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Cleansing from Skin Diseases

14 And the Lord said to Moses, “The following instructions are for those seeking ceremonial purification from a skin disease.[a] Those who have been healed must be brought to the priest, who will examine them at a place outside the camp. If the priest finds that someone has been healed of a serious skin disease, he will perform a purification ceremony, using two live birds that are ceremonially clean, a stick of cedar,[b] some scarlet yarn, and a hyssop branch. The priest will order that one bird be slaughtered over a clay pot filled with fresh water. He will take the live bird, the cedar stick, the scarlet yarn, and the hyssop branch, and dip them into the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the fresh water. The priest will then sprinkle the blood of the dead bird seven times on the person being purified of the skin disease. When the priest has purified the person, he will release the live bird in the open field to fly away.

“The persons being purified must then wash their clothes, shave off all their hair, and bathe themselves in water. Then they will be ceremonially clean and may return to the camp. However, they must remain outside their tents for seven days. On the seventh day they must again shave all the hair from their heads, including the hair of the beard and eyebrows. They must also wash their clothes and bathe themselves in water. Then they will be ceremonially clean.

10 “On the eighth day each person being purified must bring two male lambs and a one-year-old female lamb, all with no defects, along with a grain offering of six quarts[c] of choice flour moistened with olive oil, and a cup[d] of olive oil. 11 Then the officiating priest will present that person for purification, along with the offerings, before the Lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle.[e] 12 The priest will take one of the male lambs and the olive oil and present them as a guilt offering, lifting them up as a special offering before the Lord. 13 He will then slaughter the male lamb in the sacred area where sin offerings and burnt offerings are slaughtered. As with the sin offering, the guilt offering belongs to the priest. It is a most holy offering. 14 The priest will then take some of the blood of the guilt offering and apply it to the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot of the person being purified.

15 “Then the priest will pour some of the olive oil into the palm of his own left hand. 16 He will dip his right finger into the oil in his palm and sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the Lord. 17 The priest will then apply some of the oil in his palm over the blood from the guilt offering that is on the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot of the person being purified. 18 The priest will apply the oil remaining in his hand to the head of the person being purified. Through this process, the priest will purify[f] the person before the Lord.

19 “Then the priest must present the sin offering to purify the person who was cured of the skin disease. After that, the priest will slaughter the burnt offering 20 and offer it on the altar along with the grain offering. Through this process, the priest will purify the person who was healed, and the person will be ceremonially clean.

21 “But anyone who is too poor and cannot afford these offerings may bring one male lamb for a guilt offering, to be lifted up as a special offering for purification. The person must also bring two quarts[g] of choice flour moistened with olive oil for the grain offering and a cup of olive oil. 22 The offering must also include two turtledoves or two young pigeons, whichever the person can afford. One of the pair must be used for the sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. 23 On the eighth day of the purification ceremony, the person being purified must bring the offerings to the priest in the Lord’s presence at the entrance of the Tabernacle. 24 The priest will take the lamb for the guilt offering, along with the olive oil, and lift them up as a special offering to the Lord. 25 Then the priest will slaughter the lamb for the guilt offering. He will take some of its blood and apply it to the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot of the person being purified.

26 “The priest will also pour some of the olive oil into the palm of his own left hand. 27 He will dip his right finger into the oil in his palm and sprinkle some of it seven times before the Lord. 28 The priest will then apply some of the oil in his palm over the blood from the guilt offering that is on the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot of the person being purified. 29 The priest will apply the oil remaining in his hand to the head of the person being purified. Through this process, the priest will purify the person before the Lord.

30 “Then the priest will offer the two turtledoves or the two young pigeons, whichever the person can afford. 31 One of them is for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, to be presented along with the grain offering. Through this process, the priest will purify the person before the Lord. 32 These are the instructions for purification for those who have recovered from a serious skin disease but who cannot afford to bring the offerings normally required for the ceremony of purification.”

Treatment of Contaminated Houses

33 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 34 “When you arrive in Canaan, the land I am giving you as your own possession, I may contaminate some of the houses in your land with mildew.[h] 35 The owner of such a house must then go to the priest and say, ‘It appears that my house has some kind of mildew.’ 36 Before the priest goes in to inspect the house, he must have the house emptied so nothing inside will be pronounced ceremonially unclean. 37 Then the priest will go in and examine the mildew on the walls. If he finds greenish or reddish streaks and the contamination appears to go deeper than the wall’s surface, 38 the priest will step outside the door and put the house in quarantine for seven days. 39 On the seventh day the priest must return for another inspection. If he finds that the mildew on the walls of the house has spread, 40 the priest must order that the stones from those areas be removed. The contaminated material will then be taken outside the town to an area designated as ceremonially unclean. 41 Next the inside walls of the entire house must be scraped thoroughly and the scrapings dumped in the unclean place outside the town. 42 Other stones will be brought in to replace the ones that were removed, and the walls will be replastered.

