Leviticus 14–15

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 ^esprinkle it ^fseven times on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose in the open field. ⁸He who is to be cleansed ^gshall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and ^hwash himself in water, that he may be clean. After that he shall come into the camp, and ⁱshall stay outside his tent seven days. ⁹But on the ^jseventh day he shall shave all the hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows—all his hair he shall shave off. He shall wash his clothes and wash his body in water, and he shall be clean.

¹⁰“And on the eighth day ^khe shall take two male lambs without blemish, one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as ^la grain offering, and one log of oil. ¹¹Then the priest who makes him clean shall present the man who is to be made clean, and those things, before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ¹²And the priest shall take one male lamb and ^moffer it as a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and ⁿwave them as a wave offering before the Lord. ¹³Then he shall kill the lamb ^oin the place where he kills the sin offering and the burnt offering, in a holy place; for ^pas the sin offering is the priest’s, so is the trespass offering. ^qIt is most holy. ¹⁴The priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it ^ron the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ¹⁵And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. ¹⁶Then the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall ^ssprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before the Lord. ¹⁷And of the rest of the oil in his hand, the priest shall put some on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the blood of the trespass offering. ¹⁸The rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed. ^tSo the priest shall make ³atonement for him before the Lord.

¹⁹“Then the priest shall offer ^uthe sin offering, and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Afterward he shall kill the burnt offering. ²⁰And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. So the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be ^vclean.

²¹“But ^wif he is poor and cannot afford it, then he shall take one male lamb as a trespass offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, ⁴one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, a log of oil, ^22xand two turtledoves or two young pigeons, such as he is able to afford: one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. ^23yHe shall bring them to the priest on the eighth day for his cleansing, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, before the Lord. ^24zAnd the priest shall take the lamb of the trespass offering and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. ²⁵Then he shall kill the lamb of the trespass offering, ^aand the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁶And the priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand. ²⁷Then the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the Lord. ²⁸And the priest shall put some of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the trespass offering. ²⁹The rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before the Lord. ³⁰And he shall offer one of ^bthe turtledoves or young pigeons, such as he can afford—³¹such as he is able to afford, the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, with the grain offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him who is to be cleansed before the Lord. ³²This is the law for one who had a leprous sore, who cannot afford ^cthe usual cleansing.”

The Law Concerning Leprous Houses

³³And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ^34d“When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give you as a possession, and ^eI put the ⁵leprous plague in a house in the land of your possession, ³⁵and he who owns the house comes and tells the priest, saying, ‘It seems to me that there is ^fsome plague in the house,’ ³⁶then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest goes into it to examine the plague, that all that is in the house may not be made unclean; and afterward the priest shall go in to examine the house. ³⁷And he shall examine the plague; and indeed if the plague is on the walls of the house with ingrained streaks, greenish or reddish, which appear to be ⁶deep in the wall, ³⁸then the priest shall go out of the house, to the door of the house, and ⁷shut up the house seven days. ³⁹And the priest shall come again on the seventh day and look; and indeed if the plague has spread on the walls of the house, ⁴⁰then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which is the plague, and they shall cast them into an unclean place outside the city. ⁴¹And he shall cause the house to be scraped inside, all around, and the dust that they scrape off they shall pour out in an unclean place outside the city. ⁴²Then they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other mortar and plaster the house.

⁴³“Now if the plague comes back and breaks out in the house, after he has taken away the stones, after he has scraped the house, and after it is plastered, ⁴⁴then the priest shall come and look; and indeed if the plague has spread in the house, it is ^gan active leprosy in the house. It is unclean. ⁴⁵And he shall break down the house, its stones, its timber, and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them outside the city to an unclean place. ⁴⁶Moreover he who goes into the house at all while it is shut up shall be ⁸unclean ^huntil evening. ⁴⁷And he who lies down in the house shall ⁱwash his clothes, and he who eats in the house shall wash his clothes.

⁴⁸“But if the priest comes in and examines it, and indeed the plague has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. ⁴⁹And ^jhe shall take, to cleanse the house, two birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. ⁵⁰Then he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water; ⁵¹and he shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵²And he shall ⁹cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and the running water and the living bird, with the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet. ⁵³Then he shall let the living bird loose outside the city in the open field, and ^kmake atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.

⁵⁴“This is the law for any ^lleprous sore and scale, ⁵⁵for the ^mleprosy of a garment ⁿand of a house, ^56ofor a swelling and a scab and a bright spot, ⁵⁷to ^pteach when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law of leprosy.”

The Law Concerning Bodily Discharges

15And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ²“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ^a‘When any man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean. ³And this shall be his uncleanness in regard to his discharge—whether his body runs with his discharge, or his body is stopped up by his discharge, it is his uncleanness. ⁴Every bed is ¹unclean on which he who has the discharge lies, and everything on which he sits shall be unclean. ⁵And whoever ^btouches his bed shall ^cwash his clothes and ^dbathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ⁶He who sits on anything on which he who has the ^edischarge sat shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ⁷And he who touches the body of him who has the discharge shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ⁸If he who has the discharge ^fspits on him who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ⁹Any saddle on which he who has the discharge rides shall be unclean. ¹⁰Whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until evening. He who carries any of those things shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ¹¹And whomever the one who has the discharge touches, and has not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ¹²The ^gvessel of earth that he who has the discharge touches shall be broken, and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.

¹³‘And when he who has a discharge is…