Purification from leprosy
1Yahweh spoke to Moses: 2“This shall be the law for the leper on the day of his purification.
He shall be brought to the priest 3and the priest shall take him outside the camp and examine him. And if the person has been healed from leprosy, 4the priest shall order two live, clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop for the one who is to be cleansed. 5The priest shall also give orders that one of the birds be slain on an earthenware pot over fresh water. 6He shall take the live bird and also the cedar wood, the crimson yarn and the hyssop, and he will plunge them together, including the live bird, in the blood of the bird that was slain over fresh water. 7Then he will sprinkle the one to be purified seven times. After that he shall declare him clean and he shall let the live bird go free over the open fields.
8The person to be purified must wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe himself in water; then he will be clean. After this he may enter the camp but he must stay outside his tent for seven days. 9On the seventh day he shall shave off all the hair on his head, chin and eyebrows. He shall wash his clothes, bathe himself in water and then he will be clean.
10On the eighth day he is to take two lambs and a yearling ewe lamb, all without defect, and three-tenths of a measure of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering and a log of oil. 11The priest who declares him clean shall present the man to be purified and his offerings before Yahweh at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 12The priest will then take the first lamb and present it as a guilt offering together with the log of oil. He shall wave them before Yahweh. 13He shall slaughter the male lamb in the place where they slaughter the sin offering and the burnt offering — the holy place. 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 put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be purified, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. 15The priest shall take the log of oil and pour it on the palm of his own left hand.
16Then, dipping his right forefinger in it, he shall sprinkle it seven times before Yahweh.
17Then he is to take a little of the oil that remains in the palm 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, over the blood of the sacrifice of reparation. 18The rest of the oil which is in his palm, he shall put on the head of the man who is being purified. In this way he shall perform over him the rite of atonement before Yahweh.
19Then the priest shall offer the sacrifice for sin, and perform the rite of atonement for the man who is being purified. After this he must slaughter the animal for the burnt offering 20and offer it with the grain offering on the altar. When the priest has performed the rite of atonement over him in this way, the man will be clean.
21If the leper is poor and cannot afford all this, he shall take only one lamb for the guilt offering to be offered with the gesture of offering in the rite of atonement. And for the grain offering he will bring only one tenth of wheaten flour mixed with oil, and the log of oil, 22and 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 burnt offering. 23On the eighth day he must bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before Yahweh, for his purification. 24The priest is to take the lamb for the guilt offering and the log of oil, and present them before Yahweh with the gesture of offering. 25Then he must slaughter the lamb for the guilt offering, 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. 26He is to pour the oil into the palm of his left hand, 27and with this oil he must make seven sprinklings with his finger before Yahweh. 28He 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 guilt offering. 29The remainder of the oil in the palm 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. 30Of the two turtledoves or two young pigeons — if he can afford them — he is to offer 31a sacrifice for sin with one, and with the other a burnt offering together with a grain offering — 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.
32Such is the law concerning a person afflicted by leprosy who cannot afford the means for his purification.”
“Leprosy” in houses
33Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron; he said:
34“When you reach the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your inheritance, if I strike a house with mildew in the land you are to possess, 35the owner must come and warn the priest; he must say, ‘I have seen something like mildew in the house.’ 36The priest is to give orders for the house to be emptied before he goes to examine the infection; thus nothing in the house will be declared unclean. Then the priest must go and look at the house; 37and if on examination he finds reddish or greenish spots that appear to be eating into the wall, 38the priest is to go out of the house, to the door, and shut it up for seven days. 39On the seventh day he shall go back again and if on examination he finds that the infection has spread over the walls of the house, 40he shall give orders for the affected stones to be removed and thrown into some unclean place outside the town. 41Then he shall 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. 42The stones must be replaced by new ones and the house given a new coat of plaster.
43If the infection spreads again after the stones have been removed and the house scraped and replastered, 44the priest is to come and examine it. If he finds that the infection has spread, this means that mildew is affecting the house: it is unclean. 45It must be pulled down and the stones, woodwork and all the plaster be taken to an unclean place outside the town.
46Anyone who enters the house while it is closed will be unclean until evening. 47Anyone who sleeps there must wash his clothing. 48But 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.
49As a sacrifice for the sin of the house, he is to take two birds, cedar wood, red cord and a sprig of hyssop. 50He shall slaughter one of the birds in an earthenware pot over running water. 51Then he shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the red cord and the live bird, and dip them into the blood of the bird that was slaughtered and into the running water. 52He shall sprinkle the house seven times; 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 red cord 53he shall 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.
54Such is the law for all cases 55of dreaded skin diseases, mildew of clothing and houses, 56swellings, scabs and shiny spots. It defines the cases when things are unclean and when they are clean. 57Such is the law on leprosy.”
