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The Seven Days of Purification

“The one being cleansed[a] must then wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe in water, and so be clean.[b] Then afterward he may enter the camp, but he must live outside his tent seven days. When the seventh day comes[c] he must shave all his hair—his head, his beard, his eyebrows, all his hair—and he must wash his clothes, bathe his body in water, and so be clean.[d]

The Eighth-Day Atonement Rituals

10 “On the eighth day he[e] must take two flawless male lambs, one flawless yearling female lamb, three-tenths of an ephah of choice wheat flour as a grain offering mixed with olive oil,[f] and one log of olive oil,[g]

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 14:8 tn Heb “the one cleansing himself” (i.e., Hitpael participle of טָהֵר [taher, “to be clean”]).
  2. Leviticus 14:8 tn Heb “and he shall be clean” (so ASV). The end result of the ritual procedures in vv. 4-7 and the washing and shaving in v. 8a is that the formerly diseased person has now officially become clean in the sense that he can reenter the community (see v. 8b; contrast living outside the community as an unclean diseased person, Lev 13:46). There are, however, further cleansing rituals and pronouncements for him to undergo in the tabernacle as outlined in vv. 10-20 (see Qal “be[come] clean” in vv. 9 and 20, Piel “pronounce clean” in v. 11, and Hitpael “the one being cleansed” in vv. 11, 14, 17, 18, and 19). Obviously, in order to enter the tabernacle he must already “be clean” in the sense of having access to the community.
  3. Leviticus 14:9 tn Heb “And it shall be on the seventh day.”
  4. Leviticus 14:9 tn Heb “and he shall be clean” (see the note on v. 8).
  5. Leviticus 14:10 tn The subject “he” probably refers to the formerly diseased person in this case (see the notes on Lev 1:5a, 6a, and 9a).
  6. Leviticus 14:10 tn This term is often rendered “fine flour,” but it refers specifically to wheat as opposed to barley (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 10) and, although the translation “flour” is used here, it may indicate “grits” rather than finely ground flour (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:179; see the note on Lev 2:1). The unit of measure is most certainly an “ephah” even though it is not stated explicitly (see, e.g., Num 28:5; cf. 15:4, 6, 8), and three-tenths of an ephah would amount to about a gallon, or perhaps one-third of a bushel (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 196; Milgrom, 845). Since the normal amount of flour for a lamb is one-tenth of an ephah (Num 28:4-5; cf. 15:4), three-tenths is about right for the three lambs offered in Lev 14:10-20.
  7. Leviticus 14:10 tn A “log” (לֹג, log) of oil is about one-sixth of a liter, or one-third of a pint, or two-thirds of a cup.

“The person to be cleansed must wash their clothes,(A) shave off all their hair and bathe with water;(B) then they will be ceremonially clean.(C) After this they may come into the camp,(D) but they must stay outside their tent for seven days. On the seventh day(E) they must shave off all their hair;(F) they must shave their head, their beard, their eyebrows and the rest of their hair. They must wash their clothes and bathe themselves with water, and they will be clean.(G)

10 “On the eighth day(H) they must bring two male lambs and one ewe lamb(I) a year old, each without defect, along with three-tenths of an ephah[a](J) of the finest flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering,(K) and one log[b] of oil.(L)

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 14:10 That is, probably about 11 pounds or about 5 kilograms
  2. Leviticus 14:10 That is, about 1/3 quart or about 0.3 liter; also in verses 12, 15, 21 and 24