Leviticus 14 - Modern English Version (MEV)

The Law for Cleansing Lepers

14 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: It shall be reported to the priest, ³ and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall examine him and see if the disease is healed in the leprous person. ⁴ Then the priest shall command that two live clean birds and cedar wood and scarlet fabric and hyssop be brought for him who is to be cleansed. ⁵ The priest shall command that one of the birds be slaughtered in a clay vessel over running water. ⁶ As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood, the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. ⁷ Then he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed from leprosy, and he shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.

⁸ He that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, so that he may be clean. After that he shall come into the camp and shall stay outside of his tent seven days. ⁹ But it shall be on the seventh day that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, all his hair he shall shave off, and he shall wash his clothes. Also he shall wash his body in water, and he shall be clean.

¹⁰ On the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish, and three-tenths of an ephah^[a] of wheat flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and one log of oil.^{[b] 11} The priest who makes him clean shall present the man who is to be made clean and those things before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

¹² Then the priest shall take one male lamb and offer it for a guilt offering, along with the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. ¹³ Then he shall slaughter the lamb in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering in the holy sanctuary. For as the sin offering is the priest’s, so is the guilt offering. It is most holy. ¹⁴ And the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ¹⁵ And the priest shall take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. ¹⁶ Then the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle from the oil with his finger seven times before the Lord. ¹⁷ And some of the rest of the oil that is in his hand the priest shall put on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, and on the blood of the guilt offering. ¹⁸ And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall pour upon the head of him who is to be cleansed, and the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord.

¹⁹ The priest shall offer the sin offering, and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his ceremonial uncleanness, and afterward he shall kill the burnt offering. ²⁰ Then the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar, and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

²¹ But if he is poor and cannot afford so much, then he shall take one male lamb for a guilt offering to be waved to make atonement for him, and one-tenth of an ephah^[c] of wheat flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a log of oil, ²² and two turtledoves or two pigeons, such as he is able to afford. The one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering.

²³ He shall bring them on the eighth day for his cleansing to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord. ²⁴ The priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering, along with the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. ²⁵ Then he shall kill the lamb of the guilt offering; and the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁶ Next the priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand, ²⁷ and the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the Lord. ²⁸ Then the priest shall put some of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot on the place of the blood of the guilt offering. ²⁹ The rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall pour on the head of him who is to be cleansed to make atonement for him before the Lord. ³⁰ He shall offer one of the turtledoves or the pigeons, such as he can afford, ³¹ even such as he is able to get, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, along with the grain offering, and the priest shall make atonement for him who is to be cleansed before the Lord.

³² This is the law for a person who has a leprous sore who cannot afford the offerings for his cleansing.

The Law About Leprous Houses

³³ The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying: ³⁴ When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I am giving to you for a possession, and I put a leprous disease in a house of the land of your possession, ³⁵ then he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, “It seems to me there is some disease in the house.” ³⁶ Then the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes into it to examine the disease, so that all that is in the house is not made unclean. Afterwards, the priest shall go in to examine the house. ³⁷ He shall examine the disease and see if the disease is in the walls of the house with greenish or reddish spots, which appear to go deeper than the wall. ³⁸ Then the priest shall go out to the door of the house and close off the house seven days. ³⁹ The priest shall return on the seventh day and shall examine and see if the disease has spread in the walls of the house. ⁴⁰ Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the disease appears and throw them into an unclean place outside the city. ⁴¹ And he shall cause the house to be scraped all around, and they shall pour out the plaster that they scrape off outside the city into an unclean place. ⁴² And they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other plaster and shall plaster the house.

⁴³ If the disease comes again and breaks out in the house after he has taken away the stones and after he has scraped the house and after it is plastered, ⁴⁴ then the priest shall come and examine and see if the disease has spread in the house. If the disease has spread in the house, it is a persistent leprosy in the house; it is unclean. ⁴⁵ He shall break down the house, the stones and the timber, and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them out of the city into an unclean place.

⁴⁶ Moreover, he who goes into the house while it is closed off shall be unclean until the evening. ⁴⁷ And he who sleeps in the house shall wash his clothes, and he who eats in the house shall wash his clothes.

⁴⁸ If the priest comes in and examines it and sees the disease has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the disease is healed. ⁴⁹ He shall take two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop to cleanse the house. ⁵⁰ Then he shall kill one of the birds in a clay vessel over running water. ⁵¹ He shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵² Then he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet. ⁵³ But he shall let the living bird loose outside the city into the open fields and make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.

⁵⁴ This is the law for all manner of leprous sore and scale, ⁵⁵ and for the disease of a garment, or of a house, ⁵⁶ and for a swelling, or for a scab, or for a spot, ⁵⁷ to discern when it is unclean and when it is clean.

This is the law of leprosy.

Footnotes

1. Leviticus 14:10 Likely about 11 pounds, or 5 kilograms.
2. Leviticus 14:10 About ⅓ quart, or 0.3 liter; and in vv. 12, 15, 21, and 24.
3. Leviticus 14:21 Likely about 3½ pounds, or 1.6 kilograms.