Cleansing the Leper

(Matthew 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-16)

1And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 2This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: he shall be brought unto the priest, 3and the priest shall go out of the camp; and when the priest looketh, and behold, the sore of leprosy is healed in the leper, 4then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two clean living birds, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. 5And the priest shall command that one bird be killed in an earthen vessel over running water: 6as to the living bird -- he shall take it, and the cedar-wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water; 7and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field. 8And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his garments, and shave all his hair, and bathe in water, and he shall be clean; and afterwards shall he come into the camp, and shall abide outside his tent seven days. 9And it shall come to pass on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair, his head, and his beard, and his eyebrows, even all his hair shall he shave, and he shall wash his garments, and shall bathe his flesh in water, and he is clean.

10And on the eighth day he shall take two he-lambs without blemish, and one yearling ewe-lamb without blemish, and three tenth parts of fine flour mingled with oil, for an oblation, and one log of oil. 11And the priest that cleanseth [him] shall present the man that is to be cleansed and those things before Jehovah, at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 12And the priest shall take one he-lamb, and present it for a trespass-offering, and the log of oil, and wave them as a wave-offering before Jehovah. 13And he shall slaughter the he-lamb at the place where the sin-offering and the burnt-offering are slaughtered, in a holy place; for as the sin-offering, so the trespass-offering is the priest's: it is most holy. 14And the priest shall take of the blood of the trespass-offering, and the priest shall put it on the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot. 15And the priest shall take of the log of oil, and pour it into his, the priest's, left hand; 16and the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before Jehovah. 17And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put on the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass-offering. 18And the remainder of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed, and the priest shall make atonement for him before Jehovah. 19And the priest shall offer the sin-offering, and make atonement for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterwards shall he slaughter the burnt-offering. 20And the priest shall offer the burnt-offering and the oblation upon the altar; and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

21But if he be poor, and his hand be not able to get it, then he shall take one lamb for a trespass-offering, for a wave-offering, to make atonement for him; and one tenth part of fine flour mingled with oil for an oblation; and a log of oil, 22and two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, as his hand may be able to get: the one shall be a sin-offering, and the other a burnt-offering. 23And he shall bring them on the eighth day of his cleansing unto the priest, unto the entrance of the tent of meeting, before Jehovah. 24And the priest shall take the he-lamb of the trespass-offering, and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them as a wave-offering before Jehovah. 25And he shall slaughter the he-lamb of the trespass-offering; and the priest shall take of the blood of the trespass-offering, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot. 26And the priest shall pour of the oil into [his], the priest's, left hand, 27and the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before Jehovah. 28And the priest shall put of the oil that is in his hand upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot, upon the place of the blood of the trespass-offering. 29And the remainder of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before Jehovah. 30And he shall offer one of the turtle-doves, or of the young pigeons, of what his hand was able to get; 31of what his hand was able to get shall the one be a sin-offering, and the other a burnt-offering, with the oblation; and the priest shall make atonement for him that is to be cleansed before Jehovah. 32This is the law for him in whom is the sore of leprosy, whose hand cannot get what is [regularly prescribed] in his cleansing.

Signs of Home Contamination

33And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

34When ye come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put a leprous plague in a house of the land of your possession, 35then he whose house it is shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me like a plague in the house; 36and the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest go into it to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean; and afterwards the priest shall go in to see the house. 37And when he looketh on the plague, and behold, the plague is in the walls of the house, greenish or reddish hollows, and their look is deeper than the surface of the wall, 38then the priest shall go out of the house to the entrance of the house, and shut up the house seven days. 39And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and when he looketh, and behold, the plague hath spread in the walls of the house, 40then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them out of the city, in an unclean place. 41And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the mortar that they have scraped off, out of the city in an unclean place. 42And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and they shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house.

43And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plastered, 44then the priest shall come, and when he looketh, and behold, the plague hath spread in the house, it is a corroding leprosy in the house: it is unclean. 45And they shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the mortar of the house, and shall carry them forth out of the city to an unclean place. 46And he that goeth into the house as long as it is shut up shall be unclean until the even. 47And he that sleepeth in the house shall wash his garments, and he that eateth in the house shall wash his garments.

Cleansing a Home

48But if the priest shall come in and look, and behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house hath been plastered, the priest shall pronounce the house clean; for the plague is healed. 49And he shall take, to purge the house from the defilement, two birds, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop; 50and he shall kill one bird in an earthen vessel over running water; 51and he shall take the cedar-wood and the hyssop and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times; 52and he shall purge the house from the defilement 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; 53and he shall let the living bird loose out of the city into the open field; and he shall make atonement for the house, and it is clean.

54This is the law for every sore of leprosy, and for the scall, 55and for the leprosy of garments, and of houses, 56and for the rising, and for the scab, and for the bright spot, 57to teach when there is uncleanness, and when it is purified: this is the law of leprosy.