Leviticus 14

14 ¹ Our Father said to Moses:

² This is the law for the person with a skin disease on the day of his cleansing: he is to be brought to the priest. ³ The priest is to go outside the camp and examine him; and if the diseased person has been healed of his skin disease, ⁴ then the priest is to command that two live clean birds be taken for the one being cleansed, along with cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop. ¹ 1 v4 Hyssop was a small bushy plant whose branches were used as a natural brush for sprinkling liquid in purification rites. ⁵ The priest is to command that one bird be slaughtered over a clay pot of fresh water. ⁶ He is to take the live bird together with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn, and the hyssop, and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the fresh water. ⁷ Then he is to sprinkle the blood seven times on the one being cleansed from the skin disease, pronounce him clean, and release the live bird over the open field. ² 2 v7 One bird was killed and the other, dipped in its blood, was set free to fly away alive — a picture of the death and risen life through which Jesus would one day cleanse his people.

⁸ The one being cleansed is to wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe in water; 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 is to shave off all his hair—his head, his beard, and his eyebrows. He is to shave off all his hair, wash his clothes, and bathe his body in water, and he will be clean.

¹⁰ On the eighth day he is to take two male lambs without defect, one ewe lamb in its first year without defect, about three quarts of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and about a cup of oil. ¹¹ The priest who performs the cleansing is to present the one being cleansed, along with these offerings, before our Father at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

¹² Then the priest is to take one of the male lambs and offer it as a guilt offering, together with the oil, and wave them as a wave offering before our Father. ¹³ He is to slaughter the lamb in the place where the sin offering and the burnt offering are slaughtered, in the holy place. For like the sin offering, the guilt offering belongs to the priest; it is most holy. ¹⁴ 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 being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ¹⁵ The priest is to take some of the oil and pour it into his own left palm. ¹⁶ He is to dip his right finger into the oil in his left palm and sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before our Father. ¹⁷ The priest is to put some of the remaining oil from his palm on the lobe of the right ear of the one being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering. ¹⁸ The priest is to put the rest of the oil from his palm on the head of the one being cleansed, and so make atonement for him before our Father. ¹⁹ Then the priest is to offer the sin offering and make atonement for the one being cleansed from his uncleanness; after that he is to slaughter the burnt offering. ²⁰ The priest is to offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar and make atonement for him, and he will be clean.

²¹ But if he is poor and cannot afford so much, he is to take one male lamb as a guilt offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, along with about a quart of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, about a cup of oil, ²² and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, whichever he can afford—one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.

²³ On the eighth day he is to bring them for his cleansing to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, before our Father. ²⁴ The priest is to take the lamb of the guilt offering and the oil and wave them as a wave offering before our Father. ²⁵ He is to slaughter the lamb of the guilt offering, take some of its blood, and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁶ The priest is to pour some of the oil into his own left palm, ²⁷ and with his right finger sprinkle some of the oil from his left palm seven times before our Father. ²⁸ The priest is to put some of the oil in his palm on the lobe of the right ear of the one being cleansed, 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. ²⁹ The priest is to put the rest of the oil from his palm on the head of the one being cleansed, to make atonement for him before our Father. ³⁰ Then he is to offer one of the turtledoves or young pigeons, whichever he can afford, ³¹ whichever he can afford—one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, together with the grain offering. So the priest is to make atonement before our Father for the one being cleansed.

³² This is the law for the person with a skin disease who cannot afford the regular offerings for his cleansing.

Mildew in the House

³³ Our Father said to Moses and Aaron:

³⁴ "When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as a possession, and I put a spreading mildew in a house in the land you possess, ³⁵ then the owner of the house is to come and tell the priest, 'Something like a disease has appeared in my house.' ³⁶ The priest is to order the house emptied before he goes in to examine the disease, so that nothing in the house is declared unclean; afterward the priest is to go in to examine the house. ³⁷ He is to examine the disease, and if it is in the walls of the house with greenish or reddish depressions that appear deeper than the surface, ³⁸ the priest is to go out the doorway of the house and shut it up for seven days. ³⁹ On the seventh day the priest is to return and examine it, and if the disease has spread in the walls of the house, ⁴⁰ he is to order that the stones with the disease in them be torn out and thrown into an unclean place outside the city. ⁴¹ He is to have the inside of the house scraped all around, and the plaster that is scraped off is to be dumped into an unclean place outside the city. ⁴² Then other stones are to be brought to replace the old ones, and the house is to be replastered with new plaster.

⁴³ If the disease breaks out again in the house after the stones have been torn out and the house scraped and plastered, ⁴⁴ the priest is to go in and examine it, and if the disease has spread in the house, it is a destructive mildew; the house is unclean. ⁴⁵ He is to tear down the house—its stones, its timbers, and all its plaster—and carry it out of the city to an unclean place. ⁴⁶ Whoever enters the house during any of the days it is shut up will be unclean until evening. ⁴⁷ Whoever lies down in the house is to wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house is to wash his clothes.

The Father Declares the House Clean

⁴⁸ But if the priest comes and examines it, and the disease has not spread in the house after it was plastered, he is to pronounce the house clean, for the disease is healed. ⁴⁹ To cleanse the house he is to take two birds, with cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop, ⁵⁰ and he is to slaughter one of the birds into a clay pot over fresh water. ⁵¹ He is to take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn, and the live bird, dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and in the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵² So he is to cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet yarn. ⁵³ Then he is to release the live bird out of the city into the open field, and make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.

⁵⁴ This is the law for any skin disease, for an itch, ⁵⁵ for mildew in a garment or a house, ⁵⁶ and for a swelling, a scab, or a bright spot, ⁵⁷ to determine when something is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law about skin disease and mildew.