Leviticus 12:1-14:32

New American Standard Bible

Laws of Motherhood

12 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying:

‘When a woman gives birth and delivers a male child, then she shall be unclean for seven days; ^(A)as she is in the days of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. ³ Then on ^(B)the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. ⁴ And she shall stay at home in her condition of ^[a]blood purification for thirty-three days; she shall not touch any consecrated thing, nor enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are completed. ⁵ But if she gives birth to a female child, then she shall be unclean for two weeks, as in her menstruation; and she shall stay at home in her condition of ^[b]blood purification for sixty-six days.

⁶ ‘^(C)When the days of her purification are completed, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the tent of meeting a one-year-old lamb as a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove ^(D)as a ^[c]sin offering. ⁷ Then he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed from the ^[d]flow of her blood. This is the law for her who gives birth to a child, whether a male or a female. ⁸ But if ^[e]she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take ^(E)two turtledoves or two young doves, ^(F)the one as a burnt offering and the other as a ^[f]sin offering; and the ^(G)priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’”

The Test for Leprosy

13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ² “When someone has on the skin of his ^[g]body a swelling, or a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes an infection of ^[h]leprosy on the skin of his ^[i]body, ^(H)then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. ³ The priest shall look at the infected area on the skin of the ^[j]body, and if the hair in the infection has turned white and the infection appears to be deeper than the skin of his ^[k]body, it is an infection of leprosy; when the priest has looked at him, he shall pronounce him unclean. ⁴ But if the bright spot is white on the skin of his ^[l]body, and ^[m]it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, and the hair on it has not turned white, then the priest shall ^[n]isolate the person who has the infection for seven days. ⁵ Then the priest shall look at him on the seventh day, and if in his eyes the infection has ^[o]not changed and the infection has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall ^[p]isolate him for seven more days. ⁶ The priest shall then look at him again on the seventh day, and if the infected area has faded and the infection has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is only a rash. And he shall ^(I)wash his clothes and be clean.

⁷ “But if the rash spreads farther on the skin after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he shall appear again to the priest. ⁸ And the priest shall look, and if the rash has spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is leprosy.

⁹ “When the infection of leprosy is on someone, then he shall be brought to the priest. ¹⁰ The priest shall then look, and if there is a ^(J)white swelling on the skin, and it has turned the hair white, and there is new raw flesh in the swelling, ¹¹ it is ^[q]a chronic leprosy on the skin of his ^[r]body, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean; he shall not ^[s]isolate him, for he is unclean. ¹² If the leprosy breaks out farther on the skin, and the leprosy covers all the skin of the person who has the infection from his head even to his feet, ^[t]as far as the priest can see, ¹³ then the priest shall look, and behold, if the leprosy has covered his entire ^[u]body, he shall pronounce the one who has the infection clean; it has all turned white and he is clean. ¹⁴ But whenever raw flesh appears on him, he shall be unclean. ¹⁵ The priest shall look at the raw flesh, and he shall pronounce him unclean; the raw flesh is unclean, it is leprosy. ¹⁶ Or if the raw flesh turns back and is changed to white, then he shall ^(K)come to the priest, ¹⁷ and the priest shall look at him, and behold, if the infected area has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce the one who has the infection clean; he is clean.

¹⁸ “Now when the ^[v]body has a boil on its skin and it is healed, ¹⁹ and in the place of the boil there is a white swelling or a reddish-white, bright spot, then it shall be shown to the priest; ²⁰ and the priest shall look, and behold, if ^[w]it appears to be deeper than the skin, and the hair on it has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is the infection of leprosy, it has broken out in the boil. ²¹ But if the priest looks at it, and behold, there are no white hairs in it and it is not deeper than the skin and is faded, then the priest shall ^[x]isolate him for seven days; ²² and if it spreads farther on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is an infection. ²³ But if the bright spot remains in its place and does not spread, it is only the scar of the boil; and the priest shall pronounce him clean.

²⁴ “Or if the ^[y]body sustains in its skin a burn by fire, and the raw flesh of the burn becomes a bright spot, reddish-white, or white, ²⁵ then the priest shall look at it. And if the hair in the bright spot has ^(L)turned white and it appears to be deeper than the skin, it is leprosy; it has broken out in the burn. Therefore, the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is an infection of leprosy. ²⁶ But if the priest looks at it, and indeed, there is no white hair in the bright spot and it is no deeper than the skin, but is dim, then the priest shall ^[z]isolate him for seven days; ²⁷ and the priest shall look at him on the seventh day. If it spreads farther in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is an infection of leprosy. ²⁸ But if the bright spot remains in its place and has not spread in the skin, but is dim, it is the swelling from the burn; and the priest shall pronounce him clean, for it is only the scar of the burn.

