείρετε (nekrou" ejgeirete, “raise the dead”), most likely because of oversight due to a string of similar endings (-ετε in the second person imperatives, occurring five times in v. 8). The longer version of this verse is found in several diverse and ancient witnesses such as א B C* (D) N 0281^vid Ë^1,13 33 565 al lat; P W Δ 348 have a word-order variation, but nevertheless include νεκροὺς ἐγείρετε. Although some Byzantine-text proponents charge the Alexandrian witnesses with theologically-motivated alterations toward heterodoxy, it is interesting to find a variant such as this in which the charge could be reversed (do the Byzantine scribes have something against the miracle of resurrection?). In reality, such charges of wholesale theologically-motivated changes toward heterodoxy are immediately suspect due to lack of evidence of intentional changes (here the change is evidently due to accidental omission).

[13:44]  ² tn Or perhaps translate, “His infection [is] on his head,” as a separate independent sentence (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV). There is no causal expression in the Hebrew text connecting these two clauses, but the logical relationship between them seems to be causal.

[13:45]  ³ tn Heb “And the diseased one who in him is the infection.”

[13:45]  ⁴ tn Heb “and his head shall be unbound, and he shall cover on [his] mustache.” Tearing one’s clothing, allowing the hair to hang loose rather than bound up in a turban, and covering the mustache on the upper lip are all ways of expressing shame, grief, or distress (cf., e.g., Lev 10:6 and Micah 3:7).

[13:46]  ⁵ tn Heb “All the days which the infection is in him.”

[5:2]  ⁶ tn The construction uses the Piel imperative followed by this Piel imperfect/jussive form; it is here subordinated to the preceding volitive, providing the content of the command. The verb שָׁלַח (shalakh) in this verbal stem is a strong word, meaning “expel, put out, send away, or release” (as in “let my people go”).

[5:2]  ⁷ sn The word צָרוּעַ (tsarua’), although translated “leper,” does not primarily refer to leprosy proper (i.e., Hansen’s disease). The RSV and the NASB continued the KJV tradition of using “leper” and “leprosy.” More recent studies have concluded that the Hebrew word is a generic term covering all infectious skin diseases (including leprosy when that actually showed up). True leprosy was known and feared certainly by the time of Amos (ca. 760 b.c.). There is evidence that the disease was known in Egypt by 1500 b.c. So this term would include that disease in all probability. But in view of the diagnosis and healing described in Leviticus 13 and 14, the term must be broader. The whole basis for the laws of separation may be found in the book of Leviticus. The holiness of the Lord who dwelt among his people meant that a high standard was imposed on them for their living arrangements as well as access to the sanctuary. Anything that was corrupted, diseased, dying, or contaminated was simply not compatible with the holiness of God and was therefore excluded. This is not to say that it was treated as sin, or the afflicted as sinners. It simply was revealing – and safeguarding – the holiness of the Lord. It thus provided a revelation for all time that in the world to come nothing unclean will enter into the heavenly sanctuary. As the Apostle Paul says, we will all be changed from this corruptible body into one that is incorruptible (1 Cor 15:53). So while the laws of purity and holiness were practical for the immediate audience, they have far-reaching implications for theology. The purity regulations have been done away with in Christ – the problem is dealt with differently in the new covenant. There is no earthly temple, and so the separation laws are not in force. Wisdom would instruct someone with an infectious disease to isolate, however. But just because the procedure is fulfilled in Christ does not mean that believers today are fit for glory just as they are. On the contrary, they must be changed before going into his presence. In like manner the sacrifices have been done away in Christ – not what they covered. Sin is still sin, even though it is dealt with differently on this side of the cross. But the ritual and the regulations of the old covenant at Sinai have been fulfilled in Christ.

[5:2]  ⁸ sn The rules of discharge (Lev 12 and 15) include everything from menstruation to chronic diseases (see G. Wyper, ISBE 1:947, as well as R. K. Harrison, Leviticus (TOTC), 158-66, and G. J. Wenham, Leviticus (NICOT), 217-25.

[5:2]  ⁹ tn The word is נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh), which usually simply means “[whole] life,” i.e., the soul in the body, the person. But here it must mean the corpse, the dead person, since that is what will defile (although it was also possible to become unclean by touching certain diseased people, such as a leper).

[5:3]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfect tense functions here as a final imperfect, expressing the purpose of putting such folks outside the camp. The two preceding imperfects (repeated for emphasis) are taken here as instruction or legislation.

[12:10]  ¹¹ tn The disjunctive vav (ו) is here introducing a circumstantial clause of time.

[12:10]  ¹² tn There is no verb “became” in this line. The second half of the line is introduced with the particle הִנֵה (hinneh, “look, behold”) in its archaic sense. This deictic use is intended to make the reader focus on Miriam as well.

[12:10]  ¹³ sn The word “leprosy” and “leprous” covers a wide variety of skin diseases, and need not be limited to the actual disease of leprosy known today as Hansen’s disease. The description of it here has to do with snow, either the whiteness or the wetness. If that is the case then there would be open wounds and sores – like Job’s illness (see M. Noth, Numbers [OTL], 95-96).

[12:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “turned to.”

[24:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to watch carefully and to do.”

