Leviticus
Chapter 14
1
The LORD said to Moses,
2
"This is the law for the victim of leprosy at the time of his purification. He shall be brought to the priest,
3
who is to go outside the camp to examine him. If the priest finds that the sore of leprosy has healed in the leper,
4
1 he shall order the man who is to be purified, to get two live, clean birds, as well as some cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop.
5
2 The priest shall then order him to slay one of the birds over an earthen vessel with spring water in it.
6
Taking the living bird with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, the priest shall dip them all in the blood of the bird that was slain over the spring water,
7
and then sprinkle seven times the man to be purified from his leprosy. When he has thus purified him, he shall let the living bird fly away over the countryside.
8
The man being purified shall then wash his garments and shave off all his hair and bathe in water; only when he is thus made clean may he come inside the camp; but he shall still remain outside his tent for seven days.
9
On the seventh day he shall again shave off all the hair of his head, his beard, his eyebrows, and any other hair he may have, and also wash his garments and bathe his body in water; and so he will be clean.
10
"On the eighth day he shall take two unblemished male lambs, one unblemished yearling ewe lamb, three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering, and one log of oil.
11
The priest who performs the purification ceremony shall place the man who is being purified, as well as all these offerings, before the LORD at the entrance of the meeting tent.
12
Taking one of the male lambs, the priest shall present it as a guilt offering, along with the log of oil, waving them as a wave offering before the LORD.
13
(This lamb he shall slaughter in the sacred place where the sin offering and the holocaust are slaughtered; because, like the sin offering, the guilt offering belongs to the priest and is most sacred.)
14
Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the tip of the man's right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot.
15
The priest shall also take the log of oil and pour some of it into the palm of his own left hand;
16
then, dipping his right forefinger in it, he shall sprinkle it seven times before the LORD.
17
Of the oil left in his hand the priest shall put some on the tip of the man's right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot, over the blood of the guilt offering.
18
The rest of the oil in his hand the priest shall put on the head of the man being purified. Thus shall the priest make atonement for him before the LORD.
19
Only after he has offered the sin offering in atonement for the man's uncleanness shall the priest slaughter the holocaust
20
and offer it, together with the cereal offering, on the altar before the LORD. When the priest has thus made atonement for him, the man will be clean.
21
"If a man is poor and cannot afford so much, he shall take one male lamb for a guilt offering, to be used as a wave offering in atonement for himself, one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering, a log of oil,
22
3 and two turtledoves or pigeons, which he can more easily afford, the one as a sin offering and the other as a holocaust.
23
On the eighth day of his purification he shall bring them to the priest, at the entrance of the meeting tent before the LORD.
24
Taking the guilt-offering lamb, along with the log of oil, the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the LORD.
25
When he has slaughtered the guilt-offering lamb, he shall take some of its blood, and put it on the tip of the right ear of the man being purified, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.
26
The priest shall then pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand
27
and with his right forefinger sprinkle it seven times before the LORD.
28
Some of the oil in his hand the priest shall also put on the tip of the man's right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot, over the blood of the guilt offering.
29
The rest of the oil in his hand the priest shall put on the man's head. Thus shall he make atonement for him before the LORD.
30
Then, of the turtledoves or pigeons, such as the man can afford,
31
the priest shall offer up one as a sin offering and the other as a holocaust, along with the cereal offering. Thus shall the priest make atonement before the LORD for the man who is to be purified.
32
This is the law for one afflicted with leprosy who has insufficient means for his purification."
33
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
34
"When you come into the land of Canaan, which I am giving you to possess, if I put a leprous infection on any house of the land you occupy,
35
the owner of the house shall come and report to the priest, 'It looks to me as if my house were infected.'
36
The priest shall then order the house to be cleared out before he goes in to examine the infection, lest everything in the house become unclean. Only after this is he to go in to examine the house.
37
If the priest, on examining it, finds that the infection on the walls of the house consists of greenish or reddish depressions which seem to go deeper than the surface of the wall,
38
he shall close the door of the house behind him and quarantine the house for seven days.
39
On the seventh day the priest shall return to examine the house again. If he finds that the infection has spread on the walls,
40
he shall order the infected stones to be pulled out and cast in an unclean place outside the city.
41
The whole inside of the house shall then be scraped, and the mortar that has been scraped off shall be dumped in an unclean place outside the city.
42
Then new stones shall be brought and put in the place of the old stones, and new mortar shall be made and plastered on the house.
43
"If the infection breaks out once more after the stones have been pulled out and the house has been scraped and replastered,
44
the priest shall come again; and if he finds that the infection has spread in the house, it is corrosive leprosy, and the house is unclean.
45
It shall be pulled down, and all its stones, beams and mortar shall be hauled away to an unclean place outside the city.
46
Whoever enters a house while it is quarantined shall be unclean until evening.
47
Whoever sleeps or eats in such a house shall also wash his garments.
48
If the priest finds, when he comes to examine the house, that the infection has in fact not spread after the plastering, he shall declare the house clean, since the infection has been healed.
49
To purify the house, he shall take two birds, as well as cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop.
50
One of the birds he shall slay over an earthen vessel with spring water in it.
51
Then, taking the cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet yarn, together with the living bird, he shall dip them all in the blood of the slain bird and the spring water, and sprinkle the house seven times.
52
Thus shall he purify the house with the bird's blood and the spring water, along with the living bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet yarn.
53
He shall then let the living bird fly away over the countryside outside the city. When he has thus made atonement for it, the house will be clean.
54
"This is the law for every kind of human leprosy and scall,
55
for leprosy of garments and houses,
56
as well as for scabs, pustules and blotches,
57
so that it may be manifest when there is a state of uncleanness and when a state of cleanness. This is the law for leprosy."
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Footnotes

1 [4] Scarlet yarn: probably used for tying the hyssop sprig to the cedar branchlet.

2 [5] Spring water: literally, "living water," taken from some source of running water, not from a cistern.

3 [22] Two turtledoves: substitutes for the two additional lambs, similar to the offering of a poor woman after childbirth. Cf Lev 12:8.


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