Book Three
God Is My Strength and Portion Forever
A Psalm of bAsaph.
1 Truly God is good to cIsrael,
to those who are dpure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
3 eFor I was fenvious of the arrogant
when I saw the gprosperity of the wicked.
4 For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not hstricken like the rest of mankind.
6 Therefore pride is itheir necklace;
violence covers them as ja garment.
7 Their keyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
8 They scoff and lspeak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
9 They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore his people turn back to them,
11 And they say, n“How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they oincrease in riches.
13 All in vain have I pkept my heart clean
and qwashed my hands in innocence.
14 For all the day long I have been hstricken
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed tthe generation of your children.
16 But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me ua wearisome task,
17 until I went into vthe sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their wend.
18 Truly you set them in xslippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
19 How they are destroyed yin a moment,
swept away utterly by zterrors!
20 Like aa dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when byou rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
21 When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was cbrutish and ignorant;
I was like da beast toward you.
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you ehold my right hand.
24 You fguide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will greceive me to glory.
25 hWhom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 iMy flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is jthe strength2 of my heart and my kportion lforever.
27 For behold, those who are mfar from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is nunfaithful to you.
28 But for me it is good to obe near God;
I have made the Lord God my prefuge,
that I may qtell of all your works.
Laws About Bodily Discharges
1 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, hWhen any man has a discharge from his body,1 his discharge is unclean. 3 And this is the law of his uncleanness for a discharge: whether his body runs with his discharge, or his body is blocked up by his discharge, it is his uncleanness. 4 Every bed on which the one with the discharge lies shall be unclean, and everything on which he sits shall be unclean. 5 And anyone who touches his bed ishall wash his clothes and jbathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 6 And whoever sits on anything on which the one with the discharge has sat shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 7 And whoever touches the body of the one with the discharge shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 8 And if the one with the discharge spits on someone who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 9 And any saddle on which the one with the discharge rides shall be unclean. 10 And whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening. And whoever carries such things shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 11 Anyone whom the one with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 12 And an kearthenware vessel that the one with the discharge touches shall be broken, and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.
13 “And when the one with a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, then lhe shall count for himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes. And he shall bathe his body in fresh water and shall be clean. 14 And on the eighth day he shall take two mturtledoves or two pigeons and come before the Lord to the entrance of the tent of meeting and give them to the priest. 15 And the priest shall use them, none for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. oAnd the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord for his discharge.
16 p“If a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole body in water and be unclean until the evening. 17 And every garment and every skin on which the semen comes shall be washed with water and be unclean until the evening. 18 If a man lies with a woman and has an emission of semen, both of them shall bathe themselves in water and qbe unclean until the evening.
19 “When a woman has a discharge, and the discharge in her body is blood, she shall be in her menstrual impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. 20 rAnd everything on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean. Everything also on which she sits shall be unclean. 21 And whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 22 And whoever touches anything on which she sits shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 23 Whether it is the bed or anything on which she sits, when he touches it he shall be unclean until the evening. 24 And sif any man lies with her and her menstrual impurity comes upon him, he shall be unclean seven days, and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.
25 “If ta woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness. As in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean. 26 Every bed on which she lies, all the days of her discharge, shall be to her as the bed of her impurity. And everything on which she sits shall be unclean, as in the uncleanness of her menstrual impurity. 27 And whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 28 But uif she is cleansed of her discharge, she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. 29 And on the eighth day she shall take two vturtledoves or two pigeons and bring them to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting. 30 And the priest shall use one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her before the Lord for her unclean discharge.
31 “Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by wdefiling my tabernacle that is in their midst.”
32 This is the law xfor him who has a discharge and yfor him who has an emission of semen, becoming unclean thereby; 33 zalso for her who is unwell with her menstrual impurity, that is, for anyone, xmale or afemale, who has a discharge, and for the bman who lies with a woman who is unclean.
