Chapter 14

Purification of Skin Diseases. ¹ The Lord spoke to Moses saying, ² “This is the law for the day of the cleansing of a person with leprosy, when he is brought to the priest: ³ The priest is to go outside of the camp and examine him. If the priest discovers that the sores of leprosy on the leper have been healed, ⁴ the priest will order that two live, clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop be brought to the person who is to be cleansed. ⁵ The priest shall order that one of the birds be killed over fresh water that is in a clay pot. ⁶ He is to take the live bird and dip the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn, the hyssop, and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. ⁷ He shall sprinkle the one who is to be declared cleansed seven times. He will then release the live bird in the open fields. ⁸ The person who is being cleansed shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and wash himself with water. He will then be considered to be clean. Thereafter he may come into the camp, but he shall stay outside of his tent for seven days. ⁹ On the seventh day he shall shave off all of his hair. He must shave the hair off his head, his beard, his eyebrows, and the rest of his hair. He shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he shall then be clean.

¹⁰ “On the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish and one ewe lamb, a year old, without blemish, and three-tenths of a portion of fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering, and a log measure of oil. ¹¹ The priest who will purify the man to be made clean shall present him and these things before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ¹² The priest shall take one of the lambs and offer it along with the log measure of oil. This shall be a guilt offering. He shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. ¹³ He shall slay the lamb in the same place that he is going to slay the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the sanctuary, for the sin offering belongs to the priest just like the guilt offering. It is most holy. ^14 [a]The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the right ear lobe of the one who is being cleansed, as well as on the thumb of his right hand and the big toe of his right foot. ¹⁵ The priest shall take some oil from the log measure of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. ¹⁶ The priest shall dip his right finger into the oil that is in his left hand. With his finger he shall sprinkle the oil seven times before the Lord. ¹⁷ The priest shall take the rest of the oil in his hand and put it on the right ear lobe of the one who is being cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the big toe of his right foot, and upon the blood of the guilt offering. ¹⁸ He shall pour the rest of the oil that is in his hand upon the head of the one who is being cleansed. The priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord. ¹⁹ The priest shall then offer the sin offering and make atonement for the uncleanness of the one who is being cleansed. Afterward he shall slay the burnt offering. ²⁰ The priest shall offer the burnt offering and the cereal offering upon the altar. The priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

²¹ A Poor Person’s Offerings.“If he is poor and cannot afford all this, then he shall bring one lamb for a guilt offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, and one-tenth a measure of fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering, and a log measure of oil, ²² and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, whichever he is able to obtain. One will be for a sin offering, and the other will be for a burnt offering. ²³ He shall bring them to the priest on the eighth day of his cleansing, at the entrance to the tent of meeting before the Lord. ²⁴ The priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering and the log measure of oil, and the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. ²⁵ He shall slay the lamb of the guilt offering. The priest shall take the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the right ear lobe of the one who is being cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the big toe of his right foot. ²⁶ The priest shall pour the oil into the palm of his own left hand. ²⁷ The priest shall dip his right finger into the oil that is in his left hand. He shall sprinkle the oil with his finger seven times before the Lord. ²⁸ The priest shall take the rest of the oil that is in his hand and put it on the right ear lobe of the one who is being cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the big toe of his right foot, upon the places that he put the blood of the guilt offering. ²⁹ He shall pour the rest of the oil in his hand upon the head of the one who is being cleansed. The priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord. ³⁰ He shall offer one of the turtledoves or one of the young pigeons, whichever he is able to obtain. ³¹ Whatever he has, one of them will be offered as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering together with the cereal offering. The priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the one who is being cleansed.

³² “This is the law for the person who has leprosy and who cannot afford the things that are needed for cleansing.”

³³ Treatment of Skin Infections in Houses. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ³⁴ “When you come into the land of Canaan that I am giving to you as a possession, and I send the infection of leprosy upon a house in the land of your possession, ³⁵ the owner of the house will come and speak to the priest saying, ‘It seems as if there is an infection in the house.’ ³⁶ The priest shall then order that they empty out the house before he enters to examine the infection, lest all that is within the house be declared unclean. When they have finished, the priest shall go in to examine the house. ³⁷ He shall look at the infection, and if the infection on the walls of the house is a green or red spot, and if it seems to be deeper than the surface, ³⁸ then the priest will go out of the door of the house, and he shall close up the house for seven days. ³⁹ On the seventh day the priest shall come back and see if the infection has spread on the walls of the house. ⁴⁰ The priest shall then command that they take the stones from the place that is infected and they shall throw them outside the city into an unclean place. ⁴¹ He shall have the entire inside of the house scraped. They are to throw the plaster that they scraped off into a place outside the city, in an unclean place. ⁴² They shall take other stones and put them where the first stones were, and they shall take other plaster and plaster the house.

⁴³ “If the infection in the house breaks out again, after they have taken away the stones and scraped the house and plastered it, ⁴⁴ then the priest shall come and examine it. If the infection in the house has spread, then it is an active leprosy in the house and it is unclean. ⁴⁵ He shall break down the house. All the stones and wood and plaster of the house will be carried outside of the city to an unclean place. ⁴⁶ Furthermore, the person who enters the house while it is closed will be unclean until the evening. ⁴⁷ He who lies down in the house shall wash his clothes, and he who eats in the house shall wash his clothes.

⁴⁸ “But if the priest comes and examines it, and the infection in the house has not spread after it has been replastered, then the priest shall declare it to be clean, for the infection has been cured. ⁴⁹ He shall obtain two birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop to ritually purify the house. ⁵⁰ He shall kill one of the birds over fresh water that is in a clay pot. ⁵¹ Then he shall take the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn, the hyssop, and the live bird, and he shall dip them into the blood of the slain bird and into the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵² He shall purify the house with the bird’s blood, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet yarn. ⁵³ Then he shall release the live bird in an open field outside of the city. Thus he shall have made atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.

⁵⁴ “These are the statutes concerning all types of sores of leprosy and scabs, ⁵⁵ for infections upon garments and houses, ⁵⁶ for swollen spots, rashes, and bright spots, ⁵⁷ to decide whether something is unclean or clean. This is the law concerning leprosy.”