Leviticus 13–15

The Law Concerning Leprosy

13And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ²“When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling, ^aa scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes on the skin of his body like a ¹leprous sore, ^bthen he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. ³The priest shall examine the sore on the skin of the body; and if the hair on the sore has turned white, and the sore appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is a leprous sore. Then the priest shall examine him, and pronounce him ²unclean. ⁴But if the bright spot is white on the skin of his body, and does not appear to be deeper than the skin, and its hair has not turned white, then the priest shall isolate the one who has the sore ^cseven days. ⁵And the priest shall examine him on the seventh day; and indeed if the sore appears to be as it was, and the sore has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall isolate him another seven days. ⁶Then the priest shall examine him again on the seventh day; and indeed if the sore has faded, and the sore has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is only a scab, and he ^dshall wash his clothes and be clean. ⁷But if the scab should at all spread over the skin, after he has been seen by the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen by the priest again. ⁸And if the priest sees that the scab has indeed spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him ³unclean. It is leprosy.

⁹“When the leprous sore is on a person, then he shall be brought to the priest. ^10eAnd the priest shall examine him; and indeed if the swelling on the skin is white, and it has turned the hair white, and there is a spot of raw flesh in the swelling, ¹¹it is an old leprosy on the skin of his body. The priest shall pronounce him ⁴unclean, and shall not isolate him, for he is unclean.

¹²“And if leprosy breaks out all over the skin, and the leprosy covers all the skin of the one who has the sore, from his head to his foot, wherever the priest looks, ¹³then the priest shall consider; and indeed if the leprosy has covered all his body, he shall pronounce him clean who has the sore. It has all turned ^fwhite. He is clean. ¹⁴But when raw flesh appears on him, he shall be unclean. ¹⁵And the priest shall examine the raw flesh and pronounce him to be unclean; for the raw flesh is unclean. It is leprosy. ¹⁶Or if the raw flesh changes and turns white again, he shall come to the priest. ¹⁷And the priest shall examine him; and indeed if the sore has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him clean who has the sore. He is clean.

¹⁸“If the body develops a ^gboil in the skin, and it is healed, ¹⁹and in the place of the boil there comes a white swelling or a bright spot, reddish-white, then it shall be shown to the priest; ²⁰and if, when the priest sees it, it indeed appears deeper than the skin, and its hair has turned white, the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a leprous sore which has broken out of the boil. ²¹But if the priest examines it, and indeed there are no white hairs in it, and it is not deeper than the skin, but has faded, then the priest shall isolate him seven days; ²²and if it should at all spread over the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a ⁵leprous sore. ²³But if the bright spot stays in one place, and has not spread, it is the scar of the boil; and the priest shall pronounce him clean.

²⁴“Or if the body receives a ^hburn on its skin by fire, and the raw flesh of the burn becomes a bright spot, reddish-white or white, ²⁵then the priest shall examine it; and indeed if the hair of the bright spot has turned white, and it appears deeper than the skin, it is leprosy broken out in the burn. Therefore the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a leprous sore. ²⁶But if the priest examines it, and indeed there are no white hairs in the bright spot, and it is not deeper than the skin, but has faded, then the priest shall isolate him seven days. ²⁷And the priest shall examine him on the seventh day. If it has at all spread over the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a leprous sore. ²⁸But if the bright spot stays in one place, and has not spread on the skin, but has faded, it is a swelling from the burn. The priest shall pronounce him clean, for it is the scar from the burn.

²⁹“If a man or woman has a sore on the head or the beard, ³⁰then the priest shall examine the sore; and indeed if it appears deeper than the skin, and there is in it thin yellow hair, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a scaly leprosy of the head or beard. ³¹But if the priest examines the scaly sore, and indeed it does not appear deeper than the skin, and there is no black hair in it, then the priest shall isolate the one who has the scale seven days. ³²And on the seventh day the priest shall examine the sore; and indeed if the scale has not spread, and there is no yellow hair in it, and the scale does not appear deeper than the skin, ³³he shall shave himself, but the scale he shall not shave. And the priest shall isolate the one who has the scale another seven days. ³⁴On the seventh day the priest shall examine the scale; and indeed if the scale has not spread over the skin, and does not appear deeper than the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean. He shall wash his clothes and be clean. ³⁵But if the scale should at all spread over the skin after his cleansing, ³⁶then the priest shall examine him; and indeed if the scale has spread over the skin, the priest need not seek for yellow hair. He is unclean. ³⁷But if the scale appears to be at a standstill, and there is black hair grown up in it, the scale has healed. He is clean, and the priest shall pronounce him clean.

