signals a new beginning by orienting the people again to YHWH and performing a ritual which will begin the movement from their current outsider (ḥērem) state back to their original status as the recipients of YHWH’s blessing and gift of the land. YHWH then establishes a procedure whereby the ḥērem may be identified and excised (vv. 13–15). The procedure traces the kinship bonds which unite the nation, reversing the course by which the ḥērem contagion has spread throughout the entire nation.