Statutes for Cleansing a Leper

1Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2“This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. Now he shall be brought to the priest, 3and the priest shall go out to the outside of the camp. Thus the priest shall look, and if the [†]infection of leprosy has been healed in the leper, 4then the priest shall give a command to take two live clean birds and cedar wood and a [†]scarlet string and hyssop for the one who is to be cleansed. 5The priest shall also give a command to slaughter the one bird in an earthenware vessel over [†]running water. 6As for the live bird, he shall take it together with the cedar wood and the [†]scarlet string and the hyssop, and he shall dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the [†]running water. 7He shall then sprinkle seven times the one who is to be cleansed from the leprosy and shall pronounce him clean, and he 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. Now afterward, he may enter the camp, but he shall stay outside his tent for seven days. 9And it will 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 [†]body in water and be clean.

10“Now on the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, and a yearling ewe lamb without blemish, and three-tenths of an [†]ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and one [†]log of oil; 11and the priest who pronounces him clean shall present the man to be cleansed as well as [†]these things before Yahweh at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 12Then the priest shall take the one male lamb and bring it near for a guilt offering, with the [†]log of oil, and wave them as a wave offering before Yahweh. 13Next he shall slaughter the male lamb in the place where they slaughter the sin offering and the burnt offering, at the place of the sanctuary—for the guilt offering, like the 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 [†]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 Yahweh. 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; 18but the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s palm, he shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf before Yahweh. 19The priest shall next offer the sin offering and make atonement for the one to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Then afterward, he shall slaughter the burnt offering. 20And the priest shall offer up the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be clean.

21“But if he is poor and his [†]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 one-tenth of an [†]ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a [†]log of oil, 22and two turtledoves or two young pigeons which [†]are within his means, the one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. 23Then the eighth day he shall bring them for his cleansing to the priest, at the doorway of the tent of meeting, before Yahweh. 24And the priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering and the [†]log of oil, and the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before Yahweh. 25Next he shall slaughter the lamb of the guilt offering; and the priest shall 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 Yahweh. 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 Yahweh. 30He shall then offer one of the turtledoves or young pigeons, [†]which are within his means. 31He shall offer what [†]he can afford, the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, together with the grain offering. So the priest shall make atonement before Yahweh on behalf of the one to be cleansed. 32This is the law for him in whom there is an infection of leprosy, whose [†]means are limited for his cleansing.”

Statute for Cleansing a Leprous House

33Yahweh further spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

34“When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you for a possession, and I put a mark 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 mark 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 mark, 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 mark, and if the mark on the walls of the house has greenish or reddish depressions and appears deeper than the surface of the wall, 38then the priest shall come out of the house, to the [†]doorway, and [†]put the house under isolation for seven days. 39And the priest shall return on the seventh day and look again. If the mark has indeed spread in the walls of the house, 40then the priest shall command them to tear out the stones with the mark in them and throw them away [†]at an unclean place outside the city. 41And he shall have the house scraped all around [†]inside, and they shall pour out the plaster that they scrape off at an unclean place outside the city. 42Then they shall take other stones and replace those stones, and he shall take other plaster and replaster the house.

43“If, however, the mark breaks out again in the house after he has torn out the stones and scraped the house, and after it has been replastered, 44then the priest shall come in and look again. If he sees that the mark has indeed spread in the house, it is a [†]leprous malignancy in the house; it is unclean. 45He shall therefore tear down the house, its stones and 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 [†]put it under isolation 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 looks again, and the mark has not indeed spread in the house after the house has been replastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean because the mark has [†]not reappeared. 49To cleanse the house then, he shall take two birds and cedar wood and a [†]scarlet string and hyssop, 50and he shall slaughter the one bird in an earthenware vessel over [†]running water. 51Then he shall take the cedar wood and the hyssop and the [†]scarlet string, with the live bird, and he shall dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird as well as in the [†]running water, and he shall sprinkle the house seven times. 52He shall thus cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the [†]running water, along with the live bird and with the cedar wood and with the hyssop and with the [†]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 mark of leprosy—even for a scale, 55and for the leprous garment or house, 56and for a swelling and for a scab and for a bright spot— 57to instruct [†]when they are unclean and [†]when they are clean. This is the law of leprosy.