^14:33The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: ^14:34“When you enter the land of Canaan which I am about to give⁶⁰ to you for a possession, and I put⁶¹ a diseased infection in a house in the land you are to possess,⁶²^14:35then whoever owns the house⁶³ must come and declare to the priest, ‘Something like an infection is visible to me in the house.’ ^14:36Then the priest will command that the house be cleared⁶⁴ before the priest enters to examine the infection⁶⁵ so that everything in the house⁶⁶ does not become unclean,⁶⁷ and afterward⁶⁸ the priest will enter to examine the house. ^14:37He is to examine the infection, and if⁶⁹ the infection in the walls of the house consists of yellowish green or reddish eruptions,⁷⁰ and it appears to be deeper than the surface of the wall,⁷¹^14:38then the priest is to go out of the house to the doorway of the house and quarantine the house for seven days.⁷²^14:39The priest must return on the seventh day and examine it, and if⁷³ the infection has spread in the walls of the house, ^14:40then the priest is to command that the stones that had the infection in them be pulled and thrown⁷⁴ outside the city⁷⁵ into an unclean place. ^14:41Then he is to have the house scraped⁷⁶ all around on the inside,⁷⁷ and the plaster⁷⁸ which is scraped off⁷⁹ must be dumped outside the city⁸⁰ into an unclean place. ^14:42They are then to take other stones and replace those stones,⁸¹ and he is to take other plaster and replaster the house.

^14:43“If the infection returns and breaks out in the house after he has pulled out the stones, scraped the house, and it is replastered,⁸²^14:44the priest is to come and examine it, and if⁸³ the infection has spread in the house, it is a malignant disease in the house. It is unclean. ^14:45He must tear down the house,⁸⁴ its stones, its wood, and all the plaster of the house, and bring all of it⁸⁵ outside the city to an unclean place. ^14:46Anyone who enters⁸⁶ the house all the days the priest⁸⁷ has quarantined it will be unclean until evening. ^14:47Anyone who lies down in the house must wash his clothes. Anyone who eats in the house must wash his clothes.

^14:48“If, however, the priest enters⁸⁸ and examines it, and the⁸⁹ infection has not spread in the house after the house has been replastered, then the priest is to pronounce the house clean because the infection has been healed. ^14:49Then he⁹⁰ is to take two birds, a piece of cedar wood, a scrap of crimson fabric, and some twigs of hyssop⁹¹ to decontaminate⁹² the house, ^14:50and he is to slaughter one bird into a clay vessel over fresh water.⁹³^14:51He must then take the piece of cedar wood, the twigs of hyssop, the scrap of crimson fabric, and the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and in the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times. ^14:52So he is to decontaminate the house with the blood of the bird, the fresh water, the live bird, the piece of cedar wood, the twigs of hyssop, and the scrap of crimson fabric, ^14:53and he is to send the live bird away outside the city⁹⁴ into the open countryside. So he is to make atonement for the house and it will be clean.

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Footnotes

60 Heb “which I am giving” (so , ).
61 Heb “give.”
62 Heb “in the house of the land of your possession” ( and both similar).
63 Heb “who to him the house.”
64 Heb “And the priest shall command and they shall clear the house.” The second verb (“and they shall clear”) states the thrust of the priest’s command, which suggests the translation “that they clear” (cf. also vv. 4a and 5a above), and for the impersonal passive rendering of the active verb (“that the house be cleared”) see the note on v. above.
65 Heb “to see the infection”; “to see the plague”; “to look at the mark (mildew ).”
66 Heb “all which [is] in the house.”
67 Once the priest pronounced the house “unclean” everything in it was also officially unclean. Therefore, if they emptied the house of its furniture, etc. before the official pronouncement by the priest those possessions would thereby remain officially “clean” and avoid destruction or purification procedures.
68 Heb “and after thus.”
69 Heb “and behold” (so , ).
70 For “yellowish green and reddish” see Lev 13:49. The Hebrew term translated “eruptions” occurs only here and its meaning is uncertain. For a detailed summary of the issues and views see J. Milgrom, Leviticus (), 1:. The suggestions include, among others: (1) “depressions” from Hebrew שׁקע (“sink”) or קער as the root of the Hebrew term for “bowl” (, Targums, , , ; see also B. A. Levine, Leviticus [], ), (2) “streaks” (, ), (3) and “eruptions” as a loan-word from Egyptian sqr r rwtj (“eruption; rash”); cf. Milgrom, 870; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (), . The latter view is taken here.
71 The Hebrew term קִיר (qir,“wall”) refers to the surface of the wall in this case, which normally consisted of a coating of plaster made of limestone and sand (see קִיר 1.a; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [], 1:; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], ).
72 Heb “and he shall shut up the house seven days.”
73 Heb “and behold” (so , ); “If the mark has indeed spread.”
74 Heb “and the priest shall command and they shall pull out the stones which in them is the infection, and they shall cast them.” The second and third verbs (“they shall pull out” and “they shall throw”) state the thrust of the priest’s command, which suggests the translation “that they pull out … and throw” (cf. also vv. 4a, 5a, and 36a above), and for the impersonal passive rendering of the active verb (“be pulled and thrown”) see the note on v. above.
75 Heb “into from outside to the city.”
76 Or, according to the plurality of the verb in , , , and Targums, “Then the house shall be scraped” (cf. , , and the note on v. ).
77 Heb “from house all around.”
78 Heb “dust” (so ) or “rubble”; “the material”; “the scrapings.”
79 Heb “which they have scraped off.” The term קִיר (qir, “wall” from קָצָה, qatsah, “to cut off”; 892), the original Greek does not have this clause, has הקיצו (with uncertain meaning), and the editors and I קצע hif.a suggest emending the verb to הִקְצִעוּ (hiqtsi’u, see the same verb at the beginning of this verse; cf. some Greek , , and the Targums). The emendation seems reasonable and is accepted by many commentators, but the root קָצָה (qatsah, “to cut off”) does occur in the Bible (2 Kgs 10:32; Hab 2:10) and in postbiblical Hebrew (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], , notes 41c and 43d; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [], 1:; cf. also קָצַץ, qatsats, “to cut off”).
80 Heb “into from outside to the city.”
81 Heb “and bring into under the stones.”
82 Heb “after he has pulled out the stones, and after scraping (variant form of the Hiphil infinitive construct, ) the house, and after being replastered (Niphal infinitive construct).”
83 Heb “and behold” (so , ); “If he sees that the mark has indeed spread.”
84 , , , and . have the plural verb, perhaps suggesting a passive translation, “The house … shall be torn down” (cf. , , , , and see the note on v. above).
85 Once again, , , and have the plural verb, perhaps to be rendered passive, “shall be brought.”
86 Heb “the one who comes into.”
87 Heb “he,” referring to the priest (see v. 38). The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
88 Heb “And if the priest entering [infinitive absolute] enters [finite verb]” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see §113.p.
89 Heb “and behold” (so , ); “and the mark has not indeed spread.”
90 The pronoun “he” refers to the priest mentioned in the previous verse.
91 Regarding these ritual materials, see the note on v. above.
92 Regarding the Piel of חָטָא (khata’, cf. v. 52) meaning to “decontaminate” or “perform a decontamination,” see the notes on and . In Lev 8:15, for example, the “sin offering” is used to “decontaminate” the burnt offering altar. As argued above (see the note on v. above), these ritual materials and the procedures performed with them do not constitute a “sin offering” (contrast vv. 19 and 31 above). In fact, no sin offering was required for the purification of a house.
93 See the note on v. above.
94 Heb “to from outside to the city.”