Leviticus 14 - Common English Bible (CEB)

Persons with skin disease

14 The Lord said to Moses, ² This will be the Instruction for anyone with skin disease^[a] at the time of purification: When it has been reported to the priest, ³ he will go outside the camp. If the priest sees that the person afflicted with skin disease has been healed of the infection, ⁴ the priest will order that two birds—wild^[b] and clean—and cedarwood, crimson yarn, and hyssop be brought for the person who needs purification. ⁵ The priest will order that one bird be slaughtered over fresh water in a pottery jar. ⁶ He will then take the other wild bird, along with the cedarwood, crimson yarn, and hyssop, and will dip all of this into the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the fresh water. ⁷ He will sprinkle the person who needs purification from skin disease seven times and declare that they are clean. Then the priest will release the wild bird into the countryside. ⁸ The person who needs purification will then wash their clothes, shave off all of their hair, and bathe in water; at that point, they will be clean. After that, they can return to the camp, but they must live outside their tent for seven days. ⁹ On the seventh day, the person must shave off all their hair again: head, beard, and eyebrows—everything. They must wash their clothes and bathe in water; then they will be clean again.

¹⁰ On the eighth day, that person must take two flawless male sheep, one flawless one-year-old ewe, a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah^[c] of choice flour mixed with oil, and one log^[d] of oil. ¹¹ The priest performing the purification will place these and the person needing purification before the Lord at the meeting tent’s entrance.

¹² The priest will take one of the male sheep and present it as a compensation offering, along with the log of oil, and will lift them as an uplifted offering before the Lord. ¹³ The priest will slaughter the sheep at the same place where the purification offering and the entirely burned offering are slaughtered: in the holy area. The compensation offering, like the purification offering, belongs to the priest; it is most holy. ¹⁴ The priest will take some of the blood from the compensation offering and will put it on the right earlobe, the right thumb, and the right big toe of the person needing purification. ¹⁵ Then the priest will take some of the log of oil and pour it into his left palm. ¹⁶ The priest will then dip his right finger into the oil and sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the Lord. ¹⁷ Then the priest will put some of the oil that is left in his hand on the right earlobe, the right thumb, and the right big toe of the person needing purification—this oil will be placed on top of the blood of the compensation offering. ¹⁸ The priest will put whatever is left of the oil in his hand on the head of the person needing purification. In this way, the priest will make reconciliation for the person before the Lord.

¹⁹ The priest will then perform the purification offering and make reconciliation for the person needing purification from their uncleanness. After that, the entirely burned offering will be slaughtered. ²⁰ The priest will offer up the entirely burned offering and the grain offering on the altar. In this way, the priest will make reconciliation for the person, and they will be clean again.

²¹ Now if the person is poor and cannot afford these things, they can bring one male sheep as a compensation offering, to be lifted up in order to make reconciliation for them; a grain offering of one-tenth of an ephah of choice flour mixed with oil; a log of oil; ²² and two turtledoves or two pigeons, whatever they can afford—one as a purification offering and the other as an entirely burned offering. ²³ On the eighth day, they must bring these items for their purification to the priest at the meeting tent’s entrance before the Lord.

²⁴ The priest will take the male sheep for the compensation offering and the log of oil, and will lift them as an uplifted offering before the Lord. ²⁵ The priest will slaughter the sheep for the compensation offering and will take some of its blood and put it on the right earlobe, the right thumb, and the right big toe of the person needing purification. ²⁶ The priest will pour some of the oil into his left palm. ²⁷ Next, the priest will sprinkle some of the oil seven times before the Lord using his right finger. ²⁸ The priest will then put some of the oil that is in his hand on the right earlobe, the right thumb, and the right big toe of the person needing purification—on top of the same places as the blood of the compensation offering. ²⁹ The priest will put whatever is left of the oil in his hand on the head of the person needing purification, to make reconciliation for them before the Lord.

³⁰ The person will then offer one of the turtledoves or pigeons, whatever they can afford— ³¹ one as a purification offering and the other as an entirely burned offering along with the grain offering.^[e] In this way, the priest will make reconciliation before the Lord for the person needing purification.

³² This is the Instruction concerning those who have an infection of skin disease but who cannot afford the normal means of purification.

Houses with skin disease

³³ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: ³⁴ When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving to you as a possession, and I put an infection of skin disease on a house in the land you possess, ³⁵ the homeowner must come and tell the priest, “I think some sort of infection is in my house.” ³⁶ The priest will order that the house be emptied before he comes to examine it so that nothing else in the house will become unclean. After that, the priest will come to examine the house. ³⁷ If he examines the infection, and the infection in the walls of the house consists of greenish or reddish depressions, which appear to be deeper than the surface of the wall, ³⁸ the priest will exit the house, go to the front door, and quarantine the house for seven days. ³⁹ On the seventh day, the priest will return. If he finds that the infection has spread over the walls of the house, ⁴⁰ the priest will order the stones in which the infection is found to be pulled out and discarded outside the city in an unclean area. ⁴¹ The inside of the house will then be scraped on all sides, and the plaster that has been scraped off must be dumped outside the city in an unclean area. ⁴² Then different stones will be used in place of the first ones, and new coating will be used to replaster the house.

⁴³ If the infection breaks out again in the house after the stones have been pulled out and the house scraped and replastered, ⁴⁴ the priest will return. If he finds that the infection has spread throughout the house, it is a case of infectious skin disease in the house; the house is unclean. ⁴⁵ The house must be destroyed—its stones, wood, and all the plaster in the house. All of it must be taken outside the city to an unclean area. ⁴⁶ Anyone who enters the house during the entire period when it is quarantined will be unclean until evening. ⁴⁷ Anyone who lies down in the house must wash their clothes. Anyone who eats in the house must also wash their clothes.

⁴⁸ But if the priest arrives and finds that the infection has not spread after the house was replastered, the priest will declare the house clean because the infection has been healed. ⁴⁹ To cleanse the house, the priest will take two birds, cedarwood, crimson yarn, and hyssop. ⁵⁰ He will slaughter one bird over fresh water in a pottery jar. ⁵¹ He will then take the cedarwood, hyssop, and crimson yarn, along with the wild^[f] bird, and will dip all of this into the fresh water and into the blood of the bird that was slaughtered. He will then sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵² In this way, the priest will cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, the fresh water, the wild bird, the cedarwood, the hyssop, and the crimson yarn. ⁵³ Then he will release the wild bird outside the city into the countryside. In this way, he will make reconciliation for the house, and it will be clean.

Conclusion concerning skin disease

⁵⁴ This concludes the Instruction concerning every infection of skin disease: for scabies, ⁵⁵ for skin disease on clothing or in houses, ⁵⁶ and for swelling, scabs, or shiny spots, ⁵⁷ in order to determine when it is unclean or clean. This concludes the Instruction concerning skin disease.

Footnotes

1. Leviticus 14:2 The precise meaning is uncertain; traditionally leprosy—a term used for several different skin diseases.
2. Leviticus 14:4 Or live or healthy; also in 14:6-7
3. Leviticus 14:10 Heb lacks ephah; an ephah is approximately twenty quarts dry.
4. Leviticus 14:10 Heb log; two-thirds of a pint; also in 14:12, 15, 21, 24
5. Leviticus 14:31 LXX, Syr; MT repeats whatever they can afford at the beginning of 14:31.
6. Leviticus 14:51 Or live or healthy