Cleansing From Defiling Skin Diseases
1The Lord said to Moses, 2“These are the regulations for any diseased person at the time of their ceremonial cleansing, when they are brought to the priest: 3The priest is to go outside the camp and examine them. If they have been healed of their defiling skin disease,14:3 The Hebrew word for defiling skin disease, traditionally translated “leprosy,” was used for various diseases affecting the skin; also in verses 7, 32, 54 and 57. 4the priest shall order that two live clean birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop be brought for the person to be cleansed. 5Then the priest shall order that one of the birds be killed over fresh water in a clay pot. 6He is then to take the live bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. 7Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the defiling disease, and then pronounce them clean. After that, he is to release the live bird in the open fields.
8“The person to be cleansed must wash their clothes, shave off all their hair and bathe with water; then they will be ceremonially clean. After this they may come into the camp, but they must stay outside their tent for seven days. 9On the seventh day they must shave off all their hair; they must shave their head, their beard, their eyebrows and the rest of their hair. They must wash their clothes and bathe themselves with water, and they will be clean.
10“On the eighth day they must bring two male lambs and one ewe lamb a year old, each without defect, along with three-tenths of an ephah14:10 That is, probably about 11 pounds or about 5 kilograms of the finest flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering, and one log14:10 That is, about 1/3 quart or about 0.3 liter; also in verses 12, 15, 21 and 24 of oil. 11The priest who pronounces them clean shall present both the one to be cleansed and their offerings before the Lord 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, along with the log of oil; he shall wave them before the Lord as a wave offering. 13He is to slaughter the lamb in the sanctuary area where the sin offering14:13 Or purification offering; also in verses 19, 22 and 31 and the burnt offering are slaughtered. Like the sin offering, the guilt offering belongs to the priest; it is most holy. 14The 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, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot. 15The priest shall then take some of the log of oil, pour it in the palm of his own left hand, 16dip his right forefinger into the oil in his palm, and with his finger sprinkle some of it before the Lord seven times. 17The priest is to put some of the oil remaining in his palm on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering. 18The rest of the oil in his palm the priest shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed and make atonement for them before the Lord.
19“Then the priest is to sacrifice the sin offering and make atonement for the one to be cleansed from their uncleanness. After that, the priest shall slaughter the burnt offering 20and offer it on the altar, together with the grain offering, and make atonement for them, and they will be clean.
21“If, however, they are poor and cannot afford these, they must take one male lamb as a guilt offering to be waved to make atonement for them, together with a tenth of an ephah14:21 That is, probably about 3 1/2 pounds or about 1.6 kilograms of the finest flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering, a log of oil, 22and two doves or two young pigeons, such as they can afford, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.
23“On the eighth day they must bring them for their cleansing to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting, before the Lord. 24The priest is to take the lamb for the guilt offering, together with the log of oil, and wave them before the Lord as a wave offering. 25He shall slaughter the lamb for the guilt offering and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot. 26The priest is to pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand, 27and with his right forefinger sprinkle some of the oil from his palm seven times before the Lord. 28Some of the oil in his palm he is to put on the same places he put the blood of the guilt offering—on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot. 29The rest of the oil in his palm the priest shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed, to make atonement for them before the Lord. 30Then he shall sacrifice the doves or the young pigeons, such as the person can afford, 31one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, together with the grain offering. In this way the priest will make atonement before the Lord on behalf of the one to be cleansed.”
32These are the regulations for anyone who has a defiling skin disease and who cannot afford the regular offerings for their cleansing.
Cleansing From Defiling Molds
33The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 34“When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your possession, and I put a spreading mold in a house in that land, 35the owner of the house must go and tell the priest, ‘I have seen something that looks like a defiling mold in my house.’ 36The priest is to order the house to be emptied before he goes in to examine the mold, so that nothing in the house will be pronounced unclean. After this the priest is to go in and inspect the house. 37He is to examine the mold on the walls, and if it has greenish or reddish depressions that appear to be deeper than the surface of the wall, 38the priest shall go out the doorway of the house and close it up for seven days. 39On the seventh day the priest shall return to inspect the house. If the mold has spread on the walls, 40he is to order that the contaminated stones be torn out and thrown into an unclean place outside the town. 41He must have all the inside walls of the house scraped and the material that is scraped off dumped into an unclean place outside the town. 42Then they are to take other stones to replace these and take new clay and plaster the house.
