Leviticus 14

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:

² This is the law to be applied to a leper on the day he is purified. He must be taken to the priest,

³ and the priest must go outside the camp. If he finds on examination that the leper is cured of his leprosy,

⁴ he shall order the following to be brought for the man’s purification: two live birds that are clean, cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop.

⁵ Then he is to give orders for one of the birds to be immolated in an earthenware pot over running water.

⁶ Then he is to take the live bird, the cedar wood, the scarlet and the hyssop and he must dip all of this (including the live bird) into the blood of the bird immolated over running water.

⁷ Then he must sprinkle the man who is to be purified of leprosy seven times, and having declared him clean, must set the live bird free to fly off into the open country.

⁸ The man who is undergoing purification is to wash his clothing, shave all his hair, and wash himself; then he will be clean. After this he may return to the camp, although he must remain seven days outside his tent.

⁹ On the seventh day he must shave off all his hair – head, beard and eyebrows; he must shave off all his hair. After washing his clothing and his body he will be clean.

¹⁰ On the eighth day, he is to take two lambs without blemish, an unblemished ewe one year old, three-tenths[*a] of wheaten flour mixed with oil for the oblation, and one log of oil.

¹¹ The priest who is performing the purification is to station the man who is being purified, with all his offerings, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, before Yahweh.

¹² Then he must take one of the lambs and offer it as a sacrifice of reparation, as also the log of oil. With these he is to make the gesture of offering before Yahweh.

¹³ Then he must immolate the lamb on that spot inside the sacred precincts where the victims of the sacrifice for sin and of the holocaust are immolated. This offering of reparation, like the sacrifice for sin, reverts to the priest: it is a most holy thing.

¹⁴ The priest must take the blood of this sacrifice and put some of it on the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot of the man who is being purified.

¹⁵ Then he is to take the log of oil and pour a little into the hollow of his left hand.

¹⁶ He must dip a finger of his right hand into the oil in the hollow of his left hand, and with this oil make seven sprinklings with his finger before Yahweh.

¹⁷ Then he is to take a little of the oil that remains in the hollow of his hand and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the man who is being purified, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot (this in addition to the blood of the sacrifice of reparation).

¹⁸ The rest of the oil in the hollow of his hand he is to put on the head of the man who is being purified. In this way he will have performed over him the rite of atonement before Yahweh.

¹⁹ Then the priest must offer the sacrifice for sin, and perform the rite of atonement for uncleanness over the man who is being purified. After this he must immolate the holocaust,

²⁰ and send up holocaust and oblation on the altar. When .the priest has performed the rite of atonement over him in this way, the man will be clean.

²¹ If he is poor and cannot afford all this, he need take only one lamb, the one for the sacrifice of reparation, and it is to be presented with the gesture of offering to perform the rite of atonement over the man. And he is to take for the oblation only one-tenth of wheaten flour mixed with oil, and the log of oil,

²² and finally two turtledoves or two young pigeons – if he can afford them – one to be used as a sacrifice for sin and the other for the holocaust.

²³ On the eighth day he must bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before Yahweh, for his purification.

²⁴ The priest is to take the lamb for the sacrifice of reparation and the log of oil, and present them before Yahweh with the gesture of offering.

²⁵ Then he must immolate the lamb for the sacrifice of reparation, take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the man who is being purified, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.

²⁶ He is to pour the oil into the hollow of his left hand,

²⁷ and with this oil in the hollow of his left hand he must make seven sprinklings with his finger before Yahweh.

²⁸ He is to put some of it on the lobe of the right ear of the man who is being purified, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, as he did with the blood of the sacrifice of reparation.

²⁹ The remainder of the oil in the hollow of his hand he must put on the head of the man who is being purified, performing the rite of atonement over him before Yahweh.

³⁰ Of the two turtledoves or two young pigeons – if he can afford them – he is to offer

³¹ a sacrifice for sin with one, and with the other a holocaust together with an oblation – if he can afford them. In this way the priest will have performed before Yahweh the rite of atonement over the person who is being purified.

³² Such is the law concerning a person afflicted by leprosy who cannot afford the means for his purification.’

³³ Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron; he said:

³⁴ When you reach the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as an inheritance, if I strike a house with leprosy in the land you are to possess,

³⁵ the owner must come and warn the priest; he must say, “I have seen something like leprosy in the house”.

³⁶ The priest is to give orders for the house to be emptied before he goes to examine the infection; thus nothing in the house will become unclean. Then the priest must go and look at the house;

³⁷ and if on examination he finds the walls of the house pitted with reddish or greenish depressions,

³⁸ the priest is to go out of the house, to the door, and shut it up for seven days.

³⁹ On the seventh day he must go back again, and if on examination he finds that the infection has spread over the walls of the house,

⁴⁰ he must give orders for the infected stones to be removed and thrown into some unclean place outside the town.

⁴¹ Then he must have all the inside of the house scraped, and the plaster that comes off must be emptied out into an unclean place outside the town.

⁴² The stones must be replaced by new ones and the house given a new coat of plaster.

⁴³ If the infection spreads again after the stones have been removed and the house scraped and replastered,

⁴⁴ the priest is to come and examine it. If he finds that the infection has spread, this means that there is a contagious leprosy in the house: it is unclean.

⁴⁵ lt must be pulled down and the stones, woodwork and all the plaster be taken to an unclean place outside the town.

⁴⁶ Anyone who enters the house while it is closed will be unclean until evening.

⁴⁷ Anyone who sleeps there must wash his clothing. Anyone who eats there must wash his clothing.

⁴⁸ But if the priest finds, when he comes to examine the infection, that it has not spread in the house since it was plastered, he is to declare the house clean, for the infection is cured.

⁴⁹ As a sacrifice for the sin of the house, he is to take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop.

⁵⁰ He must immolate one of the birds in an earthenware pot over running water.

⁵¹ Then he is to take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet and the live bird, and must dip them into the blood of the bird that was immolated and into the running water. He is to sprinkle the house seven times;

⁵² and after having offered a sacrifice for the sin of the house with the blood of the bird, the running water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet,

⁵³ he must set the live bird free to fly out of the town into the open country. When the rite of atonement has been performed over the house in this way it will be clean.

⁵⁴ Such is the law for all cases of leprosy and tinea,

⁵⁵ leprosy of clothing and houses,

⁵⁶ swellings, scabs and shiny spots. It defines the occasions when things are unclean and when clean.

⁵⁷ Such is the law on leprosy.’