²⁹ “Now if a man or woman has an infection on the head or on the beard, ³⁰ then the priest shall look at the infection, and if it appears to be deeper than the skin and there is thin yellowish hair in it, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a scale, it is leprosy of the head or of the beard. ³¹ But if the priest looks at the infection of the scale, and indeed, it appears to be no deeper than the skin and there is no black hair in it, then the priest shall ^[aa]isolate the person with the scaly infection for seven days. ³² And on the seventh day the priest shall look at the infection, and if the scale has not spread and no yellowish hair has ^[ab]grown in it, and the appearance of the scale is no deeper than the skin, ³³ then he shall shave himself, but he shall not shave the scale; and the priest shall ^[ac]isolate the person with the scale for seven more days. ³⁴ Then on the seventh day the priest shall look at the scale, and if the scale has not spread in the skin and it appears to be no deeper than the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean; and he shall wash his clothes and be clean. ³⁵ But if the scale spreads farther in the skin after his cleansing, ³⁶ then the priest shall look at him, and if the scale has spread on the skin, the priest need not look for the yellowish hair; he is unclean. ³⁷ If in his sight the scale has remained, however, and black hair has grown in it, the scale has healed, and he is clean; and the priest shall pronounce him clean.

³⁸ “When a man or a woman has bright spots on the skin of the ^[ad]body, white bright spots, ³⁹ then the priest shall look, and if the bright spots on the skin of their ^[ae]bodies are a faint white, it is ^[af]eczema that has broken out on the skin; he is clean.

⁴⁰ “Now if a man ^[ag]loses the hair of his head, he is only ^(M)bald; he is clean. ⁴¹ And if his head becomes bald at the ^[ah]front and sides, he is bald on the forehead; he is clean. ⁴² But if on the bald head or the bald forehead there occurs a reddish-white infection, it is leprosy breaking out on his bald head or on his bald forehead. ⁴³ Then ^(N)the priest shall look at him; and if the swelling of the infection is reddish-white on his bald head or on his bald forehead, like the appearance of leprosy in the skin of the ^[ai]body, ⁴⁴ he is a leprous man, he is unclean. The priest must pronounce him unclean; his infection is on his head.

⁴⁵ “As for the person who has the leprous infection, his clothes shall be torn and ^(O)the hair of his head shall be ^[aj]uncovered, and he shall ^(P)cover his ^[ak]mustache and call out, ‘^(Q)Unclean! Unclean!’ ⁴⁶ He shall remain unclean all the days during which he has the infection; he is unclean. He shall live alone; he shall live ^(R)outside the camp.

⁴⁷ “When a garment has ^[al]a mark of leprosy in it, whether it is a wool garment or a linen garment, ⁴⁸ whether in ^[am]warp or ^[an]woof, of linen or of wool, whether in leather or in any article made of leather, ⁴⁹ if the ^[ao]mark is greenish or reddish in the garment or in the leather, whether in the ^[ap]warp or in the woof, or in any article of leather, it is a leprous ^[aq]mark and it shall be shown to the priest. ⁵⁰ Then ^(S)the priest shall look at the mark and shall ^[ar]quarantine the article with the mark for seven days. ⁵¹ He shall then look at the mark on the seventh day; if the mark has spread in the garment, whether in the ^[as]warp or in the woof, or in the leather, whatever the purpose for which the leather is used, the mark is a ^[at]leprous malignancy, it is unclean. ⁵² So he shall burn the garment, whether it is the ^[au]warp or the woof, in wool or in linen, or any article of leather, in which the mark occurs; for it is a ^[av]leprous malignancy. It shall be burned in the fire.

⁵³ “But if the priest looks, and indeed the mark has not spread in the garment, either in the ^[aw]warp or in the woof, or in any article of leather, ⁵⁴ then the priest shall order them to wash the thing in which the mark occurs, and he shall ^[ax]quarantine it for seven more days. ⁵⁵ After the article with the mark has been washed, the priest shall again look, and if the mark has not changed its appearance, even if the mark has not spread, it is unclean; you shall burn it in the fire, whether an eating away has produced bareness on the back or on the front of it.

⁵⁶ “But if the priest looks, and indeed the mark has faded after it has been washed, then he shall tear it out of the garment or out of the leather, whether from the ^[ay]warp or from the woof; ⁵⁷ yet if it appears again in the garment, whether in the warp or in the woof, or in any article of leather, it is an outbreak; the article with the mark shall be burned in the fire. ⁵⁸ But the garment, whether the warp or the woof, or any article of leather from which the mark has disappeared when you washed it, shall then be washed a second time and will be clean.”

