Rules for Cleaning Mildew

³³ The Lord also said to Moses and Aaron, ³⁴ “I am giving the land of Canaan to your people. When they enter that land [^Lof your possession], if I cause ·mildew [or mold; 13:47] to grow in someone’s house in that land [^Lof your possession], ³⁵ the owner of that house must come and tell the priest. He should say, ‘I have seen something like ·mildew [or mold; ^La disease] in my house.’ ³⁶ Then the priest must order the people to empty the house before he goes in to ·look at [examine] the ·mildew [or mold; ^Ldisease]. This is so he will not have to say that everything in the house is unclean [^Cin a ritual sense]. After this, the priest will go in to ·look at [examine] it. ³⁷ He will ·look at [examine] the ·mildew [or mold; ^Ldisease], and if the ·mildew [or mold; ^Ldisease] on the walls of the house is green or red and goes into the wall’s surface, ³⁸ he must go out and close up the house for seven days. ³⁹ On the seventh day the priest must come back and check the house. If the ·mildew [or mold; ^Ldisease] has spread on the walls of the house, ⁴⁰ the priest must order the people to tear out the stones with the ·mildew [or mold; ^Ldisease] on them. They should throw them away, at a certain unclean place outside the city. ⁴¹ Then the priest must have all the inside of the house scraped. The people must throw away the plaster they scraped off the walls, at a certain unclean place outside the city. ⁴² Then the owner must put new stones in the walls, and he must cover the walls with new clay plaster.

⁴³ “Suppose a person has taken away the old stones and plaster and put in new stones and plaster. If ·mildew [or mold; ^Ldisease] again appears in his house, ⁴⁴ the priest must come back and check the house again. If the ·mildew [or mold; ^Ldisease] has spread in the house, it is a ·mildew [or mold; 13:47] that destroys things; the house is unclean [^Cin a ritual sense]. ⁴⁵ Then the owner must tear down the house, remove all its stones, plaster, and wood, and take them to the unclean place outside the city. ⁴⁶ Anyone who goes into that house while it is closed up will be unclean until evening. ⁴⁷ Anyone who eats in that house or lies down there must wash his clothes.

⁴⁸ “Suppose after new stones and plaster have been put in a house, the priest checks it again and the ·mildew [or mold; ^Ldisease] has not spread. Then the priest will announce that the house is clean [^Cin a ritual sense], because the ·mildew [or mold; ^Ldisease] is gone.

⁴⁹ “Then, to make the house clean [^Cin a ritual sense], the priest must take two birds, a piece of cedar wood, a piece of red string, and a hyssop plant. ⁵⁰ He will ·kill [slaughter] one bird in a clay bowl containing fresh water. ⁵¹ Then he will take the bird that is still alive, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the red string, and he will dip them into the blood of the bird that was ·killed [slaughtered] over the fresh water. The priest will sprinkle the blood on the house seven times. ⁵² He will use the bird’s blood, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the red string to make the house clean. ⁵³ He will then go to an open field outside the city and let the living bird go free. This is how the priest makes the house clean and ·ready for service to the Lord [makes atonement for the house].”

⁵⁴ These are the ·teachings [regulations; laws] about any kind of skin disease [13:2], ⁵⁵ ·mildew [or mold] on pieces of cloth or in a house, ⁵⁶ swellings, rashes, or bright spots on the skin; ⁵⁷ they help people decide when things are unclean [^Cin a ritual sense] and when they are clean. These are the ·teachings [regulations; laws] about all these kinds of diseases.