43 “But if the mildew reappears after all the stones have been replaced and the house has been scraped and replastered, 44 the priest must return and inspect the house again. If he finds that the mildew has spread, the walls are clearly contaminated with a serious mildew, and the house is defiled. 45 It must be torn down, and all its stones, timbers, and plaster must be carried out of town to the place designated as ceremonially unclean. 46 Those who enter the house during the period of quarantine will be ceremonially unclean until evening, 47 and all who sleep or eat in the house must wash their clothing.

48 “But if the priest returns for his inspection and finds that the mildew has not reappeared in the house after the fresh plastering, he will pronounce it clean because the mildew is clearly gone. 49 To purify the house the priest must take two birds, a stick of cedar, some scarlet yarn, and a hyssop branch. 50 He will slaughter one of the birds over a clay pot filled with fresh water. 51 He will take the cedar stick, the hyssop branch, the scarlet yarn, and the live bird, and dip them into the blood of the slaughtered bird and into the fresh water. Then he will sprinkle the house seven times. 52 When the priest has purified the house in exactly this way, 53 he will release the live bird in the open fields outside the town. Through this process, the priest will purify the house, and it will be ceremonially clean.

54 “These are the instructions for dealing with serious skin diseases,[i] including scabby sores; 55 and mildew,[j] whether on clothing or in a house; 56 and a swelling on the skin, a rash, or discolored skin. 57 This procedure will determine whether a person or object is ceremonially clean or unclean.

“These are the instructions regarding skin diseases and mildew.”

Footnotes

  1. 14:2 Traditionally rendered leprosy; see note on 13:2a.
  2. 14:4 Or juniper; also in 14:6, 49, 51.
  3. 14:10a Hebrew 3⁄10 of an ephah [6.6 liters].
  4. 14:10b Hebrew 1 log [0.3 liters]; also in 14:21.
  5. 14:11 Hebrew Tent of Meeting; also in 14:23.
  6. 14:18 Or will make atonement for; similarly in 14:19, 20, 21, 29, 31, 53.
  7. 14:21 Hebrew 1⁄10 of an ephah [2.2 liters].
  8. 14:34 Traditionally rendered leprosy; see note on 13:47.
  9. 14:54 Traditionally rendered leprosy; see note on 13:2a.
  10. 14:55 Traditionally rendered leprosy; see note on 13:47.

Statutes for Cleansing a Leper

14 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. (A)Now he shall be brought to the priest, and the priest shall go (B)out to the outside of the camp. Thus the priest shall look, and if the [a]infection of leprosy has been healed in the leper, then the priest shall give a command to take two live clean birds and (C)cedar wood and a [b]scarlet string and hyssop for the one who is to be cleansed. The priest shall also give a command to slaughter the one bird in an earthenware vessel over [c]running water. As for the live bird, he shall take it together with (D)the cedar wood and the [d]scarlet string and the (E)hyssop, and he shall dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the [e]running water. (F)He shall then sprinkle seven times the one who is to be cleansed from the leprosy and shall pronounce him clean, and he shall let the live bird go free over the open field. (G)The one to be cleansed shall then wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe in water and (H)be clean. Now afterward, he may enter the camp, but he (I)shall stay outside his tent for seven days. And it will 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 [f]body in water and (J)be clean.

10 “Now on the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, and a yearling ewe lamb without blemish, and three-tenths of an [g]ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and one [h](K)log of oil; 11 and the priest who pronounces him clean shall present the man to be cleansed as well as [i]these things before Yahweh at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 12 Then the priest shall take the one male lamb and bring it near for a (L)guilt offering, with the [j](M)log of oil, and wave them as a (N)wave offering before Yahweh. 13 Next he shall slaughter the male lamb in (O)the place where they slaughter the sin offering and the burnt offering, at the place of the sanctuary—for the guilt offering, (P)like the sin offering, belongs to the priest; it is most holy. 14 The priest shall then take some of the blood of the (Q)guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on (R)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 [k](S)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 Yahweh. 17 Of the remaining oil which is in his palm, the priest shall 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 but the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s palm, he shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed. So the priest shall make (T)atonement on his behalf before Yahweh. 19 The priest shall next offer the (U)sin offering and make atonement for the one to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Then afterward, he shall slaughter the burnt offering. 20 And the priest shall offer up the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and (V)he will be clean.

21 (W)But if he is poor and his [l]means are insufficient, then he is to take one male lamb for a (X)guilt offering as a wave offering to make atonement for him, and one-tenth of an [m]ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a [n](Y)log of oil, 22 and two turtledoves or two young pigeons which [o]are within his means, (Z)the one shall be a (AA)sin offering and the other a burnt offering. 23 (AB)Then the eighth day he shall bring them for his cleansing to the priest, at the doorway of the tent of meeting, before Yahweh. 24 And the priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering and (AC)the [p]log of oil, and the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before Yahweh. 25 Next he shall slaughter the lamb of the guilt offering; and the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on (AD)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 Yahweh. 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 Yahweh. 30 He shall then offer one of the turtledoves or young pigeons, [q]which are within his means. 31 He shall offer what [r]he can afford, (AE)the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, together with the grain offering. So the priest shall make atonement before Yahweh on behalf of the one to be cleansed. 32 This is the law for him in whom there is an infection of leprosy, whose [s]means are limited for his cleansing.”

