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Cleansing an Infected House

33 The Lord further spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

34 “When you come into the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as a possession, and I put [a]a mark of leprosy on a house in your land, 35 then the one who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, ‘I have seen something that looks like a mark of leprosy in my house.’ 36 The priest shall order that they empty the house before he goes in to examine the mark, so that everything in the house will not have to be declared unclean; afterward he shall go in to see the house. 37 He shall examine the mark, and if the mark on the walls of the house has greenish or reddish depressions and appears deeper than the surface, 38 the priest shall go out of the house, to the doorway, and [b]quarantine the house for seven days. 39 The priest shall return on the seventh day and look; and if the mark has spread on the walls of the house, 40 he shall order them to tear out the contaminated stones and throw them into an unclean place outside the city. 41 He shall have the entire inside area of the house scraped, and the plaster that is scraped off shall be dumped in an unclean place outside the city. 42 Then they shall take new stones and replace the [contaminated] stones, and he shall take plaster and replaster the house.

43 “If, however, the mark breaks out again in the house after he has removed the stones and has scraped and replastered the house, 44 then the priest shall come and look again, and if the mark has spread in the house, it is a malignant leprosy in the house; it is [ceremonially] unclean. 45 He shall tear down the house—its stones and its timber and all the plaster of the house—and shall take everything outside the city to an unclean place. 46 Moreover, whoever goes into the house during the time that it is quarantined becomes unclean until evening. 47 And whoever lies down in the house [to rest] shall wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house shall wash his clothes.

48 “But if the priest comes in and inspects it and the mark has not spread in the house after the house has been replastered, he shall pronounce the house clean because the mark has not reappeared. 49 To cleanse the house then, he shall take two birds and cedar wood and scarlet string and hyssop; 50 and he shall kill one of the birds in an earthenware container over running water, 51 and he shall take the cedar wood and the hyssop and the scarlet string, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird as well as in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. 52 So he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the running water, along with the live bird and the cedar wood and the hyssop and the scarlet string. 53 But he shall let the live bird go free outside the city into the open field. So he shall make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.”

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 14:34 Possibly mildew or mold, and so throughout the chapter. See 13:47-59 for similar instructions regarding fabric, leather, and other articles.
  2. Leviticus 14:38 Lit isolate.

33 And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

34 When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession;

35 And he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house:

36 Then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest go into it to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house:

37 And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall;

38 Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days:

39 And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house;

40 Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city:

41 And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place:

42 And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house.

43 And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plaistered;

44 Then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house; it is unclean.

45 And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place.

46 Moreover he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even.

47 And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes.

48 And if the priest shall come in, and look upon it, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plaistered: then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed.

49 And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:

50 And he shall kill the one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water:

51 And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times:

52 And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet:

53 But he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open fields, and make an atonement for the house: and it shall be clean.

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