[24:9]  ¹⁶ sn What the Lord your God did to Miriam. The reference is to Miriam’s having contracted leprosy because of her intemperate challenge to Moses’ leadership (Num 12:1-15). The purpose for the allusion here appears to be the assertion of the theocratic leadership of the priests who, like Moses, should not be despised.

[24:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “his house.”

[3:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “turned and went up.”

[3:1]  ¹⁹ sn Bashan. This plateau country, famous for its oaks (Isa 2:13) and cattle (Deut 32:14; Amos 4:1), was north of Gilead along the Yarmuk River.

[3:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “people.”

[3:1]  ²¹ sn Edrei is probably modern Deràa, 60 mi (95 km) south of Damascus (see Num 21:33; Josh 12:4; 13:12, 31; also mentioned in Deut 1:4).

[3:2]  ²² tn Heb “people.”

[5:1]  ²³ tn Heb “and Moses called to all Israel and he said to them”; NAB, NASB, NIV “Moses summoned (convened NRSV) all Israel.”

[5:27]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the Lord our God.” See note on “He” in 5:3.

[15:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “if listening you listen to the voice of.” The infinitive absolute is used for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “carefully.” The idiom “listen to the voice” means “obey.”

[15:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 15:4.

[15:5]  ²⁷ tn Heb “by being careful to do.”

[15:5]  ²⁸ tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB); NAB “which I enjoin you today.”

[15:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “his neighbor,” used idiomatically to refer to another person.

[15:2]  ³⁰ tn Heb “his neighbor and his brother.” The words “his brother” may be a scribal gloss identifying “his neighbor” (on this idiom, see the preceding note) as a fellow Israelite (cf. v. 3). In this case the conjunction before “his brother” does not introduce a second category, but rather has the force of “that is.”

[26:19]  ³¹ tn Heb “so that.” Verses 18-19 are one sentence in the Hebrew text, but the translation divides it into three sentences for stylistic reasons. The first clause in verse 19 gives a result of the preceding clause. When Israel keeps God’s law, God will bless them with fame and honor (cf. NAB “he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory”; NLT “And if you do, he will make you greater than any other nation”).

[26:19]  ³² tn Heb “for praise and for a name and for glory.”

[26:19]  ³³ tn Heb “and to be.” A new sentence was started here for stylistic reasons.

[4:27]  ³⁴ sn On Elisha see 2 Kgs 5:1-14.

[4:27]  ³⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “yet” to indicate the contrast.

[4:27]  ³⁶ sn The reference to Naaman the Syrian (see 2 Kgs 5:1-24) is another example where an outsider and Gentile was blessed. The stress in the example is the missed opportunity of the people to experience God’s work, but it will still go on without them.

[17:12]  ³⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[17:12]  ³⁸ tn The participle εἰσερχομένου (eisercomenou) is taken temporally.

[17:12]  ³⁹ sn The ten men with leprosy would have been unable to approach Jesus (Lev 13:45-46; Num 5:2-3). The ancient term for leprosy covered a wider array of conditions than what is called leprosy today. A leper was totally ostracized from society until he was declared cured (Lev 13:45-46).

[17:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “leprosy, who.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun was replaced with a personal pronoun and a new sentence started at this point in the translation.

[17:13]  ⁴¹ sn “Have mercy on us” is a request to heal them (Luke 18:38-39; 16:24; Matt 9:27; 15:22; 17:15; 20:31-32; Mark 10:47-49).

[17:14]  ⁴² tn Καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[17:14]  ⁴³ tn The participle πορευθέντες (poreuqente") is a good example of an adverbial participle of attendant circumstance. As such, it picks up the force of an imperative from the verb to which it is related (ExSyn 640-45).

[17:14]  ⁴⁴ sn These are the instructions of what to do with a healing (Lev 13:19; 14:1-11; Luke 5:14).

[17:14]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “And it happened that as.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[17:15]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “glorifying God.”

[17:16]  ⁴⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[17:16]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “he fell on his face” (an idiom for complete prostration).

[17:16]  ⁴⁹ sn And thanked him. This action recognized God’s healing work through Jesus.

[17:16]  ⁵⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the introduction of a parenthetical comment.

[17:16]  ⁵¹ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. The comment that the man was a Samaritan means that to most Jews of Jesus’ day he would have been despised as a half-breed and a heretic. The note adds a touch of irony to the account (v. 18).

[17:17]  ⁵² tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[17:17]  ⁵³ tn Grk “Jesus answering said”; this is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified in the translation.

[17:17]  ⁵⁴ tn The Greek construction used here (οὐχί, ouci) expects a positive reply.

[17:17]  ⁵⁵ tn The word “other” is implied in the context.

[17:18]  ⁵⁶ sn Jesus’ point in calling the man a foreigner is that none of the other nine, who were presumably Israelites, responded with gratitude. Only the “outsiders” were listening and responding.

[17:19]  ⁵⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[17:19]  ⁵⁸ tn Grk “to him”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:19]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “has delivered you”; Grk “has saved you.” The remark about faith suggests the benefit of trusting in Jesus’ ability to deliver. Apparently the Samaritan benefited from the healing in a way the other nine did not.