Law of Cleansing a Person with Leprosy

1Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“This shall be the law of the person with leprosy on the day of his cleansing. Now he shall be brought to the priest; 3and the priest shall go out to a place outside of the camp. Then the priest shall look, and if the [a]leprous infection has been healed in the person with leprosy, 4then the priest shall give orders to take two live clean birds, cedar wood, a [b]scarlet string, and hyssop for the one who is to be cleansed. 5The priest shall also give orders to slaughter the one bird in an earthenware vessel over [c]running water. 6As for the live bird, he shall take it together with the cedar wood, the [d]scarlet string, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the [e]running water. 7He shall then sprinkle seven times the one who is to be cleansed from the leprosy and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the live bird go free over the open field. 8The one to be cleansed shall then wash his clothes and shave off all his hair, and bathe in water and be clean. And afterward he may enter the camp, but he shall stay outside his tent for seven days. 9Then it shall be on the seventh day that he shall shave off all his hair: he shall shave his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair. He shall then wash his clothes and bathe his [f]body in water and be clean.

10“Now on the eighth day he is to take two male lambs without defect, and a yearling ewe lamb without defect, and three-tenths of an [g]ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and one [h]log of oil; 11and the priest who is going to pronounce him clean shall present the person to be cleansed and [i]the offerings before the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 12Then the priest shall take the one male lamb and bring it as a guilt offering, with the [j]log of oil, and present them as a wave offering before the LORD. 13Next he shall slaughter the male lamb in the place where they slaughter the [k]sin offering and the burnt offering, at the place of the sanctuary—for the guilt offering, like the [l]sin offering, belongs to the priest; it is most holy. 14The priest shall then take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. 15The priest shall also take some of the [m]log of oil, and pour it into his left palm; 16the priest shall then dip his right-hand finger into the oil that is in his left palm, and with his finger sprinkle some of the oil seven times before the LORD. 17Of the remaining oil which is in his palm, the priest shall put some on the right ear lobe of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the blood of the guilt offering; 18as for the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s palm, he shall put it on the head of the one to be cleansed. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf before the LORD. 19The priest shall next offer the [n]sin offering and make atonement for the one to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Then afterward, he shall slaughter the burnt offering. 20The priest shall offer up the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. So the priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be clean.

21“But if he is poor and his [o]means are insufficient, then he is to take one male lamb for a guilt offering as a wave offering to make atonement for him, and a tenth of an [p]ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and a [q]log of oil, 22and two turtledoves or two young doves, which [r]are within his means. The one shall be a [s]sin offering, and the other a burnt offering. 23Then on the eighth day he shall bring them for his cleansing to the priest, at the doorway of the tent of meeting, before the LORD. 24The priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering and the [t]log of oil, and the priest shall offer them as a wave offering before the LORD. 25Next he shall slaughter the lamb of the guilt offering; and the priest is to take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. 26The priest shall also pour some of the oil into his left palm; 27and with his right-hand finger the priest shall sprinkle some of the oil that is in his left palm seven times before the LORD. 28The priest shall then put some of the oil that is in his palm on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the guilt offering. 29Moreover, the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s palm, he shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed, to make atonement on his behalf before the LORD. 30He shall then offer one of the turtledoves or young doves, [u]which are within his means. 31He shall offer what [v]he can afford, the one as a [w]sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, together with the grain offering. So the priest shall make atonement before the LORD on behalf of the one to be cleansed. 32This is the law for him in whom there is an infection of leprosy, whose [x]means are limited for his cleansing.”

Cleansing a Leprous House

33The LORD further spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

34“When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as a possession, and I put a spot of leprosy on a house in the land of your possession, 35then the one who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, ‘Something like a spot of leprosy has become visible to me in the house.’ 36The priest shall then command that they empty the house before the priest goes in to look at the spot, so that everything in the house need not become unclean; and afterward the priest shall go in to look at the house. 37So he shall look at the spot, and if the spot on the walls of the house has greenish or reddish depressions and appears deeper than the [y]surface, 38the priest shall come out of the house, to the [z]doorway, and [aa]quarantine the house for seven days. 39Then the priest shall return on the seventh day and [ab]make an inspection. If the spot has indeed spread on the walls of the house, 40the priest shall order them to pull out the stones with the spot on them and throw them away [ac]at an unclean place outside the city. 41And he shall have the house scraped all around [ad]inside, and they shall dump the plaster that they scrape off at an unclean place outside the city. 42Then they shall take other stones and replace the discarded stones, and he shall take other plaster and replaster the house.

43“If, however, the spot breaks out again in the house after he has pulled out the stones and scraped the house, and after it has been replastered, 44then the priest shall come in and [ae]make an inspection. If he sees that the spot has indeed spread in the house, it is a malignant spot in the house; it is unclean. 45The owner shall therefore tear down the house, its stones, its timbers, and all the plaster of the house, and he shall take them outside the city to an unclean place. 46Moreover, whoever goes into the house during the time that he has [af]quarantined it, becomes unclean until evening. 47Likewise, whoever lies down in the house shall wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house shall wash his clothes.

48“If, on the other hand, the priest comes in and [ag]makes an inspection and the spot has not indeed spread in the house after the house has been replastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean because the spot has [ah]not reappeared. 49To cleanse the house then, he shall take two birds, cedar wood, a [ai]scarlet string, and hyssop, 50and he shall slaughter the one bird in an earthenware vessel over [aj]running water. 51Then he shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the [ak]scarlet string, with the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird as well as in the [al]running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. 52So he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the [am]running water, along with the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the [an]scarlet string. 53However, he shall let the live bird go free outside the city into the open field. So he shall make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.”

54This is the law for any spot of leprosy—even for a scale, 55and for the leprous garment or house, 56and for a swelling, for a scab, and for a bright spot— 57to teach [ao]when they are unclean and [ap]when they are clean. This is the law of leprosy.

[a] 3 I.e., or a serious, unspecified disease, and so throughout the ch
[b] 4 Lit scarlet color and
[c] 5 Lit living
[d] 6 Lit scarlet color and
[e] 6 Lit living
[f] 9 Lit flesh
[g] 10 About 1 cubic foot or 0.03 cubic meters
[h] 10 About 0.6 pt. or 0.3 liter
[i] 11 Lit them
[j] 12 About 0.6 pt. or 0.3 liter
[k] 13 Or purification offering
[l] 13 Or purification offering
[m] 15 About 0.6 pt. or 0.3 liter
[n] 19 Or purification offering
[o] 21 Lit hand is not reaching
[p] 21 About 1 cubic foot or 0.03 cubic meters
[q] 21 About 0.6 pt. or 0.3 liter
[r] 22 Lit his hand reaches
[s] 22 Or purification offering
[t] 24 About 0.6 pt. or 0.3 liter
[u] 30 Lit from which his hand reaches
[v] 31 Lit his hand reaches
[w] 31 Or purification offering
[x] 32 Lit hand does not reach
[y] 37 Lit wall
[z] 38 Lit doorway of the house
[aa] 38 Lit separate
[ab] 39 Lit look
[ac] 40 Lit to
[ad] 41 Lit from the house
[ae] 44 Lit look
[af] 46 Lit separated
[ag] 48 Lit looks
[ah] 48 Lit healed
[ai] 49 Lit scarlet color
[aj] 50 Lit living
[ak] 51 Lit scarlet color
[al] 51 Lit living
[am] 52 Lit living
[an] 52 Lit scarlet color
[ao] 57 Lit on the day of uncleanness
[ap] 57 Lit on the day of cleanness