Leviticus 12–15

12TH CHAPTER

Instructions for Women after Childbirth

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, ²“Tell the Israelites: When a woman gives birth to a boy, she will be unclean for seven days. This is the same number of days she is unclean for her monthly period. ³The boy must be circumcised when he is eight days old. ⁴Then she must stay at home for 33 days in order to be made clean from her bleeding. She must not touch anything holy or go into the holy place until the days needed to make her clean are over. 

⁵“When a woman gives birth to a girl, she will be unclean as in her monthly period. However, she will be unclean for two weeks. Then she must stay at home for 66 days in order to be made clean from her bleeding. 

⁶“When the days needed to make her clean are over, she must bring a one-year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a pigeon or a mourning dove as an offering for sin. She must bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁷The priest will offer them in the Lord’s presence to make peace with the Lord for her. Then she will be clean from her flow of blood. 

“These are the instructions for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl. ⁸If she cannot afford a lamb, she must use two mourning doves or two pigeons. One will be the burnt offering and the other the offering for sin. So the priest will make peace with the Lord for her, and she will be clean.” 

13TH CHAPTER

Skin Diseases

¹The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, ²“If anyone has a sore, a rash, or an irritated area on his skin that turns into an infectious skin disease, he must be taken to the priest Aaron or to one of his sons who are also priests. ³The priest will examine the disease. If the hair in the diseased area has turned white, and the diseased area looks deeper than the rest of his skin, it is an infectious skin disease. When the priest has examined him, he must declare him unclean. ⁴But if the irritated area is white and does not look deeper than the rest of the skin, and the hair has not turned white, the priest must put him in isolation for seven days. ⁵On the seventh day the priest will examine him again. If the disease looks the same and has not spread, the priest must put him in isolation for another seven days. ⁶On the seventh day the priest will examine him again. If the diseased area has faded and not spread, the priest must declare him clean. It is only a rash. The person must wash his clothes and will be clean. ⁷But if the rash has spread after he has shown himself to the priest to be declared clean, he must show himself to the priest again. ⁸The priest will examine him one more time, and if the rash has spread, the priest must declare him unclean. It is an infectious skin disease. 

⁹“If anyone has an infectious skin disease, he must be taken to the priest. ¹⁰The priest will examine him. If there is a white sore that has turned the hair white, and if there is raw flesh in the sore, ¹¹he has a chronic skin disease. Without putting him in isolation, the priest must declare him unclean because he is unclean. ¹²If skin disease develops and covers the whole person from head to foot (so far as the priest can see), ¹³the priest will examine him. If the disease does cover his whole body, the priest must declare the diseased person clean. His body has turned white. The person is clean. ¹⁴But if raw flesh appears, he will be unclean. ¹⁵The priest will examine the raw flesh and declare him unclean. The raw flesh is unclean. It is an infectious skin disease. ¹⁶But if the raw flesh turns white again, he must go to the priest. ¹⁷The priest will examine him again, and if the diseased area has turned white, the priest must declare the diseased person clean. He is clean. 

¹⁸“If a boil on the skin has healed ¹⁹and in its place there is a white sore or a pink area, it must be shown to the priest. ²⁰The priest will examine it. If it looks deeper than the rest of the skin and its hair has turned white, the priest must declare the person unclean. An infectious skin disease has developed in the boil. ²¹But if the priest examines the affected area and the hair in it is not white or the affected area is not deeper than the rest of the skin but has faded, the priest must put him in isolation for seven days. ²²If the area has spread, the priest must declare him unclean. It is a skin disease. ²³But if the irritated area has not spread, it is a scar caused by the boil. The priest must declare him clean. 

²⁴“If anyone has a burn on his skin and the raw flesh of the burn turns into a pink or bright white area, ²⁵the priest will examine it. If the hair on the affected area has turned white and the affected area looks deeper than the rest of the skin, an infectious skin disease has developed in the burn. The priest must declare him unclean. It is an infectious skin disease. ²⁶But if the priest examines it and the hair in it is not white and the affected area is not deeper than the rest of the skin but has faded, the priest must put him in isolation for seven days. ²⁷On the seventh day the priest will examine him again. If the area has spread, the priest must declare him unclean. It is an infectious skin disease. ²⁸If the irritated area does not spread but has faded, it is only a sore caused by the burn. The priest must declare him clean, because it is a scar caused by the burn. 

