Cleansing a Leprous House

³³ The Lord further spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

³⁴ “^(A)When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as a possession, and I put a spot 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 ^(B)a spot 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 spot, 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 spot, and if the spot on the walls of the house has greenish or reddish depressions and appears deeper than the ^[a]surface, ³⁸ the priest shall come out of the house, to the ^[b]doorway, and ^[c]quarantine the house for seven days. ³⁹ Then the priest shall return on the seventh day and ^[d]make an inspection. If the spot has indeed spread on the walls of the house, ⁴⁰ the priest shall order them to pull out the stones with the spot on them and throw them away ^[e]at an unclean place outside the city. ⁴¹ And he shall have the house scraped all around ^[f]inside, and they shall dump the plaster that they scrape off at an unclean place outside the city. ⁴² Then they shall take other stones and replace the discarded stones, and he shall take other plaster and replaster the house.

⁴³ “If, however, the spot breaks out again in the house after he has pulled out the stones and scraped the house, and after it has been replastered, ⁴⁴ then the priest shall come in and ^[g]make an inspection. If he sees that the spot has indeed spread in the house, it is ^(C)a malignant spot in the house; it is unclean. ⁴⁵ The owner shall therefore tear down the house, its stones, its timbers, and all the plaster of the house, and he shall take them outside the city to an ^(D)unclean place. ⁴⁶ Moreover, whoever goes into the house during the time that he has ^[h]quarantined it, becomes ^(E)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 ^[i]makes an inspection and the spot has not indeed spread in the house after the house has been replastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean because the spot has ^[j]not reappeared. ⁴⁹ To cleanse the house then, he shall take ^(F)two birds, cedar wood, a ^[k]scarlet string, and hyssop, ⁵⁰ and he shall slaughter the one bird in an earthenware vessel over ^[l]running water. ⁵¹ Then he shall take the cedar wood, the ^(G)hyssop, and the ^[m]scarlet string, with the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird as well as in the ^[n]running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵² So he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the ^[o]running water, along with the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the ^[p]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 spot of leprosy—even for a ^(H)scale, ⁵⁵ and for the ^(I)leprous garment or house, ⁵⁶ and ^(J)for a swelling, for a scab, and for a bright spot— ⁵⁷ to teach ^[q]when they are unclean and ^[r]when they are clean. This is the law of leprosy.