Making People “Clean” From Skin Diseases

14 The Lord spoke to Moses. He told him to say to the people, 2“Here are the rules for making someone ‘clean’ if he has had a skin disease. They apply when he is brought to the priest.

3“The priest must go outside the camp. He must look the person over carefully. Suppose he has been healed of his skin disease. 4Then the priest will order someone to bring him two live ‘clean’ birds. He will also order someone to bring him some cedar wood, bright red yarn and branches of a hyssop plant. All of those things will be used to make the person ‘clean.’

5“The priest will order someone to kill one of the birds. It must be killed over fresh water in a clay pot. 6Then the priest must take the live bird. He must dip it into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. He must dip it into the blood together with the cedar wood, the bright red yarn and the hyssop plant.

7“The priest will sprinkle the blood on the person who had the skin disease. That will make him ‘clean.’ The priest must sprinkle him seven times. Then the priest must announce that he is ‘clean.’ After that, the priest must let the live bird go free in the open fields.

8“The person must also wash his clothes to be made ‘clean.’ He must shave off all of his hair. He must take a bath. Then he will be ‘clean.’ After that, he may come into the camp. But he must stay outside his tent for seven days.

9“On the seventh day he must shave off all of his hair. He must shave his head. He must shave off his beard. He must also shave off his eyebrows and the rest of his hair. He must wash his clothes. He must take a bath. Then he will be ‘clean.’

10“On the eighth day he must bring two male lambs and one female lamb as an offering. The female must be a year old. The lambs must not have any flaws. He must also bring 24 cups of fine flour as a grain offering. He must mix it with olive oil. He must also bring five ounces of oil. 11The priest who announces that the person is ‘clean’ must bring him and his offerings to me. He must do it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

12“Then the priest must take one of the male lambs. He must offer it as a guilt offering. He must offer it along with five ounces of oil. He must lift all of it up and wave it in front of me as a wave offering.

13“He must kill the lamb in the holy place where sin offerings and burnt offerings are killed. The guilt offering belongs to the priest, just as the sin offering does. The guilt offering is very holy.

14“The priest must take some of the blood from the guilt offering and put it on the person’s right ear lobe. He must put some on the thumb of his right hand. He must also put some on the big toe of his right foot.

15“Then the priest must take some of the oil and pour it into his own left hand. 16He must dip his right forefinger into the oil that is in his hand. He must use his finger to sprinkle some of the oil in front of me seven times.

17“The priest must put some of the oil that is in his hand on the same places he put the blood of the guilt offering. He must put some on the person’s right ear lobe. He must put some on the thumb of his right hand. He must put some on the big toe of his right foot. 18He must put on his head the rest of the oil that is in his hand. It will pay for the person’s sin in my sight.

19“Then the priest must sacrifice the sin offering. It will pay for the person’s sin. He will be made ‘clean’ after being ‘unclean.’ After that, the priest will kill the burnt offering. 20He will offer it on the altar. He will offer it together with the grain offering. It will pay for the person’s sin. Then he will be ‘clean.’

21“But suppose he is poor. Suppose he can’t afford all of those offerings. Then he must bring one male lamb as a guilt offering. It must be lifted up and waved in front of me to pay for his sin. He must also bring eight cups of fine flour along with the lamb. He must mix the flour with olive oil. It is a grain offering. He must offer it along with five ounces of oil. 22He must also bring two doves or two young pigeons that he can afford. One is for a sin offering. The other is for a burnt offering.

23“On the eighth day he must bring them to the priest so he can be made ‘clean.’ He must bring them to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. He must do it in my sight.

24“The priest must take the lamb for the guilt offering. He must take it together with the five ounces of oil. He must lift all of it up and wave it in front of me as a wave offering. 25He must kill the lamb for the guilt offering. He must take some of its blood and put it on the person’s right ear lobe. He must put some on the thumb of his right hand. He must also put some on the big toe of his right foot.

26“The priest must pour some of the oil into his own left hand. 27He must dip his right forefinger into the oil that is in his hand. He must use his finger to sprinkle some of it seven times in front of me.

28“He must put some of the oil that is in his hand on the same places he put the blood of the guilt offering. He must put some on the person’s right ear lobe. He must put some on the thumb of his right hand. He must also put some on the big toe of his right foot. 29He must put on his head the rest of the oil that is in his hand. It will pay for the person’s sin in my sight.

30“The priest will sacrifice the doves or the young pigeons that the person can afford. 31One is for a sin offering. The other is for a burnt offering. The priest must offer them together with the grain offering. In that way he will pay for the person’s sin in my sight. He will do it to make him ‘clean.’ ”

32Those are the rules for anyone who has a skin disease. They are for people who can’t afford the regular offerings that are required to make them “clean.”

Making Things “Clean” From Mold

33The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron. He told them to say to the people, 34“You will enter the land of Canaan. I am giving it to you as your own. When you enter it, suppose I put mold in one of your houses. And suppose the mold spreads. 35Then the owner of that house must go and speak to the priest. He must say, ‘I’ve seen something that looks like mold in my house.’

36“The priest must order everything to be taken out of the house. It must be done before he goes in to look carefully at the mold. If it is not done, the priest must announce that everything in the house is ‘unclean.’

“After the house is empty the priest must go in and check it. 37He must look carefully at the mold that is on the walls. Suppose it looks as if it has green or red dents in it. And suppose the dents look as if they are behind the surface of the wall. 38Then the priest must go out the door. He must close the house up for seven days.

39“On the seventh day the priest will return to check the house. Suppose the mold that is on the walls has spread. 40Then he must order someone to tear out the stones that have mold on them. He must have them thrown into an ‘unclean’ place outside the town. 41He must have all of the inside walls of the house scraped. Everything that is scraped off must be dumped into an ‘unclean’ place outside the town.

42“Then other stones must be put in the place of the stones that had mold on them. The inside walls of the house must be coated with new clay.

43“Suppose the stones have been torn out. The house has been scraped. And the walls have been coated with new clay. But the mold appears again.

44“Then the priest must go and look things over carefully. Suppose the mold has spread in the house. Then it is the kind of mold that destroys things. The house is not ‘clean.’

45“It must be torn down. The stones, the wood and all of the clay coating must be torn out. All of it must be taken out of the town to an ‘unclean’ place.

46“Suppose someone goes into the house while it is closed up. Then he will be ‘unclean’ until evening. 47If he sleeps or eats in the house, he must wash his clothes.

48“But suppose the priest comes to look things over carefully. And suppose the mold has not spread after the walls had been coated with new clay. Then he will announce that the house is ‘clean.’ The mold is gone.

49“To make the house pure, the priest must get two birds. He must also get some cedar wood, bright red yarn and branches of a hyssop plant. 50He must kill one of the birds over fresh water in a clay pot.

51“Then he must take the cedar wood, the hyssop plant, the bright red yarn and the live bird. He must dip all of them into the blood of the dead bird. He must also dip them into the fresh water. He must sprinkle the house seven times.

52“The priest will use the blood and the water to make the house pure. He will use the live bird to make it pure. He will also use the cedar wood, the hyssop plant and the bright red yarn to make it pure.

53“Then he must let the live bird go free in the open fields outside the town. In that way he will make the house pure. It will be ‘clean.’ ”

54Those are the rules for skin diseases. They apply to itches. 55They apply to mold in clothes or in houses. 56They also apply to swellings, rashes or bright red spots on the skin. 57Use those rules to decide whether something is “clean” or not.

Those are the rules for skin diseases and for mold.