²⁹“If a man or a woman has some disease on the head or chin, ³⁰the priest will examine the disease. If it looks deeper than the rest of the skin and there is thin yellow hair on it, the priest must declare the person unclean. It is a scab, a disease on the head or the chin. ³¹But if the priest examines the scabby disease and it does not look deeper than the rest of the skin and there is no black hair in it, the priest must put the person with the scabby disease in isolation for seven days. ³²On the seventh day the priest will examine the disease. If the scab has not spread, there is no yellow hair on it, and the scab does not look deeper than the rest of the skin, ³³the person will shave everything except the scab. The priest will put the person with the scab in isolation for another seven days. ³⁴On the seventh day the priest will examine the scab again. If the scab has not spread on the skin and does not look deeper than the rest of the skin, the priest must declare him clean. When he has washed his clothes, he will be clean. ³⁵But if the scab spreads after the person has been declared clean, ³⁶the priest will make another examination. If the scab has spread on the skin, the priest does not have to look for yellow hair. The person is unclean. ³⁷But if he sees that the scab hasn’t spread and black hair grows on it, the scab is healed. The person is clean, so the priest must declare him clean. 

³⁸“If a man or a woman has white irritated areas of skin, ³⁹the priest will make an examination. If the irritated areas on the skin are pale white, a rash has developed on the skin. The person is clean. 

⁴⁰“If a man loses his hair, he is clean, even though he is bald. ⁴¹If he loses the hair on the front of his head, he is clean, even though he is bald on the forehead. ⁴²But if there is a pink patch on the bald places in back or in front, a skin disease is developing in those places. ⁴³The priest will examine him. If the sore from the disease in the bald places in back or in front is pink like a skin disease somewhere else on the body, ⁴⁴the man has come down with an infectious skin disease. He is unclean. The priest must declare him unclean because of the skin disease on his head. 

⁴⁵“People who come down with a skin disease must wear torn clothes and leave their hair uncombed. They must cover their upper lips and call out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’ ⁴⁶As long as they have the skin disease, they are unclean. They must live outside the camp. 

Mildew in Clothing or Leather Articles

⁴⁷“Now about clothing—if there is a green or red area on a piece of clothing ⁴⁸that is woven or knitted from linen or wool or on any leather article, ⁴⁹it is mildew. It must be shown to the priest. ⁵⁰The priest will examine the mildew and will put the clothing in a separate place for seven days. ⁵¹On the seventh day he will examine the area again. If the spot is spreading, it is unclean. ⁵²He must burn the piece of clothing or the leather article because the mildew is growing. ⁵³But if the priest sees that the area has not spread, ⁵⁴he must order the area to be washed and put the clothing in a separate place for seven more days. ⁵⁵The priest will examine the area again after it is washed. If it doesn’t look any different and the mildew has not spread, it is still unclean. It must be burned, whether the area is on the outside or the inside. ⁵⁶If the priest sees that the area is pale after washing, he will tear it out of the clothing or the leather. ⁵⁷However, if it shows up again, you must burn the clothing or the leather article. ⁵⁸But if the area disappears from the woven or knitted clothing or any leather article when it is washed, wash it again, and it will be clean. 

⁵⁹“These are the instructions for deciding whether mildew in clothing that is woven or knitted from linen or wool or in any leather article is clean or unclean.” 

14TH CHAPTER

Cleansing after Skin Diseases

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, ²“These are the instructions for making a person clean after a skin disease. He must be taken to the priest. ³The priest will go outside the camp and examine him. If the person is healed, ⁴the priest will order someone to get two living, clean birds, some cedar wood, red yarn, and a hyssop sprig to use for the cleansing. ⁵Then the priest will order someone to kill one bird over a clay bowl containing fresh water. ⁶The priest will take the living bird, the cedar wood, the red yarn, and the hyssop sprig and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. ⁷He will sprinkle the blood seven times on the one to be cleansed and will declare that…