³⁸“If a man or a woman has bright spots on the skin of the body, specifically white bright spots, ³⁹then the priest shall look; and indeed if the bright spots on the skin of the body are dull white, it is a white spot that grows on the skin. He is clean.

⁴⁰“As for the man whose hair has fallen from his head, he is bald, but he is clean. ⁴¹He whose hair has fallen from his forehead, he is bald on the forehead, but he is clean. ⁴²And if there is on the bald head or bald ⁱforehead a reddish-white sore, it is leprosy breaking out on his bald head or his bald forehead. ⁴³Then the priest shall examine it; and indeed if the swelling of the sore is reddish-white on his bald head or on his bald forehead, as the appearance of leprosy on the skin of the body, ⁴⁴he is a leprous man. He is unclean. The priest shall surely pronounce him ⁶unclean; his sore is on his ^jhead.

⁴⁵“Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head ^kbare; and he shall ^lcover his mustache, and cry, ^m‘Unclean! Unclean!’ ⁴⁶He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall ⁷dwell alone; his dwelling shall be ⁿoutside the camp.

The Law Concerning Leprous Garments

⁴⁷“Also, if a garment has a ⁸leprous plague in it, whether it is a woolen garment or a linen garment, ⁴⁸whether it is in the warp or woof of linen or wool, whether in leather or in anything made of leather, ⁴⁹and if the plague is greenish or reddish in the garment or in the leather, whether in the warp or in the woof, or in anything made of leather, it is a leprous ⁹plague and shall be shown to the priest. ⁵⁰The priest shall examine the plague and isolate that which has the plague seven days. ⁵¹And he shall examine the plague on the seventh day. If the plague has spread in the garment, either in the warp or in the woof, in the leather or in anything made of leather, the plague is ^oan active leprosy. It is unclean. ⁵²He shall therefore burn that garment in which is the plague, whether warp or woof, in wool or in linen, or anything of leather, for it is an active leprosy; the garment shall be burned in the fire.

⁵³“But if the priest examines it, and indeed the plague has not spread in the garment, either in the warp or in the woof, or in anything made of leather, ⁵⁴then the priest shall command that they wash the thing in which is the plague; and he shall isolate it another seven days. ⁵⁵Then the priest shall examine the plague after it has been washed; and indeed if the plague has not changed its color, though the plague has not spread, it is unclean, and you shall burn it in the fire; it continues eating away, whether the damage is outside or inside. ⁵⁶If the priest examines it, and indeed the plague has faded after washing it, then he shall tear it out of the garment, whether out of the warp or out of the woof, or out of the leather. ⁵⁷But if it appears again in the garment, either in the warp or in the woof, or in anything made of leather, it is a spreading plague; you shall burn with fire that in which is the plague. ⁵⁸And if you wash the garment, either warp or woof, or whatever is made of leather, if the plague has disappeared from it, then it shall be washed a second time, and shall be clean.

⁵⁹“This is the law of the leprous plague in a garment of wool or linen, either in the warp or woof, or in anything made of leather, to pronounce it clean or to pronounce it unclean.”

The Ritual for Cleansing Healed Lepers

14Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“This shall be the law of the ¹leper for the day of his cleansing: He ^ashall be brought to the priest. ³And the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall examine him; and indeed, if the ²leprosy is healed in the leper, ⁴then the priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living and clean birds, ^bcedar wood, ^cscarlet, and ^dhyssop. ⁵And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. ⁶As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. ⁷And he shall ^e…