Parashat Metzora

Purification of One with Tza’arat

14 Then Adonai spoke to Moses, saying: ² “This is the Torah of the one with tza’arat in the day of his cleansing. He should be brought to the kohen, ^{[a] 3} and the kohen is to go to the outside of the camp. The kohen is to examine him, and behold, if the mark of tza’arat is healed in one with tza’arat, ⁴ then the kohen is to command that two clean living birds, cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop be brought for the one being cleansed. ⁵ The kohen should command them to kill one of the birds in a clay pot over living water. ⁶ As for the living bird, he is to take it, the cedar wood, the scarlet and the hyssop, and dip them with the living bird into the blood of the bird that was killed over the living water. ⁷ He is to sprinkle on the one being cleansed from the tza’arat seven times and pronounce him clean, then release the living bird over the open field.

⁸ “The one to be cleansed must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water. Then he should be clean. After that he may come into the camp, but is to dwell outside his tent for seven days. ⁹ Then on the seventh day, he is to shave all his hair from his head, his beard, and his eyebrows—he must shave off all his hair. He is to wash his clothes, and bathe his body in water. Then he will be clean.

¹⁰ “On the eighth day he is to take two male lambs without blemish, a one-year-old ewe lamb without blemish, three tenths of a pint of fine flour as a grain offering, mingled with oil, and a pint of oil. ¹¹ The kohen who cleanses him is to set the man who to be cleansed along with those items before Adonai, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. ¹² The kohen should then take one of the male lambs, and offer it for a trespass offering, with the pint of oil, and wave them as a wave offering before Adonai.

¹³ “Then he is to slaughter the male lamb in the place where they slaughter the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the Sanctuary area. For the sin offering like the trespass offering belongs to the kohen. It is most holy. ¹⁴ Then the kohen is to take some of the blood of the trespass offering and dab it on the tip of the right ear of the one being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. ¹⁵ The kohen should then take some of the pint of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. ¹⁶ He is to dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand and sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before Adonai. ¹⁷ Then the kohen should dab some of the rest of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of the one being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the trespass offering. ¹⁸ From what remains of the oil that is in his hand, the kohen is to dab on the head of the one being cleansed. In this way the kohen will make atonement for him before Adonai.

¹⁹ “The kohen should offer the sin offering and make atonement for the one being cleansed because of his uncleanness. Afterward he is to slaughter the burnt offering. ²⁰ Then the kohen is to present the burnt offering along with the grain offering on the altar. So the kohen should make atonement for him, and he will be clean.

²¹ “If he is poor and cannot afford so much, then he should take one male lamb for a trespass offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, plus one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil for a grain offering, a pint of oil, ²² two turtledoves or two young pigeons, such as he is able to afford. The one should be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering.

²³ “On the eighth day he is to bring them to the kohen for his cleansing, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting before Adonai. ²⁴ The kohen is to take the lamb of the trespass offering and the pint of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before Adonai. ²⁵ He is to slaughter the lamb of the trespass offering. The kohen is to take some of the blood of the trespass offering and dab it on the tip of the right ear of the one being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁶ The kohen should then pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand. ²⁷ He is to sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before Adonai. ²⁸ Then the kohen is to dab some of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of the one being cleansed, also on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the place of the blood of the trespass offering. ²⁹ The rest of the oil that is in his hand the kohen is to dab on the head of the one being cleansed, to make atonement for him before Adonai. ³⁰ He is to offer one of the turtledoves or the young pigeons, from what his hand can afford, ³¹ the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, with the grain offering. The kohen should make atonement for him being cleansed before Adonai.”

³² This is the Torah for one on who is the mark of tza’arat, who is not able to afford the sacrifice for his cleansing.

Purification of a House

³³ Adonai spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying: ³⁴ “Suppose you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put a mark of tza’arat in a house in the land you possess. ³⁵ Then the one who owns the house should come and tell the kohen, saying: ‘Something like a mark has appeared in my house.’ ³⁶ The kohen is to order the house emptied before he goes in to examine the mark, so that nothing in the house might be made unclean. Then afterward the kohen is to enter to inspect the house. ³⁷ He is to examine the mark, and behold, if the mark is in the walls of the house with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, and appears deeper than the wall, ³⁸ then the kohen is to go out of the house to the door and close up the house for seven days. ³⁹ Then the kohen is to come again on the seventh day, and behold, if the mark has spread in the walls of the house, ⁴⁰ then the kohen is to command that they take out the stones which are marked and throw them into an unclean place outside of the city. ⁴¹ He should also have the inside of the house scraped all throughout, and they are to dump the mortar that they scraped off outside of the city into an unclean place. ⁴² They may then take other stones and put them in the place of those stones. Likewise he can take other mortar, and plaster the house.

⁴³ “But suppose the contamination returns, breaking out in the house, after he has pulled out the stones and after he has scraped the house, and it has been re-plastered. ⁴⁴ Then the kohen is to go examine, and behold, if the plague has spread within the house, it is a destructive mildew inside. It is unclean. ⁴⁵ He is to break down the house, its stones, its timber, along with all the house’s mortar, and carry them out of the city into an unclean place.

⁴⁶ “Moreover, whoever goes into the house while it is shut up will be unclean until the evening. ⁴⁷ The one who lies down in the house must wash his clothes, and he who eats in the house must wash his clothes too.

⁴⁸ “But if the kohen comes in, inspects it, and behold, the plague has not spread within the house after it was re-plastered, then he should pronounce the house clean, because the contamination is healed. ⁴⁹ In order to cleanse the house he is to take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop. ⁵⁰ He is to kill one of the birds in a clay pot over living water. ⁵¹ Then he is to take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet and the living bird, and dip them into the blood of the slain bird as well as the living water, and sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵² He should cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, with the living water, with the living bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet. ⁵³ But he is to let the living bird go out of the city into the open field. So he is to make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.”

⁵⁴ This is the Torah for any mark of tza’arat—even for a scab, ⁵⁵ or the tza’arat in a garment or for a house ⁵⁶ or for a swelling, a scab, or a bright spot— ⁵⁷ to teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean.

This is the Torah of tza’arat.