And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

and saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing the things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

And he saith to him: See thou tell no one; but go, shew thyself to the high priest, and offer for thy cleansing the things that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.

and says to him, See thou say nothing to any one, but go, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing what Moses ordained, for a testimony to them.

and saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing the things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

And saith to him, See thou say nothing to any man; but go, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.

and saith to him, 'See thou mayest say nothing to any one, but go away, thyself shew to the priest, and bring near for thy cleansing the things Moses directed, for a testimony to them.'

and saying, "Be careful not to tell any one, but go and show yourself to the Priest, and for your purification present the offerings that Moses appointed as evidence for them."

See that you say nothing to any man: but go and let the priest see you, and make yourself clean by an offering of the things ordered by Moses, for a witness to them.

and said to him, 'See you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing the things which Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.'

And he said to him: "See to it that you tell no one. But go and show yourself to the high priest, and offer for your cleansing that which Moses instructed, as a testimony for them."

"Be careful not to say anything to anyone; but go and show yourself to the priest, and make the offerings for your cleansing directed by Moses, as evidence of your cure."

For a testimony to them Some consider testimony to mean here a law or statute, as it is said in the Book of Psalms, God laid down this "for a testimony to Israel," (Psalm 122:4.) But this appears to me to be a poor exposition: for I have no doubt that the pronoun to them refers to the priests. [1] Christ said this, in my opinion, with a view to the present occurrence: for this miracle was afterwards to be a sufficiently clear proof for convicting them of ingratitude. There is nothing inconsistent with this in the command which Christ gave to the leper to maintain silence: for he did not intend that the remembrance of the miracle which he had wrought should remain always buried. When the leper, at the command of Christ, came into the presence of the priest, this was a testimony to them, which would render them inexcusable, if they refused to receive Christ as the minister of God; and would, at the same time, take away occasion for slander, since Christ did not neglect a single point of the law. In a word, if they were not past cure, they might be led to Christ; while, on the other hand, so solemn a testimony of God was sufficiently powerful to condemn them, if they were unbelievers.

Footnotes

1 - According to the view which Calvin rejects, the words, which Moses commanded for a testimony to them, mean, "which Moses delivered to them, that is, to the people of Israel, as a divine ordinance." The view which he adopts may be more clearly brought out by a different arrangement of the words. Present, for a testimony to them, that is, "to the priests," the offering which Moses commanded. -- Ed

(13) And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the (u) priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
(13) He shows that he was not motivated by ambition, but only by the desire for his Father's glory, and by his love towards poor sinners.
(u) All the posterity of Aaron had the authority to judge a leper.

And saith unto him, see thou say nothing to any man,.... By the way, till he came to the priest;
but go thy way, show thyself to the priest: the Syriac and Persic versions read, "to the priests"; and the Vulgate Latin renders it, "to the chief priest"; but any priest might judge of the cleansing of a leper;
and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded for a testimony unto them; See Gill on Matthew 8:4.

Shew thyself to the priest. At Jerusalem.
Those things which Moses commanded. See Leviticus 14:4-7, and note on Matthew 8:4.

See thou say nothing to any man - But our blessed Lord gives no such charge to us. If he has made us clean from our leprosy of sin, we are not commanded to conceal it. On the contrary, it is our duty to publish it abroad, both for the honour of our Benefactor, and that others who are sick of sin may be encouraged to ask and hope for the same benefit. But go, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing what Moses commanded for a testimony to them - The priests seeing him, pronouncing him clean, Leviticus 13:17, Leviticus 13:23, Leviticus 13:28, Leviticus 13:37, and accordingly allowing him to offer as Moses commanded, Leviticus 14:2, Leviticus 14:7, was such a proof against them, that they durst never say the leper was not cleansed; which out of envy or malice against our Saviour they might have been ready to say, upon his presenting himself to be viewed, according to the law, if by the cleansed person's talking much about his cure, the account of it had reached their ears before he came in person. This is one great reason why our Lord commanded this man to say nothing.