Statute for Cleansing a Leprous House

33 Yahweh further spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

34 (AF)When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you for a possession, and I put a mark of leprosy on a house in the land of your possession, 35 then the one who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, ‘Something like (AG)a mark of leprosy has become visible to me in the house.’ 36 The priest shall then command that they empty the house before the priest goes in to look at the mark, so that everything in the house need not become unclean; and afterward the priest shall go in to look at the house. 37 So he shall look at the mark, and if the mark on the walls of the house has greenish or reddish depressions and appears deeper than the surface of the wall, 38 then the priest shall come out of the house, to the [t]doorway, and [u]put the house under isolation for seven days. 39 And the priest shall return on the seventh day and look again. If the mark has indeed spread in the walls of the house, 40 then the priest shall command them to tear out the stones with the mark in them and throw them away [v]at an unclean place outside the city. 41 And he shall have the house scraped all around [w]inside, and they shall pour out the plaster that they scrape off at an unclean place outside the city. 42 Then they shall take other stones and replace those stones, and he shall take other plaster and replaster the house.

43 “If, however, the mark breaks out again in the house after he has torn out the stones and scraped the house, and after it has been replastered, 44 then the priest shall come in and look again. If he sees that the mark has indeed spread in the house, it is (AH)a [x]leprous malignancy in the house; it is unclean. 45 He shall therefore tear down the house, its stones and its timbers and all the plaster of the house, and he shall take them outside the city to an (AI)unclean place. 46 Moreover, whoever goes into the house during the time that he has [y]put it under isolation becomes (AJ)unclean until evening. 47 Likewise, whoever lies down in the house shall wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house shall wash his clothes.

48 “If, on the other hand, the priest comes in and looks again, and the mark has not indeed spread in the house after the house has been replastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean because the mark has [z]not reappeared. 49 To cleanse the house then, he shall take (AK)two birds and cedar wood and a [aa]scarlet string and hyssop, 50 and he shall slaughter the one bird in an earthenware vessel over [ab]running water. 51 Then he shall take the cedar wood and the (AL)hyssop and the [ac]scarlet string, with the live bird, and he shall dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird as well as in the [ad]running water, and he shall sprinkle the house seven times. 52 He shall thus cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the [ae]running water, along with the live bird and with the cedar wood and with the hyssop and with the [af]scarlet string. 53 However, 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.”

54 This is the law for any mark of leprosy—even for a (AM)scale, 55 and for the (AN)leprous garment or house, 56 and (AO)for a swelling and for a scab and for a bright spot— 57 to instruct [ag]when they are unclean and [ah]when they are clean. This is the law of leprosy.

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 14:3 Lit mark, stroke; so in ch
  2. Leviticus 14:4 Lit scarlet color and
  3. Leviticus 14:5 Lit living
  4. Leviticus 14:6 Lit scarlet color and
  5. Leviticus 14:6 Lit living
  6. Leviticus 14:9 Lit flesh
  7. Leviticus 14:10 Approx. 6.3 qt. or 6.9 l, an ephah was approx. 21 qt. or 23 l
  8. Leviticus 14:10 A log was approx. 10 oz. or 300 ml
  9. Leviticus 14:11 Lit them
  10. Leviticus 14:12 A log was approx. 10 oz. or 300 ml
  11. Leviticus 14:15 A log was approx. 10 oz. or 300 ml
  12. Leviticus 14:21 Lit hand is not reaching
  13. Leviticus 14:21 An ephah was approx. 21 qt. or 23 l
  14. Leviticus 14:21 A log was approx. 10 oz. or 300 ml
  15. Leviticus 14:22 Lit his hand reaches
  16. Leviticus 14:24 A log was approx. 10 oz. or 300 ml
  17. Leviticus 14:30 Lit from those which his hand can reach
  18. Leviticus 14:31 Lit his hand can reach
  19. Leviticus 14:32 Lit hand does not reach
  20. Leviticus 14:38 Lit doorway of the house
  21. Leviticus 14:38 Lit shut up
  22. Leviticus 14:40 Lit to
  23. Leviticus 14:41 Lit from the house around
  24. Leviticus 14:44 Lit malignant leprosy
  25. Leviticus 14:46 Lit shut up
  26. Leviticus 14:48 Lit healed
  27. Leviticus 14:49 Lit scarlet color
  28. Leviticus 14:50 Lit living
  29. Leviticus 14:51 Lit scarlet color
  30. Leviticus 14:51 Lit living
  31. Leviticus 14:52 Lit living
  32. Leviticus 14:52 Lit scarlet color
  33. Leviticus 14:57 Lit in the day of uncleanness
  34. Leviticus 14:57 Lit in the day of cleanness