Leviticus 14:1–11

Purification after Having Skin-Diseases

14The Lord gave Moses ^2*the following regulations about the ritual purification of a person cured of a dreaded skin disease. On the day he is to be pronounced clean, he shall be brought to the priest, ³and the priest shall take him outside the camp and examine him. If the disease is healed, ⁴the priest shall order two ritually clean birds to be brought, together with a piece of cedar wood, a red cord, and a sprig of hyssop. ⁵Then the priest shall order one of the birds to be killed over a clay bowl containing fresh spring water. ⁶He shall take the other bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the red cord, and the hyssop, in the blood of the bird that was killed. ⁷He shall sprinkle the blood seven times on the person who is to be purified from his skin disease, and then he shall pronounce him clean. He shall let the live bird fly away over the open fields. ⁸The person shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and have a bath; he will then be ritually clean. He may enter the camp, but he must live outside his tent for seven days. ⁹On the seventh day he shall again shave his head, his beard, his eyebrows, and all the rest of the hair on his body; he shall wash his clothes and have a bath, and then he will be ritually clean.

¹⁰On the eighth day he shall bring two male lambs and one female lamb a year old that are without any defects, three kilogrammes of flour mixed with olive oil, and a third of a litre of olive oil. ¹¹The priest shall take the person and these offerings to the entrance of the Tent of the Lord’s presence.