Leviticus 14
English Standard Version
Laws for Cleansing Lepers
14 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “This shall be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. (A)He shall be brought to the priest, 3 and the priest shall go (B)out of the camp, and the priest shall look. Then, if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person, 4 the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live[a] clean birds and (C)cedarwood and (D)scarlet yarn and (E)hyssop. 5 And the priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh[b] water. 6 He shall take the live bird with the cedarwood and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. 7 And he shall (F)sprinkle it (G)seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and shall (H)let the living bird go (I)into the open field. 8 And he who is to be cleansed (J)shall wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe himself in water, and he shall be clean. And after that he may come into the camp, but (K)live outside his tent seven days. 9 And (L)on the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair from his head, his beard, and his eyebrows. He shall shave off all his hair, and then he (M)shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he shall be clean.
10 “And on the eighth day he (N)shall take two male lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish, and a (O)grain offering of three tenths of an ephah[c] of fine flour mixed with oil, and one log[d] of oil. 11 And the priest who cleanses him shall set the man who is to be cleansed and these things before the Lord, at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 12 And the priest shall take one of the male lambs and (P)offer it for a guilt offering, along with the log of oil, and (Q)wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. 13 And he shall kill the lamb (R)in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the place of the sanctuary. For (S)the guilt offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest; (T)it is most holy. 14 The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it (U)on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. 15 Then the priest shall take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand 16 and dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand and sprinkle some oil with his finger seven times before the Lord. 17 And some of the oil that remains in his hand the priest shall put on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering. 18 And the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed. (V)Then the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord. 19 The priest shall offer the sin offering, to make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. And afterward he shall kill the burnt offering. 20 And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the (W)grain offering on the altar. (X)Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.
21 “But (Y)if he is poor and cannot afford so much, then he shall take one male lamb for a guilt offering (Z)to be waved, to make atonement for him, and a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a log of oil; 22 (AA)also two turtledoves or two pigeons, whichever he can afford. The one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. 23 (AB)And on the eighth day he shall bring them for his cleansing to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, before the Lord. 24 (AC)And the priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. 25 And he shall kill the lamb of the guilt offering. (AD)And the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. 26 And the priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand, 27 and shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the Lord. 28 And the priest shall put some of the oil that is in his hand on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, in the place where the blood of the guilt offering was put. 29 And the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before the Lord. 30 And he shall offer, of the (AE)turtledoves or pigeons, whichever he can afford, 31 one[e] for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, along with a grain offering. (AF)And the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for him who is being cleansed. 32 This is the law for him in whom is a case of leprous disease, who cannot afford (AG)the offerings for his cleansing.”
Laws for Cleansing Houses
33 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 34 “When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you (AH)for a possession, and I put a case of leprous disease in a house in the land of your possession, 35 then he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, ‘There seems to me to be some case of (AI)disease in my house.’ 36 Then the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes to examine the disease, lest all that is in the house be declared unclean. And afterward the priest shall go in to see the house. 37 And he shall examine the disease. And if the disease is in the walls of the house with greenish or reddish spots, and if it appears to be deeper than the surface, 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 on the seventh day, and look. If the disease has spread in the walls of the house, 40 then the priest shall command that they take out the stones in which is the disease and throw them into an unclean place outside the city. 41 And he shall have the inside of the house scraped all around, and the plaster that they scrape off they shall pour out in an unclean place outside the city. 42 Then they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other plaster and plaster the house.
43 “If the disease breaks out again in the house, after he has taken out the stones and scraped the house and plastered it, 44 then the priest shall go and look. And if the disease has spread in the house, it is a (AJ)persistent leprous disease in the house; it is unclean. 45 And he shall break down the house, its stones and timber and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them out of the city to an unclean place. 46 Moreover, whoever enters the house while it is shut up shall be unclean until the evening, 47 and whoever sleeps in the house (AK)shall wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house shall wash his clothes.
48 “But if the priest comes and looks, and if the disease has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, for the disease is healed. 49 And for the (AL)cleansing of the house he shall take (AM)two small birds, with cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop, 50 and shall kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh water 51 and shall take the cedarwood and the hyssop and the scarlet yarn, along with the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed and in the fresh water and sprinkle the house seven times. 52 Thus he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the fresh water and with the live bird and with the cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn. 53 And he shall let the live bird go out of the city (AN)into the open country. So he shall (AO)make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.”
54 This is the law for any case of leprous disease: for (AP)an itch, 55 for (AQ)leprous disease in a garment or in (AR)a house, 56 and (AS)for a swelling or an eruption or a spot, 57 to (AT)show when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law for leprous disease.