43“If the defiling mold reappears in the house after the stones have been torn out and the house scraped and plastered, 44the priest is to go and examine it and, if the mold has spread in the house, it is a persistent defiling mold; the house is unclean. 45It must be torn down—its stones, timbers and all the plaster—and taken out of the town to an unclean place.
46“Anyone who goes into the house while it is closed up will be unclean till evening. 47Anyone who sleeps or eats in the house must wash their clothes.
48“But if the priest comes to examine it and the mold has not spread after the house has been plastered, he shall pronounce the house clean, because the defiling mold is gone. 49To purify the house he is to take two birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop. 50He shall kill one of the birds over fresh water in a clay pot. 51Then he is to take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn and the live bird, dip them into the blood of the dead bird and the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times. 52He shall purify the house with the bird’s blood, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet yarn. 53Then he is to release the live bird in the open fields outside the town. In this way he will make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.”
54These are the regulations for any defiling skin disease, for a sore, 55for defiling molds in fabric or in a house, 56and for a swelling, a rash or a shiny spot, 57to determine when something is clean or unclean.
These are the regulations for defiling skin diseases and defiling molds.
Making People “Clean” From Skin Diseases
1The Lord spoke to Moses. He told him to say to the people, 2“Here are the rules for making anyone ‘clean’ who has had a skin disease. They apply when the person is brought to the priest. 3The priest must go outside the camp. He must look the person over carefully. Suppose they have been healed of their skin disease. 4Then the priest will order someone to bring him two live ‘clean’ birds. He will also order someone to bring him some cedar wood, bright red yarn and branches of a hyssop plant. All these things will be used to make the person ‘clean.’ 5The priest will order someone to kill one of the birds. It must be killed over fresh water in a clay pot. 6Then the priest must take the live bird. He must dip it into the blood of the bird killed over the fresh water. He must dip it into the blood together with the cedar wood, the bright red yarn and the hyssop plant. 7The priest will sprinkle the blood on the person who had the skin disease. That will make them ‘clean.’ The priest must sprinkle them seven times. Then the priest must announce that they are ‘clean.’ After that, the priest must let the live bird go free in the open fields.
8“The person must also wash their clothes to be made ‘clean.’ They must shave off all their hair. They must take a bath. Then they will be ‘clean.’ After that, they may come into the camp. But they must stay outside their tent for seven days. 9On the seventh day they must shave off all their hair. They must shave their head. They must shave off their beard. They must also shave off their eyebrows and the rest of their hair. They must wash their clothes. They must take a bath. Then they will be ‘clean.’
10“On the eighth day they must bring two male lambs and one female lamb as an offering. The female must be a year old. The lambs must not have any flaws. They must also bring 11 pounds of the finest flour as a grain offering. They must mix it with olive oil. They must also bring 11 ounces of oil. 11The priest who announces that the person is ‘clean’ must bring them and their offerings to me. He must do it at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
12“Then the priest must take one of the male lambs. He must offer it as a guilt offering. He must offer it along with 11 ounces of oil. He must lift all of it up and wave it in front of me as a wave offering. 13He must kill the lamb in the holy area where sin offerings and burnt offerings are killed. The guilt offering belongs to the priest, just as the sin offering does. The guilt offering is very holy. 14The priest must take some of the blood from the guilt offering and put it on the person’s right earlobe. He must put some on the thumb of their right hand. He must also put some on the big toe of their right foot. 15Then the priest must take some of the oil and pour it into his own left hand. 16He must dip his right forefinger into the oil in his hand. He must use his finger to sprinkle some of the oil in front of me seven times. 17The priest must put some of the oil in his hand on the same places he put the blood of the guilt offering. He must put some on the person’s right earlobe. He must put some on the thumb of their right hand. He must put some on the big toe of their right foot. 18He must put on their head the rest of the oil in his hand. It will pay for the person’s sin in my sight.
19“Then the priest must sacrifice the sin offering. It will pay for the person’s sin. They will be made ‘clean’ after being ‘unclean.’ After that, the priest will kill the burnt offering. 20He will offer it on the altar. He will offer it together with the grain offering. It will pay for the person’s sin. Then they will be ‘clean.’
