Leviticus 14
Cleansing day
The Existing One told Moses,
“This will be the law for a diseased person’s cleansing day. He should be brought to the priest, and the priest will take him outside the camp and examine him. If the disease is healed, the priest should order for two birds (clean and alive), cedarwood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop to be taken for the healed person. The priest should give the order for one of the birds to be killed over a clay vessel of fresh water. He should take the living bird, the cedarwood, the yarn, and the hyssop and dip them in the other bird’s blood. He should sprinkle it on the person being cleansed of the disease seven times. Then he can pronounce him clean and let the living bird go into the open field. Then the person being cleansed should wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, bathe himself in water, and then he will be clean. After that, he may join the camp, but live outside his tent for seven days. On the seventh day he should shave off all the hair on his head, beard, and eyebrows. After shaving off all his hair, he should wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and then he will be clean.
“On the 8th day he should take 2 male lambs in perfect condition, one female lamb (1 year old and in perfect condition), 6.6 liters of fine flour mixed with oil (as a grain offering), and 1.3 cups of oil. The priest who cleanses him should set these things and the person being cleansed before the Existing One at the meeting tent’s entrance. Then the priest should take one of the male lambs and offer it as a guilt offering with the oil and wave them in front of the Existing One. He should kill the lamb in the sanctuary (the same place where they kill sin offerings and burnt offerings). That’s because the guilt offering belongs to the priest (just like sin offerings)—it is extremely sacred. The priest should take some of the blood from the guilt offering and put it on the right ear lobe, right thumb, and right big toe of the person being cleansed. Then the priest should take some of the oil and pour it into his own left palm, dip his right finger in it, and sprinkle it before the Existing One seven times. The priest should use some of the oil remaining in his hand to put it on the right ear lobe, right thumb, and right big toe of the person being cleansed (on top of the blood from the guilt offering). The rest of the oil in the priest’s hand should be put on the head of the person being cleansed. Then the priest should make amends for him before the Existing One. The priest should offer the sin offering to make amends for the person being cleansed from his uncleanliness. Then he should kill the burnt offering. The priest should offer the burnt offering and grain offering on the altar to make amends for him, and then he will be clean.
“But if the person is poor and can’t afford all that, then he should take one male lamb (as a guilt offering to be waved and make amends for him), 2.2 liters of fine flour mixed with oil (as a grain offering), 1.3 cups of oil, and two turtledoves or pigeons (whichever birds he can afford). One will be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. On the 8th day he should bring them to the priest at the meeting tent entrance for his cleansing before the Existing One. And the priest should take the lamb (for the guilt offering) and the oil, and wave them as a wave offering before the Existing One. Then he will kill the lamb for the guilt offering, take some its blood, and put it on the right ear lobe, right thumb, and right big toe of the person being cleansed. The priest should pour some of the oil into his own left palm and use his right finger to sprinkle some it before the Existing One seven times. The priest should put some of the oil on the right ear lobe, right thumb, and right big toe of the person being cleansed (in the same place where the guilt offering’s blood was). The priest should put the rest of the oil from his hand on the person’s head to make amends for him before the Existing One. He should offer one of the birds as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering along with the grain offering. That’s how the priest should make amends for someone being cleansed before the Existing One. That’s the law for people with diseases who can’t afford the normal offerings.”
Diseased houses
The Existing One told Moses and Aaron,
“When you go to Canaan (the land I’ll give you), and I put a disease in one of your households, then the homeowner should come tell the priest ‘There seems to be some sort of disease in my house.’ Then the priest should order for the house to be emptied before going to examine the disease (or else everything in the house would be declared unclean too). When he examines it, if the disease is in the walls with greenish or reddish spots that appear to be deeper than the surface, then the priest should exit and shut up the house for 7 days. The priest should come an re-examine it on the 7th day. If the disease has spread, then he should order for all the diseased stones to be removed and thrown away at an unclean place outside the city. He should have the interior scraped all around and they should dump the scraped plaster in an unclean place outside the city. Then they should take new stones and put them in place of the old stones and plaster the house with new plaster.
“Then if the disease breaks out again, the priest will need to go examine it. If the disease has spread, then it’s a persistent disease, and it’s unclean. He should knock down the house (including its stones, timber, and plaster) and the rubble should be dumped in an unclean place outside the city. Whoever enters the house while its shut up will be unclean until the evening, and whoever sleeps or eats in the house should wash his clothes.
“But if the disease hasn’t spread after the house was plastered, then the priest should pronounce the house as clean, because the disease was removed. To cleanse the house he should take two small birds, cedarwood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop. He should kill one of the birds in a clay pot over fresh water. Then he should take the live bird, cedarwood, hyssop, and yarn and dip them in the dead bird’s blood, and sprinkle the house seven times. That’s how he should cleanse the house. Then he should let the live bird leave the city and go into the open country. That’s how he should make amends for the house and then it will be clean.”
Conclusion on disease cleanliness
These are the laws for distinguishing the cleanliness of leprous diseases, itches, diseases on items, diseases in houses, swellings, eruptions, and spots. This concludes the laws for diseases.