Leviticus - The Old Testament

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

² 'This is the law to be applied on the day of the purification of someone who has suffered from a contagious skin-disease. Such a person will be taken to the priest,

³ and the priest will go outside the camp. If he finds on examination that the person has recovered from the disease,

⁴ he will order the following to be brought for his purification: two live birds that are clean, some cedar wood, scarlet material and hyssop.

⁵ He will then order one of the birds to be slaughtered in an earthenware pot over running water.

⁶ He will then take the live bird, the cedar wood, the scarlet material and the hyssop and dip all this (including the live bird) into the blood of the bird slaughtered over running water.

⁷ He will then sprinkle the person to be purified of the skin-disease seven times, and having declared the person clean, will set the live bird free to fly off into the countryside.

⁸ The person who is being purified will then wash all clothing, shave off all hair, and wash, and will then be clean. After this he will return to the camp, although he will remain outside his tent for seven days.

⁹ On the seventh day he will shave off all his hair-head, beard and eyebrows; he will shave off all his hair. After washing his clothing and his body he will be clean.

¹⁰ 'On the eighth day he will take two unblemished lambs, an unblemished ewe one year old, three-tenths of wheaten flour mixed with oil for the cereal offering, and one log of oil.

¹¹ The priest who is performing the purification will place the person who is being purified, with all his offerings, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, before Yahweh.

¹² He will then take one of the lambs and offer it as a sacrifice of reparation, as also the log of oil. With these he will make the gesture of offering before Yahweh.

¹³ He will then slaughter the lamb on that spot inside the holy place where the victims for the sacrifice for sin and for the burnt offering are slaughtered. This reparatory offering, like the sacrifice for sin, will revert to the priest: it is especially holy.

¹⁴ The priest will then take some blood of this sacrifice and put it on the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot of the person who is being purified.

¹⁵ He will then take the log of oil and pour a little into the hollow of his left hand.

¹⁶ He will dip a finger of his right hand into the oil in the hollow of his left hand, and sprinkle the oil with his finger seven times before Yahweh.

¹⁷ He will then take some of the oil left in the hollow of his hand and put it on the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot of the person being purified, in addition to the blood of the sacrifice of reparation.

¹⁸ The rest of the oil in the hollow of his hand he will put on the head of the person who is being purified. This is how the priest will perform the rite of expiation for such a person before Yahweh.

¹⁹ 'The priest will then offer the sacrifice for sin, and perform the rite of expiation for uncleanness for the person who is being purified. After this, he will slaughter the burnt offering

²⁰ and offer this and the cereal offering on the altar. So, when the priest has performed the rite of expiation for him the person will be clean.

²¹ 'If he is poor and cannot afford all this, he need take only one lamb, the one for the sacrifice of reparation, and this will be presented with the gesture of offering to perform the rite of expiation for him. And for the cereal offering he will only take one-tenth of wheaten flour mixed with oil, and the log of oil,

²² and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, whichever he can afford, one for a sacrifice for sin and the other for the burnt offering.

²³ He will bring these on the eighth day to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before Yahweh, for his purification.

²⁴ The priest will take the lamb for the sacrifice of reparation and the log of oil, and present them before Yahweh with the gesture of offering.

²⁵ He will then slaughter the lamb for the sacrifice of reparation, take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand and the big toe of the right foot of the person who is being purified.

²⁶ He will pour the oil into the hollow of his left hand,

²⁷ and with his finger sprinkle the oil in the hollow of his left hand seven times before Yahweh.

²⁸ He will then put some of the oil on the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand and the big toe of the right foot of the person who is being purified, as he did with the blood of the sacrifice of reparation.

²⁹ The remainder of the oil in the hollow of his hand he will put on the head of the person who is being purified, thus performing the rite of expiation for him before Yahweh.

³⁰ Of the two turtledoves or two young pigeons -- whatever he has been able to afford -- he will offer

³¹ a sacrifice for sin with one, and with the other a burnt offering with a cereal offering -- whatever he has been able to afford. This is how the priest will perform before Yahweh the rite of expiation for the person who is being purified.

³² 'Such is the law concerning someone with a contagious skin-disease who cannot afford the means of purification.'

³³ Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron and said:

³⁴ 'When you reach Canaan, which I am giving you as your possession, if I infect a house with a disease in the country which you are to possess,

³⁵ the owner will come and inform the priest and say, "I have seen something like a skin-disease in the house."

³⁶ The priest will order the house to be emptied before he goes to examine the infection, or everything in the house will become unclean; after which, the priest will go inside and examine the house;

³⁷ and if on examination he finds the walls of the house pitted with reddish or greenish depressions which appear to be eating away the wall,

³⁸ the priest will then go out of the house, to the door, and shut it up for seven days.

³⁹ On the seventh day, the priest will come back and if on examination he finds that the infection has spread over the walls of the house,

⁴⁰ he will order the infected stones to be removed and thrown into some unclean place outside the town.

⁴¹ He will then have all the inside of the house scraped, and the plaster that comes off will be emptied in an unclean place outside the town.

⁴² The stones will then be replaced with new ones and the house given a new coat of plaster.

⁴³ 'If the infection spreads again after the stones have been removed and the house scraped and replastered,

⁴⁴ the priest will come and examine it. If he finds that the infection has spread, this means that there is a contagious disease in the house: it is unclean.

⁴⁵ It must be pulled down and the stones, woodwork and all the plaster be taken to an unclean place outside the town.

⁴⁶ 'Anyone who enters the house while it is closed will be unclean until evening.

⁴⁷ Anyone who sleeps there will wash his clothes. Anyone who eats there will wash his clothes.

⁴⁸ But if the priest finds, when he comes to examine the infection, that it has not spread in the house since it was plastered, he will declare the house clean, for the infection is cured.

⁴⁹ 'As a sacrifice for the defilement of the house, he will take two birds, some cedar wood, scarlet material and hyssop.

⁵⁰ He will slaughter one of the birds in an earthenware pot over running water.

⁵¹ He will then take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet material and the live bird, dip them into the blood of the slaughtered bird and into the running water and sprinkle the house seven times;

⁵² and after offering the sacrifice for the defilement of the house with the blood of the bird, the running water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet material,

⁵³ he will set the live bird free to fly out of the town into the countryside. Once the rite of expiation has been performed for the house in this way it will be clean.

⁵⁴ 'Such is the law governing all kinds of skin-disease and tinea,

⁵⁵ diseases of clothing and houses,

⁵⁶ swellings, scabs and spots. It defines the occasions when things are unclean and when clean.

⁵⁷ Such is the law on skin-diseases.'