Leviticus 14:33–53

CLEANSING OF CONTAMINATED OBJECTS

³³The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: ³⁴“When you enter the land of Canaan^a that I am giving you as a possession,^b and I place a mildew contamination in a house in the land you possess,^{B 35}the owner of the house is to come and tell the priest: Something like mildew contamination has appeared^C in my house. ³⁶The priest must order them to clear the house before he enters to examine the contamination, so that nothing in the house becomes unclean. Afterward the priest will come to examine the house. ³⁷He will examine it, and if the contamination in the walls of the house consists of green or red indentations^D that appear to be beneath the surface of the wall, ³⁸the priest is to go outside the house to its doorway and quarantine the house for seven days. ³⁹The priest is to return on the seventh day and examine it. If the contamination has spread on the walls of the house, ⁴⁰the priest must order that the stones with the contamination be pulled out and thrown into an unclean place outside the city. ⁴¹He is to have the inside of the house completely scraped, and have the plaster that is scraped off dumped in an unclean place outside the city. ⁴²Then they are to take different stones to replace the former ones and take additional plaster to replaster the house.

⁴³“If the contamination reappears in the house after the stones have been pulled out, and after the house has been scraped and replastered, ⁴⁴the priest is to come and examine it. If the contamination has spread in the house, it is harmful mildew; the house is unclean. ⁴⁵It must be torn down with its stones, its beams, and all its plaster, and taken outside the city to an unclean place. ⁴⁶Whoever enters the house during any of the days the priest quarantines it will be unclean until evening. ⁴⁷Whoever lies down in the house is to wash his clothes, and whoever eats in it is to wash his clothes.

⁴⁸“But when the priest comes and examines it, if the contamination has not spread in the house after it was replastered, he is to pronounce the house clean because the contamination has disappeared.^{F 49}He is to take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop to purify the house, ⁵⁰and he is to slaughter one of the birds over a clay pot containing fresh water. ⁵¹He will take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn, and the live bird, dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵²He will purify the house with the blood of the bird, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet yarn. ⁵³Then he is to release the live bird into the open countryside^c outside the city. In this way he will make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.