Footnotes
- Leviticus 14:4 Or wild
- Leviticus 14:5 Or running; Hebrew living; also verses 6, 50, 51, 52
- Leviticus 14:10 An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters
- Leviticus 14:10 A log was about 1/3 quart or 0.3 liter
- Leviticus 14:31 Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew afford, 31 such as he can afford, one
Leviticus 14
New King James Version
The Ritual for Cleansing Healed Lepers(A)
14 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “This shall be the law of the [a]leper for the day of his cleansing: He (B)shall be brought to the priest. 3 And the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall examine him; and indeed, if the [b]leprosy is healed in the leper, 4 then the priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living and clean birds, (C)cedar wood, (D)scarlet, and (E)hyssop. 5 And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. 6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. 7 And he shall (F)sprinkle it (G)seven times on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose in the open field. 8 He who is to be cleansed (H)shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and (I)wash himself in water, that he may be clean. After that he shall come into the camp, and (J)shall stay outside his tent seven days. 9 But on the (K)seventh day he shall shave all the hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows—all his hair he shall shave off. He shall wash his clothes and wash his body in water, and he shall be clean.
10 “And on the eighth day (L)he shall take two male lambs without blemish, one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as (M)a grain offering, and one log of oil. 11 Then the priest who makes him clean shall present the man who is to be made clean, and those things, before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 12 And the priest shall take one male lamb and (N)offer it as a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and (O)wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. 13 Then he shall kill the lamb (P)in the place where he kills the sin offering and the burnt offering, in a holy place; for (Q)as the sin offering is the priest’s, so is the trespass offering. (R)It is most holy. 14 The priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it (S)on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. 15 And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. 16 Then the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall (T)sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before the Lord. 17 And of the rest of the oil in his hand, the priest shall put some on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the blood of the trespass offering. 18 The rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed. (U)So the priest shall make [c]atonement for him before the Lord.
19 “Then the priest shall offer (V)the sin offering, and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Afterward he shall kill the burnt offering. 20 And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. So the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be (W)clean.
21 “But (X)if he is poor and cannot afford it, then he shall take one male lamb as a trespass offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, [d]one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, a log of oil, 22 (Y)and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, such as he is able to afford: one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. 23 (Z)He shall bring them to the priest on the eighth day for his cleansing, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, before the Lord. 24 (AA)And the priest shall take the lamb of the trespass offering and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. 25 Then he shall kill the lamb of the trespass offering, (AB)and the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. 26 And the priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand. 27 Then the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the Lord. 28 And the priest shall put some of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the trespass offering. 29 The rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before the Lord. 30 And he shall offer one of (AC)the turtledoves or young pigeons, such as he can afford— 31 such as he is able to afford, the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, with the grain offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him who is to be cleansed before the Lord. 32 This is the law for one who had a leprous sore, who cannot afford (AD)the usual cleansing.”
The Law Concerning Leprous Houses
33 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: 34 (AE)“When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give you as a possession, and (AF)I put the [e]leprous plague in a house in the land of your possession, 35 and he who owns the house comes and tells the priest, saying, ‘It seems to me that there is (AG)some plague in the house,’ 36 then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest goes into it to examine the plague, that all that is in the house may not be made unclean; and afterward the priest shall go in to examine the house. 37 And he shall examine the plague; and indeed if the plague is on the walls of the house with ingrained streaks, greenish or reddish, which appear to be [f]deep in the wall, 38 then the priest shall go out of the house, to the door of the house, and [g]shut up the house seven days. 39 And the priest shall come again on the seventh day and look; and indeed if the plague has spread on the walls of the house, 40 then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which is the plague, and they shall cast them into an unclean place outside the city. 41 And he shall cause the house to be scraped inside, all around, and the dust that they scrape off they shall pour out in an unclean place outside the city. 42 Then they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other mortar and plaster the house.
43 “Now if the plague comes back and breaks out in the house, after he has taken away the stones, after he has scraped the house, and after it is plastered, 44 then the priest shall come and look; and indeed if the plague has spread in the house, it is (AH)an active leprosy in the house. It is unclean. 45 And he shall break down the house, its stones, its timber, and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them outside the city to an unclean place. 46 Moreover he who goes into the house at all while it is shut up shall be [h]unclean (AI)until evening. 47 And he who lies down in the house shall (AJ)wash his clothes, and he who eats in the house shall wash his clothes.
48 “But if the priest comes in and examines it, and indeed the plague has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. 49 And (AK)he shall take, to cleanse the house, two birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. 50 Then he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water; 51 and he shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, 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 [i]cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and the running water and the living bird, with the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet. 53 Then he shall let the living bird loose outside the city in the open field, and (AL)make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.
54 “This is the law for any (AM)leprous sore and scale, 55 for the (AN)leprosy of a garment (AO)and of a house, 56 (AP)for a swelling and a scab and a bright spot, 57 to (AQ)teach when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law of leprosy.”
Footnotes
- Leviticus 14:2 See note at 13:2
- Leviticus 14:3 Heb. saraath, disfiguring skin diseases, including leprosy, and so in vv. 2–32
- Leviticus 14:18 Lit. covering
- Leviticus 14:21 Approximately two dry quarts
- Leviticus 14:34 Decomposition by mildew, mold, dry rot, etc., and so in vv. 34–53
- Leviticus 14:37 Lit. lower than the wall
- Leviticus 14:38 quarantine
- Leviticus 14:46 defiled
- Leviticus 14:52 ceremonially cleanse
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.