21“But suppose they are poor. Suppose they can’t afford all these offerings. Then they must bring one male lamb as a guilt offering. It must be lifted up and waved in front of me to pay for their sin. They must also bring three and a half pounds of the finest flour along with the lamb. They must mix the flour with olive oil. It is a grain offering. They must offer it along with 11 ounces of oil. 22They must also bring two doves or two young pigeons that they can afford. One is for a sin offering. The other is for a burnt offering.
23“On the eighth day they must bring them to the priest so they can be made ‘clean.’ They must bring them to the entrance to the tent of meeting. They must do it in my sight. 24The priest must take the lamb for the guilt offering. He must take it together with the 11 ounces of oil. He must lift all of it up and wave it in front of me as a wave offering. 25He must kill the lamb for the guilt offering. He must take some of its blood and put it on the person’s right earlobe. He must put some on the thumb of their right hand. He must also put some on the big toe of their right foot. 26The priest must pour some of the oil into his own left hand. 27He must dip his right forefinger into the oil in his hand. He must use his finger to sprinkle some of it seven times in front of me. 28Here is what he must do with some of the oil in his hand. He must put it on the same places where he put the blood of the guilt offering. He must put some on the person’s right earlobe. He must put some on the thumb of their right hand. He must also put some on the big toe of their right foot. 29He must put on their head the rest of the oil in his hand. It will pay for the person’s sin in my sight. 30The priest will sacrifice the doves or the young pigeons that the person can afford. 31One is for a sin offering. The other is for a burnt offering. The priest must offer them together with the grain offering. In that way he will pay for the person’s sin in my sight. He will do it to make them ‘clean.’ ”
32These are the rules for anyone who has a skin disease. They are for people who can’t afford the regular offerings that are required to make them “clean.”
Making Things “Clean” From Mold
33The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron. He told them to say to the people, 34“You will enter the land of Canaan. I am giving it to you as your own. When you enter it, suppose I put mold in one of your houses. And suppose the mold spreads. 35Then the owner of that house must go and speak to the priest. He must say, ‘I’ve seen something that looks like mold in my house.’ 36The priest must order everything to be taken out of the house. It must be done before he goes in to look carefully at the mold. If it is not done, the priest must announce that everything in the house is ‘unclean.’ After the house is empty the priest must go in and check it. 37He must look carefully at the mold on the walls. Suppose it looks as if it has green or red dents in it. And suppose the dents look as if they are behind the surface of the wall. 38Then the priest must go out the door. He must close the house up for seven days. 39On the seventh day the priest will return to check the house. Suppose the mold on the walls has spread. 40Then he must order someone to tear out the stones that have mold on them. He must have them thrown into an ‘unclean’ place outside the town. 41He must have all the inside walls of the house scraped. Everything scraped off must be dumped into an ‘unclean’ place outside the town. 42Then other stones must be put in the place of the stones that had mold on them. The inside walls of the house must be coated with new clay.
43“Suppose the stones have been torn out. The house has been scraped. And the walls have been coated with new clay. But the mold appears again. 44Then the priest must go and look things over carefully. Suppose the mold has spread in the house. Then it is the kind of mold that destroys things. The house is not ‘clean.’ 45It must be torn down. The stones, the wood and all the clay coating must be torn out. All of it must be taken out of the town to an ‘unclean’ place.
46“Suppose someone goes into the house while it is closed up. Then they will be ‘unclean’ until evening. 47If they sleep or eat in the house, they must wash their clothes.
48“But suppose the priest comes to look things over carefully. And suppose the mold has not spread after the walls had been coated with new clay. Then he will announce that the house is ‘clean.’ The mold is gone. 49To make the house pure, the priest must get two birds. He must also get some cedar wood, bright red yarn and branches of a hyssop plant. 50He must kill one of the birds over fresh water in a clay pot. 51Then he must take the cedar wood, the hyssop plant, the bright red yarn and the live bird. He must dip all of them into the blood of the dead bird. He must also dip them into the fresh water. He must sprinkle the house seven times. 52The priest will use the blood and the water to make the house pure. He will use the live bird to make it pure. He will also use the cedar wood, the hyssop plant and the bright red yarn to make it pure. 53Then he must let the live bird go free in the open fields outside the town. In that way he will make the house pure. It will be ‘clean.’ ”
54These are the rules for skin diseases. They apply to sores. 55They apply to mold in clothes or in houses. 56They also apply to swellings, rashes or shiny red spots on the skin. 57Use these rules to decide whether something is “clean” or not.
These are the rules for skin diseases and for mold.