⁵⁹ This is the law for the mark of leprosy in a garment of wool or linen, whether in the warp or in the woof, or in any article of leather, for pronouncing it clean or unclean.

Law of Cleansing a Person with Leprosy

14 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “This shall be the law of the person with leprosy on the day of his cleansing. ^(T)Now he shall be brought to the priest; ³ and the priest shall go ^(U)out to a place outside of the camp. Then the priest shall look, and if the ^[az]leprous infection has been healed in the person with leprosy, ⁴ then the priest shall give orders to take two live clean birds, ^(V)cedar wood, a ^[ba]scarlet string, and hyssop for the one who is to be cleansed. ⁵ The priest shall also give orders to slaughter the one bird in an earthenware vessel over ^[bb]running water. ⁶ As for the live bird, he shall take it together with ^(W)the cedar wood, the ^[bc]scarlet string, and the ^(X)hyssop, and shall dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the ^[bd]running water. ^7 (Y)He shall then sprinkle seven times the one who is to be cleansed from the leprosy and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the live bird go free over the open field. ^8 (Z)The one to be cleansed shall then wash his clothes and shave off all his hair, and bathe in water and ^(AA)be clean. And afterward he may enter the camp, but he ^(AB)shall stay outside his tent for seven days. ⁹ Then it shall be on the seventh day that he shall shave off all his hair: he shall shave his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair. He shall then wash his clothes and bathe his ^[be]body in water and ^(AC)be clean.

¹⁰ “Now on the eighth day he is to take two male lambs without defect, and a yearling ewe lamb without defect, and three-tenths of an ^[bf]ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and one ^[bg](AD)log of oil; ¹¹ and the priest who is going to pronounce him clean shall present the person to be cleansed and ^[bh]the offerings before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting. ¹² Then the priest shall take the one male lamb and bring it as a ^(AE)guilt offering, with the ^[bi](AF)log of oil, and present them as a ^(AG)wave offering before the Lord. ¹³ Next he shall slaughter the male lamb in ^(AH)the place where they slaughter the ^[bj]sin offering and the burnt offering, at the place of the sanctuary—for the guilt offering, ^(AI)like the ^[bk]sin offering, belongs to the priest; it is most holy. ¹⁴ The priest shall then take some of the blood of the ^(AJ)guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on ^(AK)the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ¹⁵ The priest shall also take some of the ^[bl](AL)log of oil, and pour it into his left palm; ¹⁶ the priest shall then dip his right-hand finger into the oil that is in his left palm, and with his finger sprinkle some of the oil seven times before the Lord. ¹⁷ Of the remaining oil which is in his palm, the priest shall ^(AM)put some on the right ear lobe of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the blood of the guilt offering; ¹⁸ as for the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s palm, he shall put it on the head of the one to be cleansed. So the priest shall make ^(AN)atonement on his behalf before the Lord. ¹⁹ The priest shall next offer the ^[bm](AO)sin offering and make atonement for the one to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Then afterward, he shall slaughter the burnt offering. ²⁰ The priest shall offer up the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. So the priest shall make atonement for him, and ^(AP)he will be clean.

²¹ “^(AQ)But if he is poor and his ^[bn]means are insufficient, then he is to take one male lamb for a ^(AR)guilt offering as a wave offering to make atonement for him, and a tenth of an ^[bo]ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and a ^[bp](AS)log of oil, ²² and two turtledoves or two young doves, which ^[bq]are within his means. ^(AT)The one shall be a ^[br](AU)sin offering, and the other a burnt offering. ^23 (AV)Then on the eighth day he shall bring them for his cleansing to the priest, at the doorway of the tent of meeting, before the Lord. ²⁴ The priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering and ^(AW)the ^[bs]log of oil, and the priest shall offer them as a wave offering before the Lord. ²⁵ Next he shall slaughter the lamb of the guilt offering; and the priest is to take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on ^(AX)the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁶ The priest shall also pour some of the oil into his left palm; ²⁷ and with his right-hand finger the priest shall sprinkle some of the oil that is in his left palm seven times before the Lord. ²⁸ The priest shall then put some of the oil that is in his palm on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the guilt offering. ²⁹ Moreover, the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s palm, he shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed, to make atonement on his behalf before the Lord. ³⁰ He shall then offer one of the turtledoves or young doves, ^[bt]which are within his means. ³¹ He shall offer what ^[bu]he can afford, ^(AY)the one as a ^[bv]sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, together with the grain offering. So the priest shall make atonement before the Lord on behalf of the one to be cleansed. ³² This is the law for him in whom there is an infection of leprosy, whose ^[bw]means are limited for his cleansing.”